Länderberichte INDIEN:

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Benefizkonzert im Stage-Club

Regy Clasen und Jane Comerford helfen Indien


14. Oktober 2009

Die Winterhuder Schülerin Laila Richter hat im Alleingang ein Benefizkonzert für indische Kinder am 15. Oktober im Stage Club organisiert.

Regy Clasen, Soul-Pop-Sängerin aus Hamburg.
Foto: Hasko Witte/ORIGINAL zu : O:\\BILDER\\B_FERT

Um Kindern von Prostituierten, die unter erbärmlichen Bedingungen in einem Slum südlich der indischen Metropole Kalkutta leben, zu helfen, hat die Winterhuder Schülerin Laila Richter im Alleingang ein Benefizkonzert im Stage Club organisiert. Dabei ist es der erst 14-Jährigen gelungen, Stars wie Regy Clasen, Jane Comerford, Jenniffer Kae und Joss Loner für ihr Projekt zu begeistern, die sämtlich ohne Gage auftreten.

Alle Einnahmen kommen der vor neun Jahren gegründeten Organisation New Light zugute, die dafür sorgt, dass zumindest einige der betroffenen Kinder eine Schulausbildung erhalten. Für Mädchen, die drohen selbst in die Prostitution abzugleiten, werden zudem sichere Schlafplätze angeboten.

Benefizkonzert mit Regy Clasen, Jane Comerford u. a. Do, 15.10., 20.00, Stage Club (S Holstenstr.), Stresemannstr. 163, Karten zu 18,-: Kartenhaus (Gertigstr. 4) und E. Schumacher (Colonnaden 37);
http://4newlight.blogspot.com (hot)

Quelle:
http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/ar ... ndien.html





Hoffentlich kauft sie keine T-shirts, die in Kinderarbeit mit Strassteilchen bestickt sind.

[JayR]

In Kalkutta gabs vor einigen Jahren das Projekt "Kids with cameras" mit Kindern von Sexworkern.
http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/aboutthekids/

und den Film "Born into Brothels"
http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothels/

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Landesinterne Sexworker Migration
wegen Polizeischikanen und besseren Arbeitsbedingungen

Pune has the sex appeal


By: Alifiya Khan Date: 2009-10-16 Place: Pune


Sex workers moving from Mumbai to Pune say it is the low rent and better 'police co-operation' here that attracts them

Kamathipura, the famous sex hub of Mumbai, is drying up quickly. And the reason is Pune. The city's relatively low real estate prices and 'police co-operation' are drawing sex workers by the dozens from Mumbai, where they are troubled by abnormal rents and land sharks.

Figures obtained from NGOs working in the two cities show that while the Commercial Sex Workers' (CSW) population in Mumbai is shrinking, it is rising in Pune. "Mumbai's sex streets like Kamathipura, Falkland Road, etc, had a total of about 18,000 to 20,000 prostitutes till two years ago. But with land sharks eyeing this prime land for redevelopment and brothel owners hiking rent rates, most sex workers have migrated to neighbouring suburbs and Pune," said Manish Pawar, co-ordinator of Asha Mahila, a government-run project for sex workers that is based in Mumbai's Grant Road area.


Too much pressure

Nandita (31), used to live in a brothel in Kamathipura, but migrated to Pune about a year ago after she couldn't handle the pressure from the brothel keeper. "I used to pay a rent of Rs 7,500 and give some part of my earnings to her. But then she wanted to hike the rent. We heard that a builder had offered money to her, so she wanted us out. I knew people here and even cops don't harass us much, so I decided to come here."

Rent for brothels in Pune ranges between Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,500 a month. Some CSWs don't pay rent, but simply share the money earned with the brothel keeper.

While Nandita didn't reveal how much she earns, she said it was better than her hand-to-mouth existence in Mumbai. "Here I charge the same price and pay less rent. Besides, here I don't live in a brothel," said Nandita, who shares a flat with another girl in Pimpri.

According to current estimates, there are approximately 10,000 sex workers in the red-light areas of Mumbai.


Other reasons

Another reason for migration is fewer customers. "Many women complain that they are moving from Mumbai, as the clients are very few.

With HIV/AIDS awareness rising, the clientele is reducing," said Dr I S Gilada, founder of People's Health Organisation, an NGO in Kamathipura, Mumbai.

The rate has increased over the past two years. "It's not just sex workers. Even bar girls have migrated to Pune. After the ban on dance bars, they took to sex work. Maybe they can't afford Mumbai and Pune is cheaper," said Dr Laxmi Mali, who runs a health clinic for NGO Vanchit Vikas in Budhwar Peth, Pune.


