Nuzhat Ferdous Islam

Roll: 18
Course: MSS 01
 Review on Ashwini Sukthankar’s
Queering Approaches to Sex, Gender, and Labor in India:
Examining Paths to Sex Worker Unionism

Ashwini Shuktankar is both activist and writer/editor, who voices LBTQ community, specially
Lesbian community (Menon, 1999). Her Article ‘Queering Approaches to Sex, Gender, and
Labor in India’ is a excerpt from Ania Loomba and Ritty A. Lukose edited Anthology ‘South
Asian Feminisms’. This book, published in 2012, is a collection of feminist issue based writings
of South Asian writers- sixteen essays, grouped in 6 categorical sections.

This article mainly focuses on emergence of Sex-worker’s Unionism in India. Sukthankar also
poses light on the issues related to sex worker’s movement- ‘sex work is work’ and ‘sex
worker’s right as a worker’. According to her, to understand these specific movement and
unionism, we need-
● Full history of sexworker’s lives in India and activist interventions of it
● The regional and international geo-politics involving this movement and unionism
Along with the activist knowledge, the idea of geo-political context will help to understand the
domestic and international level politics, and activist debates.
Sukthankar has broadly divided her writing into two timelines...
1990s: approaches and attitudes to sex work: which examines conceptulization of sex-work
perceived by different activist groups
2000s: disarray, paralysis and conflict: which portrays the history of sex work unionism,
unions and their framework in India

1990s: Approaches And Attitudes to Sex Work

Before the 1990s, International law frameworks weren’t suitable that could address activists’
stance on sex work issues. During the ’90s, two ideologies led the international level platform,
particularly at United Nations conferences.
Abolitionism:
● perceive ​sex workers as victims​, not as criminals. They were forcibly brought into sex
industry. Therefore, they should be rescued and rehabilitated to a normal life.
● People who take sex service- who are ‘​clients’ in this industry, pimps, brokers,
kothi/brothel owners should be ​criminalized​.
Anti Abolitionism:
● perceives sex work as a ​thouroghly considered choices which is a way of earning their
livilihood, a short number of them may be felt pray/ trafficked into this industry.
● Perceiving sex work as only a scheme of organized crime would be wrong.
● ‘​Rescue and rehabilitate’ policy would be paternalist, antifeminist and anti-worker
steps. This will give rise to in-custody rape, harassment, blackmail by the police.
● Voluntary sex work should be ​legalized/ decriminalized​. Because criminal conviction
negatively impacts an industry by making it undercover operational. Furthermore, it
would locate sex workers into a more vulnerable situation.
● It demands national, social and economic strategies for welfare of former sex workers by
increasing alternative employment opportunities.
State level initiatives or actions for sex workers was mostly abolitionsm motivated. For example,
1986 amendments in law gives authority to police to search without notice and bring sex-worker
in shelter, cumplusory HIV test, marking positive tested etc. These also tried to decrease penalty
against sex workers.

