3. Modern India’s Tryst with Prostitution

7. In Solidarity: Decriminalise Sex Work

Can we shut up about the ethics and morality of prostitution for a minute, and understand what anti-prostitution laws do to sex workers? Because, sex workers have been trying to tell us for ages: the criminalization of prostitution is not only brutal towards sex workers (the women whose exploitation the laws want to combat) but ineffective at ending prostitution.  So what does the sex worker movement want?  This episode 7, the final episode of season 1, discusses how counterproductive anti-prostitution laws (that masquerade as anti-trafficking laws) are and explores, at length, the decriminalization of sex work. Warning: Adult themes. Listener discretion is advised.  Credits: Host: Surabhi Chatterjee Audio production: Pruthu Parab Cover Art illustration: Rini Alphonsa Joseph Music: The intro music is Wake up, Max by Axel Lundström [https://freemusicarchive.org/music/synthet/good-free-music/wake-up-max/]. Music is from YouTube audio library and includes: Minor Waltz, No. 9 Esther’s Waltz, No. 4 Paino Journey, No. 7 Alone with thoughts - Esther Abrami; Atlantis Rage-Jimena Contreras; Sinister Cathedral-Asher Fulero; The empty moons of Jupiter-Divkid; Masquerade, Espeluzante- Luna Cantina;The Beacon- Zachariah Hickman;Papov–Logos; Allegro-Emmit Fenn; Full Moon Empty House, Water Truck- Trevor Garrod; I Don't See the Branches, I See the Leaves by Chris Zabriskie (is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/dtv/ Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/ [http://chriszabriskie.com/]);  Drone in D by Kevin MacLeod(is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200044 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ [http://incompetech.com/]) Sources: Juno Mac and Molly Smith (2018) “Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights”; Melisa Gira Grant (2014) “Playing the Whore”;Amia Srinivasan (2020). “The Right to Sex”. DMSC (1997) "Sex Workers’ Manifesto [https://www.nswp.org/resource/member-publications/sex-workers-manifesto-first-national-conference-sex-workers-india]";Gail Pheterson"At long last, listen to the women [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/at-long-last-listen-to-women/]”; Jo Doezema (1999) “Loose Women or Lost Women: The Re-emergence of the Myth of White Slavery in Contemporary Discourses of Trafficking in Women [https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/isa/doj01/]”;Jo Doezma “the ideology of trafficking [https://www.nswp.org/sites/default/files/DOEZEMA-IDEOLOGY.pdf]”; Sangram Resources [https://www.sangram.org/sangram-resources]; Nomi Network Website; [https://nominetwork.org/about/]Global Network of Sex Work Projects [https://www.nswp.org/].  Fraser Crichton“Decriminalising sex work in New Zealand – It’s history and impact [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/decriminalising-sex-work-in-new-zealand-its-history-and-impact/ ]”;The New Zealand Model [https://www.nzpc.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Model]; Global Alliance against Traffic in women. Durbar profile [https://gaatw.org/members/asia/127-membership/asia/553-durbar-mahila-samanwaua-committee-dmsc];Theatre and Sex Work. VAMP’s performance as resistance  [https://bcrw.barnard.edu/projects/transnationalfeminisms/vamp/] Follow on IG and X: so skewed [https://www.instagram.com/soskewed?igsh=bjMybXZyNXhldmI3] Business enquires/anything else: soskewedpodcast@gmail.com [soskewedpodcast@gmail.com]

