Autobiography of a sex-worker:

Hear now: A daring new voice for the voiceless
Mandira Nayar

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/11/stories/2005121113670100.htm

THE BESTSELLER: The title page of "An autobiography of a sex-worker"
by Nalini Jameela.


NEW DELHI: Nalini Jameela is a Malayali writer from God's own
country who has set a record of sorts in the publishing world. A sex-
worker, she has little in common with Arundhati Roy -- who got the
English world to notice the desi experience -- except the Kerala
connection. But like Ms. Roy, she has used her story to talk about
the hitherto silent lot.

Writing about her life in "An autobiography of a sex-worker'' (Oru
Lymgikathozhilaliyude Atmakadha) Nalini has finally given a
community, usually depicted only in cinema by beautiful actresses in
de-glamorised roles, a "real" voice.

"One of the reasons I wanted to write the book was to share my
experiences of discrimination. There is also no voice from within
the community that talks about us. I wanted to say loudly that I am
a sex-worker,'' she said here in the Capital over the weekend. She
was here to join hands with organisations of sex-workers in their
protest against a proposed amendment to the Immoral Trafficking
(Prevention) Act (ITPA) that seeks to make clients of sex-workers
culpable and subject to legal action.

An activist with Sex Workers' Forum Kerala and now a voice for many
others who are yet to break their silence, Nalini has exposed the
brutality of her world with its constant threats of police beatings
and the harsh truth of living at the rough edge of society. Having
studied only up to the third standard, she has been an inspiration
for many others in more than just coming out.

"Sex-workers are human beings too. This new legal amendment that
seeks to punish clients is not a good move for it does not allow us
to be human beings. The police brutalities will increase as any
adult male in the company of a sex-worker would now be subject to
arrest. We have male friends and families too,'' she said talking
about the amendment proposed by the Central Department of Woman and
Child Development.

Published by DC Books, one of the largest publishing houses in
Kerala, the book has created more than a ripple in the State. One of
the bestsellers of the year, it vanished from the bookstores'
shelves within days of its release. Narrated by Nalini and re-told
by I.Gopinath, an activist-cum-journalist, the book -- in first
person singular -- has already been translated into English and will
soon reach out to many more people.

Breaking more than a few stereotypes, the book apart from being an
attraction for its topic, is also being described as a landmark of
sorts because for the first time a sex-worker chooses to look at her
work as a regular job. Forced into the trade because she had to keep
her family alive, she has no regrets about her line of work and does
not feel that she needs to be apologetic.

While Nalini's stance has invited criticism from some quarters,
Nalini insists that sex-workers are human beings too. Refusing to
let the tag of middle-class morality dictate her identity, she has
worked to spread the message of AIDS and also made two documentaries
about sex-workers.

"I have no regrets. I did have a problem with one of my daughters
who was very unhappy once I wrote the book as everyone found out
that I was a sex-worker. If I had not become a sex-worker, then I
would not have become a social worker, an educator, a filmmaker or a
writer,'' she says with a bright smile.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/11/stories/2005121113670100.htm