According to Sukthankar’s arguments,

Abolitionists and anti-abolitionists, both sides as well as the states have c​oded sex
work around the concept of trafficking which lead to prostitution to exploitation. Sex work as
a free choice is largely unconceptualized by each side. Philosophically they missed the
perception that it can be a means of subsistence. This also blurs the idea that sex work can be
done for profit, not just exploiting sex workers. Though feminist activists have identify that state
and patriarchy don’t want to conceptulize purposedly, it is very sensitive to challange the notion.
 States refusal to acknowledge sex work as a profit business and subsistance is not
questioned by abolitionists/ anti-abolitionists either. They just questions stigmatizing or
harassing sex workers. Moreover, lack of national development policy has put industry into an
informal, unprotected from. According to anti-abolitionists, ​state and patriarchy do this
because a group, not to mention, mostly pimps, relatives, husbands, boy-friends are ​benefited
economically by deceiving them into sex working and taking service from them. State does not
regulate brothels by rescuing victims and punish all involved in it.
The most critical is to identify forced and voluntary sex work which complicates policy
development around it. Even the international legal frameworks only perceive ​free/forced
according to ‘economic’ basis​. Abolitionists argue that economic coercion is very similar to
other types of coercion. Meaningful consent into sex work is itself a vague concept. Activists add
that, for legal reformation, free/forced distinction is not a good basis.
Activists rejects state interventions​, because this may put sex workers at mercy of
bureacratic agenda and corruption.
Sex worker Movements were basically ​led by middle-class activists, feminists, because
they had better hold of resources, networking and information. Sukthankar raised the question
that- do they know the real experiences of sex worker’s exploitation and politics around sex
work and its sustainance?
From anti-abolitionists' point of view, sex worker’s demand of ‘sex-work is work’ and
right to work is influenced by ​commercial and burgeois ideology​. Which she mentioned as
“politics of pleasure and desire” and “sex work as symbol of subversive desire” (p. 311).
Other sexuality and law related campaigns happening during the 90s were ​measuring
the stigmatization of rape, sexual harassment, sex work from same level​. This puts women at
risk, because all these sexual debates or exploitations aren't the same. Sex workers were trying to
introduce themselves as legitimate workers, where rape-harassment were form of sexual abuse.

Sukthankar at the end of this part stated that, all of strands and groups- abolitionists,
anti-abolitionists, activists, feminists were same at one goal- they wanted to remove stigma from
sex work. Agreeing with her opinion, every identity and group has their own agenda and politics.
Those who were at frontline of the movement are mostly educated, privileged, middle-class
women/ feminists who were leading the sex workers. They hadn't had the actual experience. This
was the main complexity. And as we know, sex work/ sexuality is already very sesitive issue in
South Asian context, it made the politics more intense.

2000s: Disarray, Paralysis and Conflict of Unionism

The new millennium mark the emergence of Sex Worker Union as an attempt to establish their
industry as business. To be more precise, most unions bring forth themselves as a form of
‘entertainment industry’. But if they enter into a union framework then they will lose funding
from HIV/AIDS campaigns. Along with these, they were also facing new forms of crisis.
Mainstream trade unions were supporting the sex worker’s unions, but they also had an
area of discomfort around sexuality. A shared platform therefore is questionable. Moreover,
mainstream trade unions were never actually kin to involving women workers and voicing their
rights, as these unions are mostly led my male. They are the very representation of work-home,
public-private dichotomy. Sex workers’ position in the society is far more complex.

Sukthankar here, presented example of three sex worker’s union: ​Durbar’s Binodini Shramik
Union of Calcutta, ​Sangama of Bangalore and ​Karnataka Sex Workers Union of Bangalore.
These unions have their own challenges.

Bharatiya Bar Girls Union of Calcutta is similar to the function of Binodini Shramik Union. The
leadership role is played by someone who is alien to bar dancing or sex work experience. Like,
she mentioned Bar Girls Union’s leader Varsha Kale not a dancer herself. Kale also is a middle
class woman, where bar girls mostly are from marginal or poor strata. Not hard to guess, if the
leader lacked the context then how effective the union can be! Adding to this ​class and
hierarchy issue​, Maharashtra ban employing women as dancers at bars during 2005 but elite and
luxury hotels were out of coverage of this ban. They explained that these exceptions were made
so that culture can be promoted and tourism can be saved.
The ​internal conflict of identity is another big issue between bar girls and sex workers. Bar
girls job and sex workers service is quite different on the basis of dancing to entertain and giving
sexual pleasure through sex work. Bar girls union only want to stick on ‘fundamental right to
dancing. Particular groups of the unions also lack solidarity whether to promote promiscuity.
According to my point of view, sex work or pleasure work is itself very obscured concept to
promote as economic work- both to us and to the pleople involved in it. Sex also a locus of great
politics which can made dreadful impact on every individual’s life and choices. To make a policy
outline or legal framework for it is further difficult. And again, added with this complexity, sex
work can not be fully ignored nor be abolished. If abolished, there is question that where will
people go to meet their thirst of pleasure and will it give rise to sexual abuse/ rape crimes? There
is actually no definite answer to any of us.
Sex work as a concept is ​heavily influenced by its affiliation with ​trafficking​. State, foreign
fund programs and abolitionists see this industry as a result of immoral trafficking and
exploitation of women. Pressured by the United States, India made an amendment in the
Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act in 2005 that it would not give a penalty for soliciting. Attention
to trafficking has only ​magnified the victim image​, not their independent choice to this
subsistence. According to Durbar, sex work and trafficking is two different thing. In their ‘Sex
Work Manifesto’ 1995, they said, “women take up prostitution for some reason as they may take
up any other livlihood option available to them.” (p. 316).
New Trade Union Initiative- NTUI critiqued sex workers union’s approach of promoting ‘​right
to pleasure​’. To them, pleasure and work and labor are sharply a contrast, pleasure was not
theirs but of the client’s. If a union focus on ​clients’ rights than it will gain exploitative nature to
prostitution.