6. Sex + Work = Sex Work

On to sex worker views! Sex worker inputs to feminism feel more radical than mainstream feminism that continues to be a bit weird around sex.  The anti-prostitution camp’s ‘concerns’ around sex work continues to be the ‘sex’ (so let’s talk about it) when it should be the ‘work’ (so let’s talk about it).  What is it about women and sex that bothers the anti-prostitution movement so much that they refuse to acknowledge sex for a woman can be work?  Why is sex work, indeed, work? What is sex work really? Why is it so difficult to end prostitution despite criminalization.   This episode 6 summarizes sex worker views around the anti-trafficking/anti-prostitution movement.   Warning: strong language, sexual content, other adult themes. Listener discretion is advised.   Credits: Host: Surabhi Chatterjee Audio production: Pruthu Parab Cover Art design: Rini Alphonsa Joseph Music: The intro music is Wake up, Max [https://freemusicarchive.org/music/synthet/good-free-music/wake-up-max/] by Axel Lundström. Music is from YouTube audio library and includes: Silver Waves – TrackTribe; Renunciation, Unrequited - Asher Fulero; Skatting on the Uppers, A truly dazzling dream – National Sweetheart; The Rainy Road, Entangled Life, Cosmic, Today remains sweet, Smoke - Lish Grooves; Gran Sentimiento, Luz Solart, Espeluznante - Luna Cantina;  Pelagic, Torsion – Density & Time; Stellar Wind - Unicorn Heads; Building Blocks, Growing Up, Quiet Nights - Nate Blaze; Jeremy Black - Broken Ladder; Good gig in the clouds – Joel Cummins.   Sources: Juno Mac and Molly Smith (2018). “Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights” Melisa Gira Grant (2014). “Playing the Whore” Amia Srinivasan (2020). “The Right to Sex”  DMSC (1997). Sex Workers’ Manifesto [https://www.nswp.org/resource/member-publications/sex-workers-manifesto-first-national-conference-sex-workers-india] Contrapoints. “Twilight”. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqloPw5wp48]  Interview. “The Whore Stigma with Margo St. James and Gail Pheterson [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlXV370ipEI&ab_channel=ScarlotHarlotTV ]”. Youtube Video Gail Pheterson. “At long last, listen to the women” [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/at-long-last-listen-to-women/ ]  Jo Doezema (1999). “Loose Women or Lost Women: The Re-emergence of the Myth of White Slavery in Contemporary Discourses of Trafficking in Women” [https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/isa/doj01/] Scroll. “Centre bans 18 OTT platforms, 19 websites for obscene content [https://scroll.in/latest/1065177/centre-bans-18-ott-platforms-19-websites-for-obscene-content]” The Quint. "India Porn Ban: Govt bans 67 more websites. Here’s the full list [https://www.thequint.com/coronavirus/faq/india-porn-ban-faq-government-blocks-67-more-websites-heres-the-full-list ]"  Essays from ‘Prostitution and Beyond: An Analysis of Sex work in India’ by Rohini Sahni, V.Kalyan Shankar, Hemant Apte (Eds.), Sage Publications (2008) Follow on IG and X: so skewed [https://www.instagram.com/soskewed?igsh=bjMybXZyNXhldmI3] Business enquires/anything else: soskewedpodcast@gmail.com [soskewedpodcast@gmail.com]

