SOCIAL DISTANCE SEX
Priyanshu K
“COVID revealed some dark sides of society to us. Most of the harassment has been from home. It got worse during COVID. There was an incident of a father watching his daughter while bathing, an uncle abusing his niece, a father-in-law abusing his daughter-in-law. No media covered sexual violence that took place during COVID, there was no relief from this. Adding to economic loss, sexual frustration was building up.
“We documented many cases of violence and abuse on and by sex workers, within and outside their families and relatives. Two women who met us shared that their husbands brought home friends and expected their wives to strip, engage physically and watch porn together, etc., for money, as many had lost their jobs. Organisations like Sadhana have supported sex workers through COVID, especially with healthcare, mental well-being and social status.
“There was a case of a forty-five-year-old worker who tested positive for syphilis and she was not able to share this information with anyone. Even her partner didn’t support her. She had to resort to sex work to arrange money for tests and medicines. There was also an incident of a woman who was addicted to alcohol and ended up sleeping with her children’s friends. One of her sons committed suicide after this.” There is no solution to this, but it is the condition of the times we live in, said one of the sex workers from the Sadhana Mahila Sangha network.
It is hard to say who is still in touch with whom, but the sex worker could not afford to lose her income, and the digital space opened a whole new world for her.
But life goes on. Most sex workers found ways around social distance during COVID. Sexual pleasure and desire is not merely physical. Many of the women in Sadhana’s network used apps like Signal, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger on the tablet or phones to share pictures and videos of themselves with customers. Many preferred not to show their faces. They received payment for these exchanges from the customers. Pictures were also circulated by customers to more people, introducing the sex worker to more customers. It is hard to say who is still in touch with whom, but the sex worker could not afford to lose her income, and the digital space opened a whole new world for her.
An innovative stream of content was created, shared and distributed—moving from erotic to sensual to vulgar messages. These messages included photos, text and sound. The messages were about sex, pleasure, touching different body parts, for which they received payment, on Gpay, Paytm and other digital payment apps. Sharing sexy messages on voice notes with the customer on an hourly basis is now a common practice. They can charge up to Rs 1000 for half an hour. Sharing porn and nude photographs is also a business that picked up after COVID, where the sex worker could charge per picture. She could book a nude photo shoot and then use the same pictures for different customers. There is a huge risk of these images being forwarded to other people, hence she never reveals her identity. Many even choose to operate with fake identities to protect themselves from being exposed.
“Many customers who lived in big apartments sent their own cars to pick up sex workers during COVID. The cars would have an emergency or COVID duty sticker, and the women were picked up and dropped back. They were paid Rs 2,000 to 5,000 for one such visit. These practices have become a new mode of practising sex work. This is safer for the sex worker in many ways as she does not have to look for customers on the streets.”
Another sex worker also mentioned using dating/matrimonial apps like Tinder where they shared erotic images with each other but since these apps also sensed location, many were uncomfortable and backed off. One-to-one communication was preferred.
This works only as a network and everyone involved makes a business out of it—partners, pimps, friends of sex workers, photographers, editors, etc., are involved in these transactions. Primarily, it is sex workers in the age group between twenty and thirty who are confidently working out new identities for themselves in the virtual world.
In collaboration with Sadhana Mahila Sangha
As told to Priyanshu
*These have been gathered in conversation with a sex worker with the Sadhana Mahila Sangha based on her experiences and conversations. Given that this is a sensitive topic, we chose to keep the quotes anonymous and have tried to stay true to their experience.
Priyanshu is working on a research project in the area of gender and labour and is a music and theatre enthusiast.