In the long run

Experts say that while this migration might have not affected prices yet, increased competition might be a problem in the long run. "These women are insecure about their business at the moment. So, they will offer any service to lure customers, even without condoms sometimes. This can create huge problems not just for them, but the local sex workers as well," said Gilada.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/oct/16 ... l-Pune.htm





In Puna findet sich auch das Grab und der Ashram (Kloster) von OSHO.
Der Heilige oder Guru, der Sex und Religion versöhnen konnte

viewtopic.php?p=48696#48696 (sw-only)





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

TV-Debatte:

Should prostitution be decriminalized?


ndtv.com



Shohini Ghosh
Prof.
Jamia Milia [Islamia] University
National University
www.jmi.nic.in
New Delhi

Wir alle vermieten irgendeine Fähigkeit beruflich.

Sexwork is work.

It is more about work than about sex.
Problem der Sexarbeit ist das gesellschaftliche Problem mit Sex.
Jeder nicht-fortpflanzungs-orientierte Sex wird moralisch diskriminiert.



Madhu Kishwar
Editor Manushi

Responsibility of men for their sexuality and sexual off spring



Dr Kiran Bedi
Seniour police officer

86 % are not free by choice.




8 Min.
http://www.youtube.com/v/jjDWNLBASy8

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjDWNLBASy8[/youtube]





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Gentrifizierungszyklus in Bombays Rotlichtviertel Kamathipura


Laura Agustín:
http://www.nodo50.org/Laura_Agustin/kam ... ers-mumbai





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexworker-Community mit Wählermacht:
Wahlentscheidend in 10 Wahlbezirken

Sex workers hold the key in 10 wards


Y Maheswara Reddy
First Published : 14 Mar 2010

Sex workers in the city are set to decide the fate of candidates contesting from more than 10 wards in the BBMP elections.

According to Nitya Sumangale Sanghatane, a community-based organisation of female sex workers, there are around 20,000 sex workers in Bangalore.

Most of the female sex workers have voter identity cards.

On an average, if there are three voters from each family, then the number of voters are estimated to be around 60,000.

“Female sex workers and sexual minorities in Bangalore are living below poverty line. They are deprived of basic human rights and are alienated from the society.

We want to end this discrimination against sex workers with the help of political parties,” said Aruna Kumari, Convener, Nithya Sumangale Sanghatane .

“Though it is difficult to give the exact number of sex workers residing in each of the 198 BBMP wards, they are a considerable lot. Many sex workers have settled at Okalipuram, Govindarajanagar, Nayandahalli, Dasarahalli, Bapujinagar, Kengeri, Ullal Upnagar, Kalasipalya, Chamarajpet and Cottonpet, she added .

Jayalakshmi, a community support leader said, “Our votes can decide the fate of at least 10 candidates in the BBMP elections. There are hundreds of sexual minorities at Hoody,” says Jayalakshmi, community support leader .

This year, the sex workers have decided to support candidates who include their demands in their election manifestos. “We do not want mere assurance. Since, politicians conveniently forget their promises once the elections are over, we want them on paper,” said Renuka, community support leader, Nithya Sumangale Sanghatane

http://expressbuzz.com/edition/story.as ... zZRCAUTQ==





TS-Sexworker kandidiert für öffentliche Wahl:
http://sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=77447#77447





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Prostitution im Kastensystem in Nepal


afp.de


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdMTsLWS3O8[/youtube]

[Arum]

          

[
Shohini Ghosh
Prof.
Jamia Milia [Islamia] University
National University
www.jmi.nic.in
New Delhi

Von ihr, hier ein grossartiger Beitrag zur Diskussion: http://www.india-seminar.com/2008/583/5 ... _ghosh.htm

Darin u.A.:

All people employed in worksites of the informal, unorganized and invisible sectors of the economy have their rights routinely violated. The more illegal or invisible the worksite, the greater its exploitative character. This is the generic condition of the informal economy and is not exclusive to sex work. But it is only in the case of sex work that demands are made for the abolition of the trade. Sex workers have repeatedly pointed out that it is not the trade but the violence in the trade that has to be abolished. The International Labour Movement urges the radical transformation of labour, not its abolition. Similarly, sex workers also demand radical transformation of their work in alliance with other political programmes like the transformation of marital laws, land and property rights so that women can exercise greater control over the terms and conditions of their life and work.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Comparing Countries' Compassion towards sex workers

Chapter 1: India

(Duration:40 minutes)


Trailer
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEf_CYWihaI[/youtube]




Jessie, a sex worker, and a sex work activist from Australia, is proud and passionate about her work, and wants to create awareness, and educate people about safe sex practice.

Jessies mission is to meets other peer educators and celebrate the achievements on combating HIV in minority groups such as sex workers across the world. In her quest to do so, Jessie starts meeting people from different walks of life to reach out to other parts of world, to experience, and educate herself about how peer education, and safe sex practice is taking place, as well as to share her own experiences as a sex worker, and a peer educator. Jessie, is able to rope in a documentary filmmaker from India, Vikrant Kishore, whom she met at a conference in Melbourne; and suddenly finds herself packing her bags to go to India to participate in one of the Worlds biggest sex workers conference to take place in Kolkata, and do some peer education in New Delhis infamous red light district G.B Road. The film focuses on the journey of Jessie, and the various people she meets, from sex workers, pimps, sex work activists, voluntary workers, children of the sex workers, and NGO personnel. In cinema vérité style, the documentary follows Jessie in her trip to New Delhi, and Kolkata, and brings out various moments of exploration of the situation of sex workers, and awareness towards the problem of STDs, specifically HIV, and AIDS, according to Jessies perspective. This journey proves to be a catalyst for Jessie, and bestows her strength to work with renewed vigor for spreading awareness about safe sex practice across the world.

