History Of Prostitution In India

Prostitution, in India developed as an organized institution ages ago, as referenced by Vedas. We can see references of high class prostitution in Indian Mythology, where women were presented in the form of celestial demigods, such as Ramba, Maenaka, Urvashi and Thillotama. They were said to possess extreme feminine beauty and charm, and who were also well trained musicians and dancers, and they entertained divinities (Jaishankar and Halder, 2010). Prostitution has been defined as the act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money according to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, 2007. It would be an incomplete view on prostitution if the ‘Devadasi’ system in India is not discussed. Devadasis refer to a group

Centuries ago, this same land treated women as equals to men and were respected. It is quite heartbreaking to acknowledge the fact that Indian society today, tries to oppress women and deny progressive opportunities to them in the name of religion and culture. A woman in the Indian society is not respected enough without a man in her life. She is reduced to the status of a commodity, used by men for pleasure. Such incidents are more commonly experienced by rural women who are victims of poverty, domestic violence, economic exploitation and educational deprivation. Such factors have a severe impact on their psychological functioning which leads to poor self image and belief in one’s

Panchanadeswaran et al., (2010), suggest from their research findings that female sex workers experience verbal, mental and physical abuse by their clients who come to them, under the influence of alcohol and ill treat them. At times they use coercion to have sex with the sex workers. The women are forced to live in adverse and unhygienic conditions which have increased the spread of HIV/AIDS, vaginal infections and cancer and other such biological diseases along with psychological conditions such as depression, low self esteem, suicidal