Prostitution in Mumbai
[2] The red-light districts or lal bazaars in Mumbai are inhabited by thousands of sex workers including women, men, children, and transgender people.
Although India is not unique in gender-discrimination based violence it is a country that on one hand controls the sexuality of women yet is also home to one the largest flourishing commercial sex trades.
[3] While those involved in current and past research concerning this issue typically employ the term sex work, others argue that prostitution refers more to human trafficking.
[2] However it is difficult to determine the exact number of those involved in trafficking in the red light districts of Mumbai due to the criminal nature of the issue and the scale of it.
It has been argued that hijaras are more likely to participate in high risk sex acts with clients because it is believed they cannot contract or spread disease or illness.
[2] Ashwini Tambe, professor and scholar in gender and women studies, argues that in Mumbai the realm of sex work and the role of family are not separate.
[2] Increased economic hardship can result in women such as housewives and daily laborers using sex work as a method of securing additional income to support themselves and/or their families.
[12] According to Robert Friedman, an American investigative journalist, human rights organizations say that over 90% of female sex workers in Mumbai are considered indentured servants.
The brothels in the red light districts of Mumbai are patrolled by goondas, thugs who work for or are part of the mafia, to ensure that enslaved sex workers do not escape or run away.
From their wages the female sex workers typically have to pay for electricity, food, rent, interest, and bribes paid to local police.
[9] In recent years Mumbai has reported a dwindling number of brothels as a result of gentrification, heightened anti-trafficking efforts and police enforcement raids.
[12] Condoms are also not used when a girl is presented and sold to a client as a virgin – a practice known as sar dhaki – demonstrating that despite targeted efforts to ensure safer working conditions this remain an issue.
[12] Programs intended to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS range from but are not limited to efforts that include peer based education, condom distribution, increased screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
[5] Over the course of ten years Susanne Asman collected information and conducted fieldwork concerning stories, lives and behaviour patterns of women sex workers returning to their home villages from Mumbai.