Karnataka Sex Workers Union used public relations method- they focused on work than the
debate around sex. They embraced victimhood and shared their stories of exploitation on which
basis they demanded work rights to better their work condition and move out of vulnerable
status. Sukthankar mentioned this as a ​unified struggle rather than individual, expressive
struggle. Karnataka union does not support the ‘raid-rescue’ model, rather they want ‘​improved
and safe working conditions​’.
Binodini Shramik Union is large in member size but led by outside people of sex work industry.
Karnataka Union, on the other hand, has involved its ​sex worker members in leadership and
decision making role​. The limitation this union has, is that it is not well syncronized with other
feminist, activists group unlike the Binodini Union.

Sangama of Bangalore, same region based as Karnataka Union, are ​working with women,
working class men and hijra who are involved in sex work. Sangama drew attention on
inapplicability of repeal of sodomy law to women and HIV/AIDS high activism and its funding
politics.

At current times, ‘community based organization’ has emerged along with these unions which
are promoted by state and AIDS control programs. According to Sukthankar, there are some
strategic choices for unions-
● They should reject identity politics, queer only spaces and middle class domination with a
sex worker only political space.
● They need to resolve how to involve and mobilize female, male and transgender sex
workers with addressing their different need and work condition.
● They need to negotiate with state to establish the unionization of sex work. Which was
also told by Firdous Azim in his chapter ‘Keeping Sexuality on the Agenda: The Sex
Worker’s Movemenet in Bangladesh’ (p. 267- 282) that right based approach can not be
achieved without state recognition. Ultimately it will be the state who will be responsible
to grant the right.
● Unions need to be critical of their relationship with feminists, activists, donors. They
should believe in ‘solidarity and division when needed’ principle.

At the conclusion, Sukthankar stated that there is a question around successful navigation of
unions battling HIV/AIDS attention, trafficking, state power structures, victime/agent
dichotomy, identity politics with collective bargaining. There is also question whether traditional
workplace policy and union framework can be applied for sex service industry and ensures
worker rights. But the thing that Sukthankar may overlook is that sex worker movement or
unionism ​does not include their individual struggle​. Her arguments are more based on the
commercial perspective. As Azim argued in his writing, “Brothels are interesting and hybrids
places, being both places of work and domestic spaces...Sex work can be seen as part of the
service sector, as care work, or as entertainment.” (p. 277).
There is also discomfort around sex work and pleasure business- how this complex issue will be
resolved? There is also a dichotomy of us (activists/feminists) and them (sex workers) according
to Azim, how it will be broken? There may be no definite answer, but the question needs to be
raised and tried to be resolved with unified or individual attempts. No issues should go on
unquestioned.

References:
Menon, B. 1999. ​Ashwini Sukthankar: Seeking a voice for India's silenced lesbians. ​India Today.​
[Online]. Available at:
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19990322-ashwini-sukthankar-
seeking-a-voice-for-indias-silenced-lesbians-780474-1999-03-22
Loomba, A. & Lukose, R. A (ed.). 2012. ​South Asian Feminisms.​ Duke University press,
London.