Jessie is currently editing the second chapter of the series shot in USA, and is preparing for the third chapter shoot in Australia.


CREW:
Producer: Seranna
Director & Editor: Vikrant Kishore
Associate Producer: Kamal Akhtar
Production Manager: Arvind Kumar
Cameraperson (India): Imteyaz Siddiqui
Cameraperson (Australia): Vikrant Kishore
Associate Editor: Sumantra Sarathi Das
Assistant Producer: Pawan Kumar
Legal Advisor; Vivek Kishore




Jessie kommt auch zur IAC2010 nach Wien und wird filmen. Evt. gibt es ja eine gemeinsame Aktion auf dem Sexworker-Stand.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexworker Protest der Sexworker Gewerkschaft war erfolgreich:
Die HIVpositiven Sexworker, denen man Behandlung verweigert hatten, konnten die Rehabilitationsanstalt wieder verlassen.

Protest helps sex workers out of rehab hell


Express News Service
First Published : 02 Jul 2010 08:14:18 AM IST

BANGALORE: After an HIV positive sex worker was denied treatment by a doctor, around 200 people held a protest on Thursday and released a group of sex workers.

The women were lodged in a rehabilitation cell at Beggars’ Colony run by Social Welfare Department.

The protest was called by the Karnataka Sex Workers’ Union, Arunodaya Network of People Living with HIV, and a number of sexual minorities and human rights groups — Samara, Sadhane, Suraksha and Sangama.

“Violence against sex workers has increased in the city in the last four months,” said Elavarthi Manohar, a human rights activist.

“These women are homeless sex workers living on the streets, but they are not beggars,” Manohar said. “It is the duty of the government to provide them housing.” Tejaswani, general secretary of the Karnataka Sex Workers’ Union, said many sex workers were arrested and lodged in Beggars’ Colony in the last 20 days.

“One woman who is HIV positive needed treatment,” she said, talking about what triggered the protest.

She said the doctor in the colony refused to treat her. “She needed urgent medical attention, so we went on a flash strike,” said Tejaswani.

Kumar, a legal advisor to the agitating NGOs who went in and inspected the colony, said the condition inside was most unhygienic. “There are no proper facilities, not even toilets and urinals,” said Kumar.

Source:
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore ... 86389.html





Infos: HIV+ und Berufsverbot für Sexworker im Westen:
viewtopic.php?p=32674#32674

Sammelthema: Sexwork und Gewerkschaften:
viewtopic.php?t=4508





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexworker Studie im Rotlichtviertel Sonagachi Calcutta und in Bengalen, India 1992 und 2003


STD-Vergleiche des Präventionsprojektes unter den organisierten Sexworkern im weltgrößten Rotlichtviertel Sonagachi (173 SW) mit einer Bengalen-weiten Sexworker Kontrollgruppe der National AIDS Control Organization (NACO; 169 SW).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903624/


Nach der ersten Studie 1992 wurde im Rotlichtviertel mit Staatshilfe das Sexworker Projekt Sonagachi gegründet mit bezahlten Sexworkern als Peer Educatoren
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonagachi

The sex workers formed a forum of their own, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
www.durbar.org


Beide Gruppen haben geringe Infektionsraten (25% STD+).
Durch die Präventionsprojekte konnten die Infektionszahlen gesenkt werden...
The Sonagachi women had a higher prevalence of chlamydia and a lower prevalence of active syphilis and candidiasis...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... /table/T1/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... /table/T4/


Die Sexworker von Sonagachi mit dem Empowerment-Projekt DURBAR haben eine optimistischere Alltagseinstellung.


Die Sexworker im Rotlichtviertel sind jünger (durchschnittlich 26 Jahre). Die anderen über 35 Jahre...
Jugend ist ein Risikofaktor für STD, weil SW meist verkauft werden.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... figure/F1/


Die Sexworker im Rotlichtviertel haben mehrheitlich mehr als 3 und bis 10 Kunden pro Tag und verdienen ca. 2,5 x soviel wie die Kontrollgruppe...
Über 80% können nicht Lesen und Schreiben...
Vom Ehemann verlassen zu werden ist ein Grund für die Arbeit in der Prostitution...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... /table/T2/


Beide Gruppen gehen große Risiken ein...
Z.B. 47% lassen auch schonmal ein Kondem weg, bei Gewalt oder Geldangebot...
Nicht alle untersuchen den Penis des Kunden vorher...
Die Sexworker im Rotlichtviertel sind vorsichtiger haben aber auch wg. mehr Kunden höheres Risiko...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... /table/T3/

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexarbeiter feiern in einer Demonstration den Freiheitskämpfer Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956). Sein Geburtstag am 14. April ist in Indien ein öffentlicher Feiertag.


