| Debates | |||
| The miseducation of the Indian client | |||
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By Manjima Bhattacharjya |
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An international study that sought to profile men who buy sex found that of all the countries, Indian clients’ responses stood out for their low level of knowledge of sexual health issues and resistance to condom use |
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There is a burgeoning bank of knowledge on sex workers and their role in both spreading and stemming the HIV infection, but too little is known about the other side of the ‘vectors of infection’- the clients of sex workers. Few studies have really attempted to profile men who buy sex. Interventions aimed at only high risk groups (like truck drivers or migrant labourers) have left out those who do not fall into these groups but who nevertheless make up the majority of clients: the ordinary man. Who are the clients? An international study conducted in 2002[1] which in part looked at the demand for sex work found that out of the 400 men surveyed across six countries, including India, 185 men had experience of buying sex. The data revealed that buying sex was a fairly common (approximately one out of four men) experience amongst men in all the countries surveyed, and that the profile of clients was surprisingly ordinary, cut across classes, age groups and occupations, from brick layers to bankers. Some of the findings of the study have special relevance to the HIV discourse, especially in the context of India. The India part of the study conducted by the research team at JAGORI (www.jagori.org), a Delhi based women's group, surveyed about 100 men and undertook interviews with ten men who had experience of buying sex (from women in red light areas as well as call girls) across occupational categories of students, professionals, manual labour and even police. While the numbers in themselves were not sufficient to make generalised observations[2], the findings did point to some trends and shed light on a group of individuals who had experience as clients. Youth and masculinity Most men surveyed had their first experience of going to sex workers in their youth. Even though the majority of the men surveyed were middle aged, 78% of them reported that they had first gone to a prostitute at the age of 21 or below. About 18% had been under the age of 18. The younger the men were when they first went to a prostitute, the more likely they were to repeat the experience. Men who had their first experience at an older age were less likely to show a pattern of prostitute-use. Moreover many of these youthful ‘sexual experiments’ had been done in groups, under some level of peer pressure, and formed a part of the culture of masculinity in that society[3]. The circumstances of the first experience show that in India, for 69% of men it was arranged by friends or colleagues. 25% decided independently to buy sex. Only 6% were solicited. This suggests that young men between the age of 15 and 21 not only form an important group that is sexually active and engaging in high risk behaviour, but are also potential candidates for the category of ‘regular clients’. Young teenage boys and men therefore can be targeted with interventions that could have a long term impact on their sexual behaviour in the future. Rationalising prostitute-use Visiting prostitutes, especially in a segregated society like India has its own place in the absence of formal modes of communication and channels of information on sex and sexuality, and the taboos around these issues. “What will happen to boys like us?” asked one of the boys interviewed, at the thought that prostitution might be abolished. What he meant was that in a closed society that he was part of, other than violence, an accessible sexual relationship with a woman was possible only through this medium. While going to prostitutes is not encouraged and usually undertaken in secrecy, there is a level of tolerance and a social understanding of the context of prostitute-use in India. Even though the clients had moral judgments on women in general (and promiscuous women in particular), they did not feel that they themselves were in any way doing anything immoral. These rationalisations are partly rooted in clients’ belief in certain myths around male sexuality. Most Indian clients spoke of men’s biological ‘need’ for sexual release. They were under various misconceptions, for example, that a man who does not get a sexual outlet can develop very high blood pressure and other complications. They also felt prostitution was a necessary institution that served a social function – it prevented men from attacking ‘good women’ on the streets and in the homes (non sex workers) and kept them safe, and was a safety valve where men could release their excess sexuality. Myths about male sexuality and STD/HIV prevention Clients from all countries valued youthfulness in sex workers and preferred younger sex workers especially in their early 20s, but this trend was particularly strong in case of Indian clients. Some 47% of Indian clients preferred women between 19 to 25 years of age, 37% preferred women between 16 to 18 years (although sex with a person below 18 is considered rape) and 8% preferred children between 13 and 15 years of age. Their responses to questions in other parts of the survey and interview pointed to some disturbing reasons for this. Less than 15% of all the clients stated that one of the precautions they used to guard against STDs and HIV was to go to younger prostitutes. However the majority of these were from India. Another strategy primarily reported by Indian clients, was to seek virgins as a way of reducing the risk of STD and HIV. Moreover, condom usage was shockingly low in India – only 58% of Indian clients stated that they always used a condom when visiting a sex worker as compared to 74% of Thai clients or 96% of Italian clients. These responses reveal that men (even those who are educated) suffer from ignorance of even basic knowledge around sex and sexuality which puts them at greater risk of STDs and HIV. Of all the countries, Indian clients’ responses stood out for their low level of knowledge of sexual health issues and the resistance to condom use. Some of the men interviewed in fact rued that using condoms was a particularly sensitive issue and fights over this sometimes led to violence against the sex worker. The report notes these concerns in India and suggests in strong terms that there is a ‘need for greater investment in sexual health education…especially in India’. Criminalising clients and the HIV discourse Recently proposed amendments in the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act[4] include penalising men who buy sex. What are the implications of this legislation on the HIV discourse? Clearly, any efforts to raise awareness or implement intervention programmes amongst clients are immediately thwarted if such legislation comes into effect. Moreover, as their business comes under threat, sex workers become more vulnerable to agreeing to risky sexual acts and deals for their survival, thereby leading to a break down of various security measures that have been put into place by the last two decades of HIV intervention work. This threat should prompt AIDS activists to evaluate in detail what this legislation will mean for their work. Some findings from the study turn the two basic assumptions underlying this law on its head. One, that prostitution is about demand and supply, and by cutting off demand (clients), there will be a reduction in supply. Like the flawed understanding that begging can be abolished by preventing people from giving change to beggars at red light areas, this simplistic logic defies the structural imbalances and politics of gender that underlies the institution of prostitution. The experience of countries like Sweden (also profiled in the study), where buying sex is a criminal offence, shows that such actions do not really quash demand but only sends them across the border or underground. The second assumption is that clients are inherently exploitative or abusive. This is not reflected in data from the study. Instead, a large percentage of clients stated that they would like to inform the police or get help for a sex worker who had been trafficked, or was being coerced into prostitution. Another revelation from the data was that a large number of clients – the highest being in India (50%) – stated that they had experienced sexual abuse themselves as children. This has no correlation with their prostitute use as such, but it points out that clients have often been victims of abuse themselves, something which has been so far ignored and which points to the neglect of issues of male sexual abuse, especially of children. Clients as allies This self perception of clients, as allies of the law or social activists who might want to ‘rescue’ trafficked women if there were safe, anonymous channels of communication and information to report these, has so far been unrecognised and needs to be taken into consideration by health activists, anti-trafficking groups and sex workers’ rights groups. Clients also need to be acknowledged as important allies in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Finally, an international study like this raises a mirror to the (lack of) permeation of sexual health information amongst sexually active men in India. The gross mis-education of Indian men on matters of sex and sexuality, and their reliance on myths and whispered hearsay to build up whatever knowledge they have, indicate that the gaping holes in our sex education remain one of the biggest barriers to sexual health. Instead of concerning itself with criminalising clients, banning bar girls from dancing in beer bars or ‘cleaning up’ red light areas, the State and its institutions would do better to take their ostrich heads out of the sand and get on with the urgent task of mainstreaming sex education.
(Manjima Bhattacharjya is a sociologist and activist based in Mumbai) InfoChange News & Features, May 2008 |
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