5. The sex trade and laws: India

How do women find themselves in the sex trade? How does the sex trade run? What is trafficking, actually? What does the law say and what does the law do? This episode 5 tracks the sex trade and laws, in India. Warning: sexual content, adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. Credits: Host: Surabhi Chatterjee Audio production: Pruthu Parab Cover Art: Rini Alphonsa Joseph The intro music is Wake up, Max [https://freemusicarchive.org/music/synthet/good-free-music/wake-up-max/]by Axel Lundström. Other music is from the YouTube audio library and include: Moonlight in Mexico – Jimena Contreras;  Piroutte – Asher Fulero; Subharmonic Bliss – Loopop; Vital Whales – Unicorn Heads;  Swing House – RKVC; EBB Density and Time; Sunshine on Sand – Unicorn Heads; Bageshri – Aditya Verma Show notes: Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "Gangubai Kathiawadi [https://www.netflix.com/watch/81280352?trackId=255824129&tctx=0%2C0%2C437e6f96-95b5-464a-9152-08e121e9cd7e-42881464%2C437e6f96-95b5-464a-9152-08e121e9cd7e-42881464%7C2%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2CVideo%3A81280352%2CdetailsPagePlayButton]" (Film) Joe Doezema, “Ouch!: Western Feminists' 'Wounded Attachment' to the 'Third World Prostitute'" [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1395529 ] Essays in ‘Prostitution and Beyond: An Analysis of Sex work in India’ by Rohini Sahni, V.Kalyan Shankar, Hemant Apte (Eds.), Sage Publications (2008): Rohini Sahni and V. Kalyan Shankar. 'Markets, Histories and Grass Root Evidence: Economics of Sex Work in India'; Meena Saraswathi Seshu. 'Surfacing Voices from the Underground'; Manoj Wad and Sharayu Jadhav. 'The Legal Framework of Prostitution in India' Juno Mac and Molly Smith (2018). “Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights”. Indian Penal Code, 1860; The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 Prerna Podcast. What is Human Trafficking [https://www.maedinindia.in/prerana-podcast/episode/3f720b07/what-is-human-trafficking ] Case title: Budhadev Karmaskar v. State of West Bengal. Criminal Appeal 135/2010; Sangram (VAMPS) statement on the 2022 Supreme Court Order. [https://sangram.org/upload/news/newsPdf/toi-sc-judgment-20.pdf] Kavita Chowdhury, India’s SC recognises Sex Work as a profession [https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/indias-supreme-court-recognizes-sex-work-as-a-profession/];  FP Explainers, SC recognises prostitution as profession: What does this mean for sex workers [https://www.firstpost.com/india/supreme-court-recognises-prostitution-as-profession-what-does-this-mean-for-sex-workers-10726011.html/amp]; Krishnadas Rajagopal. SC recognises sex work as a ‘profession [https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/supreme-court-recognises-sex-work-as-a-profession/article65461331.ece/amp/]’; New law to treat sex workers as victims, says Maneka Gandhi [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubballi/new-law-to-treat-sex-workers-as-victims-says-maneka/articleshow/63130791.cms];The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 [https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-trafficking-of-persons-prevention-protection-and-rehabilitation-bill-2018]; Ministry of External Affairs, India. Q & A: What is Human trafficking [https://www.mea.gov.in/human-trafficking.htm#:~:text=Trafficking%20in%20Human%20Beings%20or,trafficking%20for%20commercial%20sexual%20exploitation] Other resources from Sangram (VAMP) [https://sangram.org/sangram-resources/letters-public-statements-17] Follow on IG and X: so skewed [https://www.instagram.com/soskewed?igsh=bjMybXZyNXhldmI3] Business enquires/anything else: soskewedpodcast@gmail.com [soskewedpodcast@gmail.com]

4. The Tyranny of Amrika: Global anti - trafficking movement

Why was the current UN anti- trafficking convention passed in 2000?  What is trafficking and how rampant is it? Why do the state and police aggressively pursue sex workers? What’s America got to do with it? This episode 4 tracks contemporary global anti-trafficking discourses.  Warning:  Adult themes. Listener discretion advised.   Host: Surabhi Chatterjee Audio production: Pruthu Parab Cover Art illustration: Rini Alphonsa Joseph The intro music is Wake up, Max [https://freemusicarchive.org/music/synthet/good-free-music/wake-up-max/]by Axel Lundström. Other music is sourced from the Youtube audio library and include: Frightmare – Jimena Contreras; No Indication – TrackTribe; Nature Nurture, Bossa Sonsa, Funky Carioca  – Quincas Moreira; Blast from the Past, Broken Ladder – Jeremy Black. Sources: Juno Mac and Molly Smith (2018). “Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights”; Melissa Gira Grant (2014), Playing the Whore;  Amia Srinivasan (2020), The Right to Sex. George, A., Vindhya, U., & Ray, S. (2010). Sex Trafficking and Sex Work: Definitions, Debates and Dynamics [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25664387]; United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols [https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/organized-crime/intro/UNTOC.html] Joe Doezema, “Ouch!: Western Feminists' 'Wounded Attachment' to the 'Third World Prostitute'” [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1395529]; “Loose Women or Lost Women: The Re-emergence of the Myth of White Slavery in Contemporary Discourses of Trafficking in Women” [https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/isa/doj01/] Laura Lammasneiemi. “White Slavery’: the origins of the anti-trafficking movement [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/white-slavery-origins-of-anti-trafficking-movement/]”; Eric Weiner. 'The Long,Colorful History of the Mann Act' [https://www.npr.org/2008/03/11/88104308/the-long-colorful-history-of-the-mann-act];  Jessica R. Pliley , Sexual surveillance and moral quarantines: a history of anti-trafficking [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/sexual-surveillance-and-moral-quarantines-history-of-antitrafficking/].  Elizabeth Bernstein. 'The Sexual Politics of the ‘New Abolitionism [https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/sexual_politics_of_new_abolitionism_.pdf]’; Janie A. Chuang, “Exploitation Creep And The Unmaking Of Human Trafficking Law [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5305/amerjintelaw.108.4.0609]”;  “Human Trafficking” You’re Wrong About [https://podtail.com/podcast/you-re-wrong-about/human-trafficking/]; Joanne Mcneil. The ‘White Slavery’ Panic [https://reason.com/2008/03/13/the-white-slavery-panic/];  US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons’ website [https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-civilian-security-democracy-and-human-rights/office-to-monitor-and-combat-trafficking-in-persons/];   Follow on IG and X: so skewed [https://www.instagram.com/soskewed?igsh=bjMybXZyNXhldmI3] Business enquires/anything else: soskewedpodcast@gmail.com [soskewedpodcast@gmail.com]