Er hat sich für die Abschaffung des Kastensystem eingesetzt um den Unberührbaren zudenen er selbst gehörte gleiche Recht und Anerkennung zu gewähren.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhimrao_Ramji_Ambedkar

Er wird als Bodhisatva verehrt.





Mehr Fotos von der Parade der Sexworker von VAMP:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... =684187032

gesammelt im Album von Meena Saraswathi Seshu, die die Selbstvernetzung und HIV-Prävention für Sexworker organisiert:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... 6/fulltext


VAMP ist die Sexworker Selbstorganisation mit über 5.000 Frauen beim Hilfsprojekt SANGRAM:
www.sangram.org





SANGRAM Sexworker Bill of Rights:
viewtopic.php?p=80522#80522

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Calcutta high court to decide on crucial plea by sex workers


Published: Friday, Aug 6, 2010, 1:54 IST
By Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri | Place: Kolkata | Agency: DNA



DURBAR sex worker Self Regulatory Boards (SRB) against trafficking
(Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) - a collecivization of 65.000 sex workers in Kolkata, India)


The Calcutta high court is set to hear an interesting petition on the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), 1956, next week. The petition calls for abolition of section 4 and amendments to sections 8 and 18 of ITPA. These laws have never been challenged in court.

The petition has been filed by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC www.durbar.org ), an umbrella association of Kolkata-based sex workers.

The association wants changes in these laws since it believes these violate the fundamental rights of citizens. It also wants clients of sex workers to be exempted from criminal prosecution.

Section 4 is full of contradictions, noted criminal and human rights lawyer K Gupta said. “Under this section, those dependent (parents, husband, adult children) on the income of sex workers can be prosecuted if they are aware that the money has been earned through prostitution,” Gupta said. “However, the beneficiary cannot be prosecuted if h/she is unaware of the source of income. But it is quite difficult to establish this distinction and in most cases law-enforcement agencies take advantage of this.”

Besides, this section is self-discriminatory, or contrary to other laws that make it mandatory for a son or daughter to look after their dependent parents. “In a way, this section discourages a sex worker from spending her money to look after her ailing parents or educating her adult son or daughter. Under section 4, people benefiting from the income of sex worker can be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison,” Gupta said.

Similarly, another self-contradictory clause in ITPA is the one that makes it a criminal offence to hire the services of a sex worker. “Prostitution has not been defined as a criminal offence in our law. If the service is not illegal, then how can clients be criminals? We hope this historical petition will try to seek answers to all such questions,” the lawyer said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ca ... rs_1419479

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Wie Sexworker sich mit ihren eigenen Videos gegen falsche Berichte und Dokus wehren können:

Video-Gegendarstellung der Sexworker von SANGRAM


- Sexworker bekamen keinen schriftlichen Vertrag über die Produktion und haben nichts unterschrieben. Es gab keine Vorlage zur Freigabe des Bildmaterials.

- Der HIV-Status von einer Sexarbeiterin wurde im Film veröffentlicht mit der Behauptung Sexworker würden den Virus verbreiten.

- Es wurde ein Film über Sexworker statt mit Sexworkern gemacht. Sie wurden für ein Projekt benutzt, welches auf Emotionen für Opfer von Menschenhandel setzt.

- Sexworker fordern eine Entschuldigung.





This brief (3.5) minute clip by the Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP, Prostitutes' Collective Against Injustice), encapsulates a succinct response to 'Prostitutes of God', a sensationalized and factually flawed documentary produced by Sarah Harris for VBS TV.

Countering the distorted perspective in the film, women from VAMP present their incisive views about sex work; religion and faith; livelihoods; issues of consent; ethics and cross-cultural sensitivities while making documentary films.

The women in Sangli from VAMP recorded video responses to the film. In the age of the internet, women in countries far away who used to be the objects of white people's gaze with no right of reply now have access to the representations that are made of them, and the technological means to answer back. A naive westerner may seize the headlines, but there's now scope for there to be a debate and to bring those who in the past would have remained voiceless victims into that debate to represent themselves. It is a great opportunity to put the record straight.

This clip has been produced by Sangli Talkies, the newly-launched video unit of SANGRAM / VAMP. Watch!

