Indian Sex Workers on Stage
No, this is not some weird new musical, this is exactly what I’m saying it is: sex workers in western Maharashtra, India, have spent over a month taking acting lessons and then putting together a play about their lives.
Entitled My Mother, the Gharwali, Her Maalak, His Wife, the play has the avowed message that “We too are human beings like you, and this is a profession like any other.” The play opens March 18, to portray the people who interact with the sex workers in everyday life.
“We are also humans”
“We sell our bodies to earn money,” says Sangeeta, a sex worker and actress in the play, “but we don’t murder anybody. We appeal to society to let us live.”
Director Sushma Deshpande adds “There is nothing in the play that is far removed from reality. Everything shown here happens in real life. The play will help people understand the lives of sex workers.”
This is quite a stretch for a culture that lambasted Richard Gere for inappropriate affection towards one of the Bollywood stars. Still, there’s a similar tradition in our country – best exemplified by activist/artist/sex worker Melissa Gira.
For that matter, we did just give an Oscar to Diablo Cody, who worked as a stripper before turning her hand to writing. So perhaps our culture is moving out of its collective puerile attitudes towards sex and sex work?
Well…I wouldn’t go that far. But I wish these brave Indian actresses luck, and hope they will accomplish their goal without paying too high a price.
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