3. Modern India’s Tryst with Prostitution

This episode 3 tracks the mainstream discourses around prostitution and the sex worker movement.  Credits: Host: Surabhi Chatterjee. Audio production: Pruthu Parab. Cover Art: Rini Alphonsa Joseph   Music: The intro music is Wake up, Max [https://freemusicarchive.org/music/synthet/good-free-music/wake-up-max/]by Axel Lundström.  Music is from YouTube audio library and includes: Don’t Fret–Quincas Moreria; Raga Legacy, Rains of Meghalaya, Old World Saga-Hanu Dixit; Crash & Burn, Shake it-Aakash Gandhi; Fingerprint-Mini Vandals; Basant, Bhairavi–Sitarkhani–Aditya Verma. Sources:  Sai Priya Kodidala An early 20th century tale of censorship: How Bangalore Nagarathnamma fought social norms to revive the legacy of Muddupalani [https://www.firstpost.com/living/an-early-20th-century-tale-of-censorship-how-bangalore-nagarathnamma-fought-social-norms-to-revive-the-legacy-of-muddupalani-8132331.html]. Further Reading: Davesh Soneji, "Unfinished Gestures". Essays by Rekha Pande, Geetanjali Gangoli, Anagha Tambe, Swati Ghosh in 'Prostitution and Beyond'; Gaurav Jain V. UOI (1997) 8 SCC 114.   Mohandas Namishray, “Who was revolutionary Dalit Poet Namdeo Dhasal really? [https://www.forwardpress.in/2018/06/who-was-revolutionary-dalit-poet-namdeo-dhasal-really/]"; Dilip Chitre, “Poet of the Underworld [https://www.outlookindia.com/books/poet-of-the-underworld-news-289178]”; Yogesh Maitreya “Namdeo Dhasal’s New Language [https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/43/postscript/namdeo-dhasals-new-language.html]”; An interview with Namdeo Dhasal, “reconstructed by Dilip Chitre from an interview with Namdeo Dhasal by Marathi poets Satish Kaleskar and Pradnya Lockhande [https://thedailywrite.net/interview-with-namdeo-dhasal-part-1/]”; Unnati Sharma, “Poet & Dalit Panther Namdeo Dhasal’s poetry embraced those discarded by society”. [https://theprint.in/feature/poet-dalit-panther-namdeo-dhasals-poetry-embraced-those-discarded-by-society/585363/] DMSC, Sex Workers’ Manifesto [https://www.nswp.org/resource/member-publications/sex-workers-manifesto-first-national-conference-sex-workers-india]. SC ruling on MH dance bars latest in long history of policing women to regulate men [https://www.theswaddle.com/sc-ruling-on-mh-dance-bars-latest-in-long-history-of-policing-women-to-regulate-men] ; Maharashtra ban on dance bars has done more harm than good [https://thewire.in/gender/maharashtras-ban-on-dance-bars-has-done-more-harm-than-good] SC relaxes law on maharashtra dance bars [https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sc-relaxes-law-on-maharashtra-dance-bars-timeline-of-events-5542722/]; Reading list: six articles [https://scroll.in/article/909842/reading-list-six-articles-on-maharashtras-dance-bar-ban-and-its-impact-on-dancers-business-owners] Follow on IG and X: so skewed [https://www.instagram.com/soskewed?igsh=bjMybXZyNXhldmI3] Business enquires/anything else: soskewedpodcast@gmail.com [soskewedpodcast@gmail.com]