In solidarity,
VAMP and SANGRAM
www.sangram.org
Sangli, Maharashtra, Indien



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16OGyssJTvo[/youtube]





'Prostitutes of God'

documentary produced by Sarah Harris
for VBS TV

1 http://www.vbs.tv/de-de/watch/the-vice- ... -episode-1 SANGRAM
2 http://www.vbs.tv/de-de/watch/the-vice- ... -episode-2 HIV+ SW, truck drivers
3 http://www.vbs.tv/de-de/watch/the-vice- ... -episode-3 TS, Condomtrick
4 http://www.vbs.tv/de-de/watch/the-vice- ... -episode-4 Yellama Festival, Trafficking


Rezensionen:

Deutsch:
http://www.viceland.com/blogs/de/2010/1 ... -devadasi/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 82290.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatl ... f-God.html

Prostitutes of god

Journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about temple prostitutes in south India -Devadasi girls are dedicated to a Hindu deity and spend their lives selling sex.


Interview by Matilda Battersby
Monday, 20 September 2010

Former Independent journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about India's temple prostitutes - Devadasi are young girls who are dedicated to a Hindu deity at a young age and support their families as sex workers.

The first instalment of the four-part exclusively online documentary 'Prostitutes of God' goes live today on VBS.tv.

I first went to India after I left The Independent three years ago. I wanted to run away and do something really different, so I went to volunteer with a charity in southern India which rescues victims of sex trafficking.

On my very first day there I stumbled into a meeting of Devadasi prostitutes. I was told that they were temple prostitutes, but didn’t have any understanding of what that meant.

I began to research it and in February 2008 was invited to northern Karnataka, which is the centre of the tradition in India. I interviewed a few of the women and wrote an article about it for Vice magazine. But visiting them stayed with me, and I wanted to find out more.

When you approach a Devadasi girl for interview the response varies hugely. There’s a huge spectrum of women. A really wealthy brothel madam in Mumbai would be quite proud to talk about what she does. But in very poor rural communities, like in Karnatakar, they’re much more difficult to talk to. These young women are ostracised and exploited and they’re ashamed of what they do. They wish they could get married, but they can’t and are in this dreadful prison.

The only thing that has changed since the Devadasi practise was made illegal in 1988 is that the ceremonies have been driven underground. It’s still very common in some parts of India. A Westerner wouldn’t know to look at the girls that they are Devadasi, but Indians know on sight who they are and what they do. Really it comes down to caste.

Caste is a massively complicated issue still in India. My understanding of it is that originally when the Devadasi tradition first came about, the women dedicated were from high caste families, even royalty. They held a very special place in the Indian culture: were incredible dancers, poets, artisans. They had specific religious roles to play within the temple performing various sacred religious rites. They were almost like nuns and it had nothing to do with sex. It was more like being a priestess.

The film shows how much the tradition has deteriorated over the centuries. Specifically in the 19th Century when the Christian missionaries came, the Devadasi became less well thought of. These days it’s very much a low caste tradition. Girls from the Madiga caste, otherwise known as the “untouchable caste,” have really limited prospects. They can be agricultural labourers, sewage collectors or prostitutes, essentially. As prostitution is the most lucrative, a lot of Madiga women get into sex work.

Some girls are dedicated to the goddess at age two or three. They won’t actually enter into sex work until they reach puberty at around twelve. The girls most at risk of being dedicated will have grown up in very matriarchal Devadasi communities. There aren’t any men. They don’t have fathers. So there probably is some understanding from a young age that they’re not from traditional families, they don’t have husbands.

The girls probably won’t have a real understanding of the sex work element until what they call their ‘first night’. This is when their virginity is sold to a local man, normally the highest bidder. He might be a local farmer, landowner or businessman. Some of them say, “I was dedicated to the goddess, but I didn’t know this was what was expected.”

When I first went to India I thought some of the women might consider it a kind of honour to be a Devadasi, because of it is an act of religious devotion. Sexuality and divinity are very closely entwined in the Hindu faith. Religion is closely linked to sexuality and beauty. But I think there’s very little religious link left now. Most of the women that we spoke to don’t even pay any heed to the traditional religious practises of the goddess. They see it as a business.

HIV is very prevalent in the community. Our translator, who works very closely with these communities, describes HIV as being like plucking a bunch of grapes. As soon as a woman is infected then her whole family becomes infected. Every man she sleeps with then becomes infected. [This is medical nonsense. Ann.] Then the men pass it onto their wives. It’s very difficult to measure the disease’s prevalence because many don’t understand what that they’ve got.

There is widespread ignorance about AIDS and HIV in those communities. And a huge stigma attached to using condoms. People die of HIV related illnesses and they call it “dying of a fever.” The infected often go undiagnosed. There’s also huge disparity. One of the towns we went to had a huge NGO which was campaigning for the rights of sex workers, distributing condoms and educational materials, so the Devadasi were quite switched on about it.

It’s very difficult for girls to leave the profession. You see groups of former Devadasi becoming social activists and campaigners against the tradition. That’s one way out. Another is to become an educator or a social worker. There is a huge movement to try and stop dedications happening, and the impetus for that is coming from the grass roots. The former Devadasi women.

