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Prostitution and Beyond: An Analysis of Sex Work in India Rohini Sahni, V. Kalyan Shankar and Hemant Apte (eds.), (2008), New Delhi: Sage Publications, 369 pages.
Dawn CURRIE
For the past few decades, feminists - specially in the North - have been divided between those who focus on involuntary prostitution that reflects a global "sex trade" in girls and women, versus those who focus on the agency of women selling sex by emphasizing routes into prostitution through conscious negotiations. The significance of this division is no small matter. When it comes to the political arena, feminists often find themselves in the untenable position of making allies, when occupying the first position, with moralists who would "tighten" the mechanisms of patriarchal control over women and, in the second instance, with male interests in the unencumbered right of access to women's bodies. While little progress has been made in developing possible alternatives, I have great hope that Prostitution and Beyond will help move us in that direction.
Prostitution and Beyond offers a rich collection of essays that includes contributions by academics, front line workers, artists, and sex workers themselves. The result is comprehensive exploration of sex work in India, "from the ground up" that argues for a new vocabulary, one that can "weed out words," specifically those that contribute to the continued marginalization of women in prostitution (197), while enabling feminist critique. As noted by editors Rohini Sahni, Kalyan Shankar and Hemant Apte, almost universally the existence of the prostitute "as a woman" is rendered secondary to her profession. As such, it can perpetuate negative attitudes towards sex workers based on a morality that mutes recognition of their needs "as women." Underpinning this morality is the societal division of women into "the good" and "the bad." As argued by Lata Singh, "The construction of the 'ideal' woman is linked up with the construction of 'other' women" (316). Thus "good women" - as chaste daughters, faithful wives and devoted mothers- are made possible by rendering prostitutes as "fallen" women.
As women-advocates, the editors raise the challenge: "Whose responsibility is it to voice the concerns of a sex worker? Is it the prerogative of the NGOs...