Much has been said and written about the arrest of actress Shweta Prasad in a sex work racket. Online trolls in message boards across the Internet have had a field day, righteously condemning the actress for doing something so 'cheap and immoral' just for money when she could have done other 'respectable' things to sustain her lifestyle. Not much is known about her rich clients though. Which isn't surprising, given our attitude towards sex work as a society.
While women who indulge in prostitution have a wide range of names they are called, most of them insulting and demeaning, the men who demand and therefore create a market for such work are euphemistically called 'clients'. It's all right to visit a prostitute, just not okay to be one. Commercial sex workers either arouse sympathy or condemnation from the rest of society. If they are trafficked or forced into sex work, we feel they deserve our sympathy. Women who turn to sex work because of abject poverty may also force some tears out of our eyes. They are represented in our movies as the 'innocent' prostitute, the one who simply didn't have a choice. They are usually women who end up getting married and changing their ways, with the turn in their fortune. Like Saranya in Nayagan who wants to study for her Math exam while on the job. Or the victim of trafficking, Kamal's daughter in Mahanadhi, who ends up getting married and leading a 'normal' life after she is rescued.
Once in a while, there comes along an actress who is willing to portray a character like this, so different from the usual garb of vanilla virtue that heroines are required to wear. Sneha did it inPudhupettai, although her life, too, was shown as one of abuse with her wishing to marry the hero to seek escape from it. But there was no 'redemption' for her, with the hero ditching her in the end. Anushka played the role of a sex worker with a golden heart in Vaanam. The movie didn't attempt to show her as an innocent but in the end, she too decides to turn over a new leaf.
The fact is, we find it extremely hard to accept the fact that there are women who enter the sex trade out of choice and stay in it out of choice. When such women appear onscreen, they are usually so ridiculously sexed up, speaking in a weirdly growly voice and appearing so dehumanized that they only serve as mere props in the script, not people. The point is to tantalize the viewer, even as the viewer is supposed to condemn the character. Like the women who live in the dens of the villains in films like Pokiri, Anjaan etc. It's also very common to show these women trying to drape themselves around the hero while our man of upstanding character dismisses their attention. It's pretty clear what we're meant to think of them.
Just as 'regular' society has trouble understanding women who voluntarily enter sex work, not all women's rights activists agree about all aspects of sex work. Is sex work always about exploitation? Are women always pushed into it? What about women who want to be in this business? It is true that sex work commodifies women (and one must not forget that there are male sex workers too) but it is also possible that the people engaging in it are making conscious choices. Much of our discomfort with these questions comes from our need to look at women as victims and not agents, people who can think and decide for themselves. And so, when somebody like Shweta Prasad, talented, famous, hits the headlines for these reasons, we are at sea because what's there to cry about here?
A while ago, Poonam Pandey was arrested for 'indecent behaviour' by policemen when she was listening to music with her brother in her car. She alleged that she had been arrested by the policemen who decided to harass her because they knew who she was – a woman who voluntarily posts 'provocative' pictures of herself on the Internet (they were probably forced to look at these pictures because of their line of work, not voluntarily at all, no sir). Mind you, she was not arrested for posting those pictures. She was arrested for 'indecent behaviour' in the car. The news went viral, with several people of high morals applauding the policemen on their fine work. The fact that the cops were out of line and that listening to music in a car does not constitute 'indecent behaviour' was forgotten in all the righteousness that flooded social media networks.
As in Poonam's case, the few who have spoken out in support of Shweta Prasad have also been tarred by the same brush by the trolls who seem to have lots to say on the subject. One must take a break once in a while between googling for pictures of Sunny Leone, after all.