Living a normal life in India after having been a Devadasi prostitute is extremely, extremely hard because they're seen as damaged goods. In India marriage is everything. If there’s any suggestion that a girl has had sex before marriage then she's ostracised from society. Women are still stoned to death in some villages for those kinds of transgressions. So it’s very difficult for them to rebuild their lives.

India’s ‘prostitutes of God’

An ancient tradition which sees girls dedicated to a lifetime of 'religious prostitution' has become a big business on the streets of southern India. Sarah Harris, who spent two years uncovering the practice, explains what it means to be a devadasi in the twenty-first century.


By Leah Hyslop
Published: 9:42AM BST 20 Sep 2010

It was in 2008 that Sarah Harris first made the acquaintance of India’s devadasi. The former journalist from The Independent on Sunday had, in what she calls “a moment of madness,” thrown in the towel at her old job, and gone to work with victims of sex trafficking in southern India.

“One day, I walked into a meeting at an NGO,” she recalls, “and there were a group of women sitting there, whom I assumed were prostitutes. But later, someone told me that they were actually devadasi or “servants of god”; religious prostitutes, and part of an ancient Hindu tradition. It was at that point my interest was piqued.”

Deciding that the devadasi would make an interesting subject for a documentary, Harris began to research the custom’s history, concentrating particularly on the state of Karnataka. She discovered that the tradition there stretched back as long ago as the sixth century, when young girls, often from wealthy backgrounds, were dedicated to local temples. After going through a dedication ceremony which "married" them to the fertility goddess Yellamma, they would act as temple care-takers: performing rituals in honour of their goddess, as well as dancing and playing music for the entertainment of wealthy locals.

Over time, however, the tradition began to change, and the devadasi became less respected. “Many ended up becoming the mistress of a particular ‘patron’ - often a royal, or nobleman - as well as serving in the temple," says Harris, "and eventually, the connection with the temple became severed altogether. Today, although there are still many women called devadasi, and who have been dedicated to the goddess, a lot of them are essentially prostitutes.”

So how did the devadasi fall from grace? “The practice was outlawed in India in 1988,” says Harris, “by which point, its connection with prostitution was well-established. But it seems to have been linked to the fall of the old Hindu kingdoms over several hundreds of years. As Christianity spread especially, temples lost their influence, and women were forced out onto the streets.”

As research for her documentary, Prostitutes of God, Harris and her team spent several months tracking down and meeting some of the estimated 23,000 devadasi in Karnataka. Getting access to the women posed a challenge, but Sarah’s experience working for NGOs managed to provide her with several leads. Out of those she interviewed, nearly all cited economic need rather than religious tradition as the main reason behind their chosen path. [Possibly all religion has an economic background. Ann.]

“Many devadasi are sold into the sex trade by their families,” she says. “The parents know that they’re not really giving their children to be religious servants, but they turn a blind eye. The only devadasi I met who saw the tradition as strictly religious was a rather bizarre cross-dressing male version, who spends several hours a day in prayer.”

The most interesting fact yielded by Harris’ investigation was how female-driven the industry is. “It’s very much women recruiting women. When the devadasi become older and can’t attract the same business, they end up trafficking, and taking girls from the small villages to big cities like Bangalore, where they set up brothels. Most of the girls chosen are illiterate agricultural workers, who go because they think they’ll make more money as devadasi than if they work on the land.”

Do any make their fortune? “A few can - a client might pay a few thousand pounds for a night with a virgin devadasi. But a lot of devadasi in their 30s or 40s are selling sex for about thirty or forty pence. The strange thing is that though they see themselves as superior to non-religious prostitutes - and even though they often dress to look different, with distinctive jewellery and clothes - I don’t think the clients see much difference.”

Nearly three years after a whim first took her to India, Harris is back in Britain with her documentary in the can. “One of the reasons I wanted to go to India was because I visited it when I was 19, and it was so strange it just terrified me,” she says. “Now, I feel that I’ve got to know the country properly - and learnt about something astonishing on the way.”

Prostitutes of God can be watched at VBS.TV from September 20.

Blogs:
http://harlotsparlour.wordpress.com/201 ... es-of-god/

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010 ... s-portrays

http://www.vbs.tv/de-de/watch/the-vice- ... h/comments





Checkliste TV & Filmproduktion für Sexworker:

viewtopic.php?t=943&start=32





Nachtrag
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 17, Dated 30 Apr 2011:

Protest gegen einseitige Filmproduktionen in Indien

Vamps and margins talk back

The fierceness was all backstage at a recent South Asian feminist assembly, found Nisha Susan

Talking point Ability Unlimited’s dancers perform at the conference

WHEN BRITISH journalist Sarah Harris made a documentary on dev-dasis and sex workers in India, who could have guessed the twist in the tale? She hung out with members of Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP), a 5,000-strong collective of men, women and transgender sex workers in Sangli, Maharashtra.

Duly a film was made and Harris christened it Prostitutes of God. The film is packed with foreign-filmmaker-in-India clichés — ‘fat Hindu gods with blue skin bikinis’ and an alarming disrespect for those who welcomed her into their homes.

