Should prostitution be legalised? - Collaborative Discussion
A 60-minute session on sex work and the law: whether it should be legal, who the law should punish, and how the rest of us treat the women involved, from the soil for the Durga idol to the school admission form and the ration queue. Twelve independent cards, framed around everyday life and nothing graphic. Open three or four.
The opening question
Growing up, when the subject of sex workers came up at home, which was it: a warning, a joke, pity, or complete silence?
Everyone in the room answers this in one line before any card is opened. Write the answers down; you will come back to them.
The cards
12 ways into the topic
Each card is independent. Your group votes on which to open, and four or five is plenty for an hour. Behind every card sit three prompts, one at a time, that only appear once it is opened on the board. Unopened cards keep for next time.
- 1
Making Sex Work Legal
In India, a woman selling sex isn't breaking the law. But running a brothel is, and so is looking for customers on the street.
- 2
Punishing The Customer
A man pays a woman for sex. If the police arrive, she's the one whose story ends up in the newspaper. He usually just goes home.
- 3
Soil For The Durga Idol
In Kolkata, an old custom says a Durga idol needs a little soil from outside a sex worker's door. The soil is treated as holy.
- 4
Police Raids And Rescue Homes
The police raid a brothel and take the women to a shelter to keep them safe. Some are grateful to be out.
- 5
Sex Workers' Children At School
A girl is doing well at school. Then the other children find out what her mother does for a living.
- 6
Prostitute Or Sex Worker
Some people say “prostitute”. Some say “sex worker”. Others say “victim” or “survivor”. Each word tells a different story about the same woman.
- 7
Sex Work And Women's Safety
You may have heard someone say it at dinner: if sex work were legal, there would be fewer attacks on women. Someone else at the table gets angry.
- 8
A Red Light Area Near Home
Your family finds a lovely flat at a good price. Then you learn why it's cheap: the next lane is a red light area.
- 9
Choosing Sex Work
One woman says she chose this work because it pays more than cleaning houses. Another says she was tricked into it at fifteen.
- 10
Leaving Sex Work Behind
A woman leaves sex work. She's given a sewing course and a little help.
- 11
Government Help For Sex Workers
During the lockdown, many sex workers had no income and no ration card.
- 12
Why It Should Stay Illegal
Some countries that made it legal now want to undo it.
The line to leave with
If the law changed tomorrow, what would still have to change in you before the women in that lane felt like your neighbours?
More boards,more ways in.
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