Sonagachi
Encyclopedia
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
in kolkata,
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and one of the largest in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It is an area with several hundred multi-story brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s and some 10,000 sex workers. Sonagachi is located in North-Kolkata near the intersection of Chittaranjan Avenue
Chittaranjan Avenue
Chittaranjan Avenue, more commonly C.R. Avenue, is the previous Central Avenue, a principal north-south thoroughfare in north and central Kolkata.-Stretch:...
Shobha Bazar and Beadon Street, just north of the Marble Palace
Marble Palace (Kolkata)
Marble Palace is a palatial nineteenth-century mansion in North Kolkata. It is located at 46, Muktaram Babu Street, Kolkata 700007. It is one of the best-preserved and most elegant houses of nineteenth-century Calcutta...
.
Current situation
In Sonagachi at least 10,000 prostitutes make a living, some from remote villages or districts. Some are even trafficked from other countries like Bangladesh and Nepal. Clients often insist on sex without condoms. Out of fear of being abused or losing a baby, combined with ignorance, these girls are forced into extremely unsafe flesh trade. Many come from distant villages and hardly know what AIDS is before they are sold to pimps. Thus, as they are moved around the country they can unwittingly spread the disease. In eastern India, Calcutta has emerged as a hub for the trafficking of girls, who also arrive from Nepal, Bangladesh and Burma. These girls are coming from neighboring country for doing household work with some racket. Where they force to work as a brothel.From Calcutta they are often sold again to brothels in MumbaiMumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(Bombay).
Today, several NGOs and government organizations operate here for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. The book Guilty Without Trial by the founders of the NGO Sanlaap
Sanlaap
Sanlaap is an Indian feminist non-governmental organization, established by Indrani Sinha in 1987 in Calcutta. Based in Calcutta, the group aims to protect the human rights of women and girls. Sanlaap is a developmental organization that works towards correction of social imbalances which present...
based much of their research into human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
in India on this area.
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
use and to stand up against abuse. It was founded by public health scientist Smarajit Jana in 1992 but is now largely run by the prostitutes themselves. While some are crediting DMSC with keeping a relalively low rate of HIV infection among prostitutes in Sonagachi -- 5.17% of the 13,000 prostitutes in Sonagachi are estimated to be HIV positive -- this HIV rate is in fact no different than the average HIV rate for female prostitutes in India, which is estimated to be 5.1% (the HIV rate infection among prostitutes as well as among the general population varies widely by region in India).
According to some sources, prostitutes from Sonagachi who test HIV positive are not told about the results, and live with the disease without knowing about it "because the DMSC is worried that HIV positive women will be ostracized.” Some prostitutes in Sonagachi have stated that "the clients, at least three quarters of them" refuse to use condoms and “If we force them to use the condom, they will just go next door. There are so many women working here, and in the end, everyone is prepared to work without protection for fear of losing trade.”
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee or Durbar, is an organization which describesitself as representing the interests of about 65 000 sex workers in India. It was set up in 1995 and it is based in West Bengal, India...
(DMSC) runs the Sonagachi project and several similar projects in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, organizing some 65,000 prostitutes and their children. The organization lobbies for the recognition of sex workers' rights and full legalization, runs literacy and vocational programs, and provides micro loans
Microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...
. The DMSC hosted India's first national convention of sex workers on November 14, 1997 in Kolkata, titled 'Sex Work is Real Work: We Demand Workers Rights'. The book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is a book by the husband-wife team of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published by Knopf in September 2009...
reports investigations revealing that, contrary to stated policy, the DMSC allows sex slavery, trafficking, and underage girls in Sonagachi project brothels.
Popular culture
Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district...
won the Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for best documentary feature
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
in the year 2005. It depicts the lives of children born to prostitutes in Sonagachi. "Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district...
" is a documentary that takes the viewer beyond the well-known prostitute-clogged streets and into the homes of the children who live in the so-called worst place on earth. If the film has one success story, it's the discovery of ten-year old Avigit whose natural affinity for creating exciting compositions through the lens earned him an invitation to the World Press Photo
World Press Photo
World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955 the organization is known for holding the world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest....
Foundation in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
There is also a documentary titled 'Tales of The Night Fairies' by Prof. Shohini Ghosh and Dr. Sabeena Ghadioke from Asia's leading Media institute AJK, Mass Communication Research Centre
AJK, Mass Communication Research Centre
Anwar Jamal Kidwai Mass Communication Research Center , Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi was established in 1982 by Anwar Jamal Kidwai, the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University in collaboration with Canadian filmmaker and York University professor James Beveridge and his wife Margaret...
, about the Sonagachi area. It has won the Jeevika Award for the best documentary feature on livelihood in India.
Popular actor Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
's movie Mahanadhi
Mahanadi (film)
Mahanadi is a 1994 Tamil Indian film featuring Kamal Hassan, Sukanya, and Cochin Haneefa. It portrays the grief of a humble village man, who sees his family, property being ruined.It also depicts the growing problem of "Child Sex workers", where young girls are targeted and turned into...
has a storyline based on the area. The Malayalam movie Calcutta News
Calcutta News
Calcutta News is a Malayalam film written and directed by Blessy. The film stars Dileep, Meera Jasmine, Indrajith and Vimala Raman. The music is by Debojyoti Mishra. The film deals with India's ugly underbelly of trafficking in women and how a middle-class girl from Kerala gets caught in it...
also deals with the issue of prostitution in Sonagachi.
In his documentary The Five Obstructions
The Five Obstructions
The Five Obstructions is a 2003 Danish film by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth. The film is a documentary, but incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films produced by the filmmakers. The premise is that Lars von Trier has created a challenge for his friend and mentor, Jørgen Leth, another...
, renowned Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
asks poet and experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth to name the worst place in the world he's ever visited, and immediately Leth responds with "The Red Light District of Calcutta."
External links
- Report on Sonagachi, critical of DMSC, by Tom Vater, The Irish IndependentIrish IndependentThe Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
, 2004. - The Red Lights of Sonagachi Positive Nation, Dec 2003/Jan 2004; issue 85/86
- Report on the Dunbar NGO, India Travel Times
- A photo report by Zana BriskiZana BriskiZana Briski is a photographer and filmmaker best known as the director of Born into Brothels, the 2004 winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Feature...
, 2002 - The Sex Workers, 2004 PBS Frontline documentary comparing anti-HIV efforts in Mumbai and Kolkata
- Giving AIDS the Red Light, The Village VoiceThe Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, September 18, 2002 - The Network of Sex Work Projects: Promoting Health and Human Rights
- Changing prices for sex work in Sonagachi, a Kolkata red-light district