Harris also ‘outs’ a young woman’s HIV positive status. When the collective watched the film in 2010, they were outraged at the many betrayals.

The Pakistanis winced when Begum Nawazish Ali made another lame joke

Normally, this is where the story would have ended, except VAMP decided to fight back.

The collective made a short, pithy video riposte and uploaded it on YouTube — it is a remarkable document.

Speaking directly to the camera, several members of the collective in Sangli confront Harris, wherever she is, on her
- racism,
- manipulation of the facts and
- plain ignorance.

“Did we come to your house and insult your god? Did you tell that girl you are going to tell everyone she has HIV and that she is spreading AIDS?”

The video’s first impact is forcing Harris to excise the outing of the HIV positive woman from her film. There has been no apology from the filmmakers but as of now, nearly 10,000 people have watched VAMP’s response — Sangli Talkies’ first hit.


This film was one of a handful of spunky exemplars of the global south staking digital turf that emerged at Count Me In! — a recent feminist conference in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Delhi-based human rights organisation CREA brought together marginalised women — sex workers, disabled, single, young, lesbian and HIV-positive women, and trans people from South Asia — to discuss violence against women.


Talking point (left) A still from the VAMP video, (right) dance-theatre artist Marta Carrasco

The usual criticisms of too much, too little can easily be levelled at a conference of this scale (nearly 400 participants) but as non-profit conference- hoppers will tell you, look for the energy offstage — in the (o, overused phrase) margins. At Count Me In!, the margins swarmed with the attitude of Sri Lankan photography of drag kings, Indian activists loudly speculating over international phone lines on how Section 377 will fare in the Supreme Court this week, and a beautiful, disabled dancer. The piquancy lay more in the Pakistani contingent covering their faces and wincing when the cross-dressing television host Begum Nawazish Ali made yet another lame phallic architecture joke. The promise of a different world lay more in the confidence of the members of the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an organisation working for the rights of the third gender in Nepal. Two days before the conference, BDS had finally persuaded the government to issue citizenship certificate to a person of third gender for the first time. The promise lies in imagining a conference a few years from now, when Sangli Talkies would have their own hits, not rebuttals.

Nisha Susan is an Assistant Editor with Tehelka

www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filena ... 1Vamps.asp





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Kampf für Rechte:

Eunuch Veeru Dada aus Allahabad kämpft in der Gewerkschaft der Rikscha-Fahrer gegen Korruption und Mafia.


Mit Leadership für eine marginalisierte Minderheit...

• "Ich wurde bedroht von der Polizei und den Mafias, so wurde ich zum Eunuch.
  
  Jetzt bin ich glücklich, weil ich selbst für mich sorgen kann."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJF5tPNuv3M


Videostimme für die Ausgegrenzten:
www.videoVolunteers.org




Vgl. Lage der Motoradtaxis in Bangkok:
viewtopic.php?p=86136#86136

Kopfgeld für Prostitutionskunden an Taxifahrer in München:
viewtopic.php?p=87507#87507





.

[Ariane]

Phantastisch die Gegendarstellung der Sexworker von SANGRAM, danke Marc für die Info. Irgendwie scheinen sie in Indien im Bewußtsein weiter zu sein als hierzulande.
Da können unsere KollegInnen in Europa und US wirklich noch etwas lernen, wie man sich gegen diese ausbeuterische, ja koloniale Berichterstattung über Sexarbeit zur Wehr setzt. Aber da ja manche immer noch glauben, sie können etwas an werbefördernden Klischees mitverdienen, wenn sie sich einem an Rotlicht- und Klischee aufgeilendem bigotten Publikum und Journalismus zum Frass vorwirft, ist wohl nicht davon auszugehen.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Bank für Sexworker

Kalkutta, West Bengal

USHA MULTIPURPOSE Co-operative Society Ltd.
Regd. :- 6/Cal 1995
Fully Computerised Service

gegründet 1995

Ameda Begum, President

15.000 Konten

Annual Turnover, Jahresumsatz: RS 10 CRORE = 100 Mio. INR = 1.600.000 EUR
(entspricht durchschnittlich: 6.666 INR/Konto = 100 Euro/Konto und Jahr)

Bankerinnen gehen zu den Sexworkern an den Arbeitsplatz für Geldgeschäfte und Sparbuch-Buchungen

Sexworker hatten bisher kein Konto weil sie keinen Personalausweis hatten. Jetzt haben sie ein Konto und dadurch auch einen Personalausweis.

