Is Sex Work just a Job?
By: Krishna Sawant
Tags: Sex Workers, Sex Work, Sex Work Legislation, Sex Worker Rights, Sex Work Is Real Work

“Specifically in India, the kind of sex work that takes place is mostly a result of trafficking, and I think even though sex work should be legalised, it is very important to keep a check on whether or not the sex work is being undertaken by choice. Along with this, something that we must keep in mind is that a lot of people turn to sex work as they do not have any other job opportunities. I think that these points should always be highlighted in all discussions surrounding sex work.” — Aashna Aggarwal (@thespiltuniverse)

(“Sex workers have been left behind by Covid-19 provisions”, 2021)

The need to research and write this article was born out of a conversation with a peer who strongly believed that at the end of the day sex work is just a job, and each job has some pros and cons and there need not be separate laws that need to be considered before legalising sex work. She voiced that each time we attempt to empower a community, we separate them more and more from society. She said that if you really want to give sex workers rights like any other citizen, sex work must be treated like any other job.

But is it like any other job?

Prostitution is not a new enterprise. It has flourished throughout history, and society has sustained this trade for eons without any legal recognition or protection to those who are engaged in the sex trade. In the absence of legal protection, women in the sex industry are in vulnerable positions, subject to sexual abuse and exploitation. As their work is not recognised, they are commonly excluded from mainstream society. They are thereby denied the national and international protection from abuse that is available to others as ordinary citizens, women or workers.

Here are a few quick questions to consider and ponder over before we make our minds on whether on not it is just a job:

If a person from the porn industry decides that they don’t want to continue their job anymore, but are bound by a contract, is that simply begrudging obligation or rape?

On the other hand, if an actor doesn’t want to act in a particular piece anymore, but they have to, would that be a human rights violation or merely a contractual obligation?

If a person sleeps with a sex worker and then refuses to pay, is that simply a breach of contract, or rape?

Alternatively, if somebody refuses to pay a freelancer after they’ve delivered their work, would that be a breach of contract or a human rights violation?

If a person buys nudes, and then later makes copies and sells them for profit, is that sexual harassment or just copyright violation/piracy?

If one secretly records a movie in a theatre and then sells it off at a personal profit, would that mean they pirated the movie or did they violate someone’s human rights?

Suddenly, sex work doesn’t sound like just a job, does it?

Prostitution and other forms of sex work should be a valid choice for women and men who choose to engage in it. This requires the differentiation of wilful prostitution from forced prostitution, and there needs to be an acknowledgement and a strong support for sex worker activism against abuse by both the sex industry and the legal system.

On one hand, sex workers and women who are exploited by sex work don’t have a voice. Research has shown that many women that end up in prostitution start when they are children. They have come from very chaotic backgrounds and are often sexually abused or been exposed to drug and alcohol addiction; so when we talk about legalising sex work, do we think it’s okay as a society to say that we should legitimize the exploitation of these very young women? Thus, it is often claimed that criminalizing the purchase of sex is aimed to reducing the amount of trafficking, which in India specifically is an important issue, because a lot of the very young and vulnerable women and girls are trafficked and forced into the prostitution. On the other hand, there exists a law against trafficking, but the problem with the lack of a law against prostitution is that it actually prevents the cries for help, because the business is completely underground, and illegal if the sex worker works in zones of tolerance known as red-light areas, this proof is often more dangerous, and has higher consequence than the abuse they are put through.

Over many years, India has adopted the system of abolition/toleration to deal with sex-work. Here, the term abolition is misleading, because it signifies not the abolition of prostitution as such by means of the criminal law, but the abolition of the laws and public ordinances which regulate and license the practice of prostitution. India follows the approach of toleration, which criminalizes the organizer of the sex trade but not the sex workers themselves. The present policy ensures that the sex trade is accessible but not offensively public and that sex workers are allowed to work, but without legal protection. No other profession suffers from such confusion about what is legal and what isn’t. The impact of these laws on sex-workers themselves is considered of secondary importance to maintaining society’s sexual double standards.

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 legalises sex work but in a way provides for punishment for sex workers, who do not keep their profession hidden from ‘the public’ and deals with excesses of exploitation in the industry. In theory sex workers are left alone to carry on their work but they are not entitled to child care facilities, compensation or minimum wages. In India, there are 3 million commercial sex workers, out of which 40% are children, according to a study conducted by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development. There have been no further official statistics released on this section of the population since their existence is simply “not accepted and acknowledged” (Sharma, 2019).

In India, there is no provision under the law, which makes prostitution a criminal offence, yet the topic in itself is criminalised due to the various stigmas and morals attached to the profession. There is plenty of proof of harassment of sex workers, not only by their employers and clients, but also by the police. While this article solely focuses on the women in the industry of sex work, it is important to note that a large portion of the transgender community is also involved in sex work.