'Sex Work is WORK'

By Sabin Singh for Yuwalaya

Recently, I got a media scholarship to attend the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia Pacific held in Bangkok, Thailand from 18-23 November 2013. There I met lots of the people and organisations working in the area of HIV and AIDS; such as PLHIV, Men Having Sex with Men, LGBTIQ, Drug users, experts, scientist and global leaders from the Asia Pacific and other corners of the world. They all had different stories to share that made us smile and cry. Among them, Raina was the one who really touched my heart. She had a very painful past which she overcame and her story is one of the best examples of how to overcome bad experiences, which I think is truly inspirational. 

Raina is from Korea.  She is currently working at Diane Girls Organisation to support and protect the rights of sex workers in Korea. She herself was a sex worker in the past. Sex work is illegal in Korea but financial difficulty drew her to choose this profession. She shared that sex work is an easy way to earn money in short time. Her family didn't know what she was doing during that time.  She didn't want to make her family face discrimination in the society. So, she was always worried about them and herself.

She tells from her experience that she had seen many sex workers being harassed and abused even by police. Whenever, there was a raid, a male police would do a nude body checkup on the girls. They would verbally abuse them. So she felt that she could be in similar situation. According to her, people in her society didn't have positive perception about sex workers and would take sex workers as dirty people. That was the reason why she left her profession and from there, she started a movement advocating equal rights for the sex workers. 

She organises media conference inviting public where they talk about their activities, sex workers' rights and sex work. I had asked her what she wanted from government. She replied 'government can remove anti-sex work law with the view that sex work is also a work and protect sex workers' rights through introduction of new laws'.  She, at last, said that "Don't be shy.  You are not dirty, you are a human. You are you and sex work is work."

After interviewing her, I was nostalgic thinking how people suffer due to their problems and poverty, yet they overcome from those problems and obstacles.  She was hurt, she was scared and most of all, she was miserable but the way she overcame from those miseries was the best part of her life that inspired me.

So coming back to Nepal, even in our country sex work is illegal like in Korea and most of the sex workers are treated badly by their customers, police and society as if they belong to other planet. They perceive them as sinful, dirty and cheap; but nobody wants to hear the other side of the story. I am not saying that all of them have painful story, or are forced to be sex workers; but at least we have to change our perception that they are all like us, they are not dirty and off course they are not alien.

'Sex Work is Work'

The link for the interview that I took with Raina is here: http://www.wikifortio.com/726278/Interview%20with%20Raina,%20Korea%20final.mp3