Kredite gibts für 5%
12köpfiges Gremium entscheidet über Kreditvergabe

...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-eGoyfU9iY[/youtube]



In Deutschland wurde das Prinzip mit den Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken zuerst in der Landwirtschaft eingeführt von:
- Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch (1808-1883)
- Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (1818-1888)

Übersicht Kooperativen und Genossenschaften:
viewtopic.php?p=65280#65280


Preise der Sexworker im Rotlichtviertel Sonagashi, Kalkutta:
500 ... 1.500 ... 8.000 INR/Stunde
Zimmermieten:
10.000 ... 15.000 INR/Monat
viewtopic.php?p=61406#61406

Indische Rupien RS:
1.000 INR = 16 EUR


In Bombay wurde die Sexworker-Bank erst 2007 gegründet:
viewtopic.php?p=59913#59913





Wie passen die rel. hohen Sexworkerpreise mit dem rel. geringen Jahresumsatz der Bank zusammen?

Zum 20jährigen Jubiläum von Durbar:
www.sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=111766#111766



USHA @ SWFF 2012
www.sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=121996#121996


The status, achievements and history of USHA in Kolkata, the Rs 13 crore cooperative [x10^7 = 130 000 000 INR = 2 Mio EUR] being the largest sex worker owned financial institution in Asia, is well presented and summarized in the affidavit by USHA to the supreme court of India 2011 (in the Karmaskar v India supreme court case 2010 of a murdered sex worker in Kolkata 1999):
www.lawyersCollective.org/files/USHA%20 ... 0Final.pdf (or attachment below).
( www.sync.in/gy4CnGsoH1 - www.facebook.com/groups/272816369476638 ... 204153954/)

In Europe check out Mama Cash of Amsterdam new "Red Umbrella Fund": www.mamaCash.org/page.php?id=3013





Update 2013 - Betrugsystem aufgeflogen:

16,000 sex workers in 59 red-light pockets had invested more than Rs9 crore [= 9 x 10^7 INR = 1.25 million EUR = 78 EUR per sex worker = 26 EUR per worker and year saved] with various chitfund companies [Saradha, Rose Valley and Sahara's schemes] during the last 3 years.

Survey at Sonagachi (the infamous red-light district in Kolkata. There alone 3,000 sex workers [18%] invested more than `Rs.5 crore [695 000 EUR or 55% or 230 EUR per sex worker] in Saradha's savings and deposit schemes.), Bowbazaar, Kalighat-Chetla, Khidirpur, Sheoraphuli, Titagarh, Asansol, Durgapur and many other pockets reported Bharati Dey, secretary of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee www.durbar.org organisation of 65.000-odd female, male and transgender sex workers in the state of West Bengal India.

6 of our Usha agents were working on the sly for Saradha and collecting deposits for the company. Usha Cooperative Society, registered in 1995 is the first sex workers' cooperative in Asia run by Durbar to fight sex workers' economic exclusion from government and other financial institutions. The money collection racket for chitfunds started with the help of some influential pimps and strongmen. "We had no option but to do what they said. If we don't listen to them, they will disturb our business," said Priyanka (name changed), a sex worker at Sonagachi.

23 May 2013 Soudhriti Bhanbani www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews ... -trap.html

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Rettungs-Industrie
Puna, West-Indien:


Von der Polizei ins "Rettungscenter" gebrachte Sexworker sind wieder ausgebrochen und zurück ins Bordel geflohen ...


http://www.lauraagustin.com/saved-at-la ... from-india

[Lycisca]

Diese Reportage ist konsistent mit dem Bericht von Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur über Gewalt gegen Frauen, an den Economic and Social Council der Vereinten Nationen aus 2001; Quelle): Die dort befragten SW waren über die Vorschläge empört, sie umzusschulen, um sie dann aus dem SW zu entfernen. Unten ist der Abschnitt aus dem offiziellen Bericht:

In an industrial suburb near Bombay, NGO activists took the Special Rapporteur to meet some sex workers during the day when they had to time to speak to her. Many of these women were from traditional devadasi families. Their families had given them to the village temple for sex work but after a while they left the temple and went to work in the city. A group of women met with the Special Rapporteur at her request. She spoke to them of the possibility of setting up a rehabilitation centre near the suburb so that the women could get medical check-ups and learn another trade and find alternative avenues of employment. The women were visibly upset by the Special Rapporteur’s suggestion. They informed the Special Rapporteur that they were very happy in their work and that they earned and saved enough money to keep their children and their parents back in the village. They had no intention of changing their trade. They informed the Special Rapporteur that she and other middle class women were safe and comfortable because of the sex workers and their trade. If the Special Rapporteur wanted to assist them, she could help them with programmes to prevent AIDS or programmes to educate their children. However, they felt that they were not in need of rehabilitation.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Der Link klappt leider nicht im Direktzugriff.


Hier die Meinung der Thailändischen Sexworker:
viewtopic.php?p=42777#42777

Der Sexworker aus Kambodscha:
viewtopic.php?p=89644#89644

...


__
Da kommt mir gerade der Gedanke, wir könnten uns auch ein Konto bei der indischen Sexworker-Bank zulegen (falls die am intl. Bankverkehr angeschlossen sind).

Das wäre sicher eine exquisite Solidaritätsmaßnahme...