In a culture where "sex" is still taboo and crimes against sex workers or untouchables are not considered an offence, many people view the sex trade (both inside and outside of brothels) as a sinful activity that encourages polygamy and adultery. When they worked together, they would shut down the brothels, round up the transient sex workers, torture them, and then turn them over to the authorities.
Several government-registered brothels have been shut down by religious, political, and corporate leaders with public backing in recent years, and land in some areas has been confiscated. They argue that prostitution weakens communities and encourages other illegal activities like drug dealing and human trafficking.
Some of these establishments date back hundreds of years, but the anti-prostitution activists encountered little resistance from the authorities of the day. The government also did nothing to help the displaced women rebuild their lives or find new work, so many of them are still working in dangerous situations.
Despite widespread discomfort with prostitution and harsh criticism of extramarital sexual activity, an increasing number of men and women are seeking and offering sex-related services in government-licensed brothels, on the streets, and via social media.
Because of the high demand, there are now more freelance sex workers than ever before, and they can be found just about everywhere males congregate. People from professional and working classes, as well as students, make up the bulk of these clients. During holidays like Eid, the sex market booms.
The closure of brothels has led to an increase in transient sex workers operating in urban and suburban areas. Several huge brothels, such as the one in Kandapara in Tangail that housed around 1,500 sex workers, and Taanbazar in Narayanganj, have been closed in the previous two decades, forcing thousands of sex workers to relocate. But advocates for the oppressed claim the evictions were an attempt to seize the land used by brothels. However, several brothels continue to operate around the country, including the largest one near the Daulatdia river port.
The brothels are also witness to a dark history of young girls who were kidnapped or lured by pimps and brokers with the promise of jobs or marriages before being sold to the supervisors (Sardarni). Under their authority, the underage girls are groomed for months through various means, including rape and intimidation, and the administration of steroids. Apart from pimps, transport workers, rickshaw-pullers and shopkeepers in adjoining areas play a key role in influencing clients to visit the brothels.
Activists call for ensuring the basic rights of the women engaged in this profession—inside and outside brothels—taking stringent measures to prevent different forms of violence against women in the family and society—incidents that force women into prostitution, and creating more scope for education for girls and employment of women.
Development workers, journalists, and women's rights activists have programs and policies to create awareness and improve the livelihoods of sex workers, who are mostly uneducated or little educated, in various brothels, but the outcome has not been satisfactory as they refuse to start a new struggle outside the familiar red-light zones.
To understand the myth behind this profession, Dhaka Tribune has spoken with several sex workers, clients and stakeholders at a brothel in Faridpur, and observed how pimps or brokers work in collaboration with brothel supervisors to bring in more women and new clients.
How they become prostitutes
Twenty-seven-year-old Mithila (not her real name) did not come to the Rothkhola brothel willingly. On her arrival at the brothel, the supervisor pulled off her clothes and locked her in a room for the whole night. This routine continued until she was ready to take in clients.
Mithila is the eldest of four siblings. She lost her father in her childhood, and no relatives could help the family survive economic hardship. When she was looking for a job, she met a woman in her area who assured her of managing a job for her at a garment factory in Dhaka.
On the way, the broker handed her over to a man who was supposed to take her to the factory, but she finally found herself at the Rothkhola brothel.
She recalled: "Seeing so many people, I was wondering what this place was. Then the Sardarni (supervisor) said, ‘This is the garment factory. Here, you have to work. The broker has sold you. From now on, take clients to your room, earn money, and give me my share.' This is how my days are passing."
Asked about her future plans, Mithila said: "Maybe I won't be able to free myself of this dark life. I've stopped thinking about my family anymore. I don't even think about myself anymore."
This reporter spoke with 30-year-old Tumpa (pseudonym) at the same brothel. She left her family in Jessore 16 years ago due to economic hardship and headed for Dhaka for a job. When she reached Daulatdia Ghat in Rajbari by bus, she met a man who promised to give her a job.
"He took me to a nearby house promising a good job and raped me there. At night, he forcibly took me to the Daulatdia brothel and sold me to a Sardarni (supervisor) for Tk20,000.
"The Sardarni used to torture me if I did not want to trade my body for the clients. I have been bearing the signs of torture on my body till now."
Asked how she came to Faridpur, Tumpa continued: "Eventually, I became a real sex worker. I bought a house for myself in the brothel for Tk50,000. But things went wrong after some time; I did not feel good there. Then I contacted the Sardarni at the Rothkhola brothel and moved here seven years ago. Here, I bought a house for Tk80,000."
Tumpa deplored the fact that the number of visitors has dropped since the Covid-19 outbreak. "I had a hard time during the pandemic. No one helped us.
"And now there is sex trade in hotels at different spots of the city where the floating sex workers work for high prices. Many people do not come to brothels because of fear associated with loss of respect, but go to the hotels."
In response to a question of how she spends her Eid, Tumpa said: "Customers are our Eid, customers are our joy. We have no Eid. We do not see the sky the way everyone else does. It is a different world. We are not allowed to leave the house like normal people, cannot go shopping, and cannot ride a rickshaw like normal people."
She was depressed while talking about the value of life. "There is no happiness, no peace, and no lively life here. I will never get back what I have lost in my 16 years of living in brothels. I have no deposits.
"I have not found peace in my life. There is no chance of peace, even in death. After death, we have to deal with the dead body. While common Muslims are buried after a Janaza and Hindus are cremated, in our case, there is neglect and disrespect.
"There is a long struggle with the burial of a body. Imams of the mosques do not perform Janaza. One has to go from door to door waiting for permission to bury the body," said Tumpa, who thinks the world outside the brothel is not favourable for her.
What do supervisors say?
At the Rothkhola brothel, some 400 women are under the supervision of Tanya Akhter, 48, co-chairperson (Sardarni) of Joynari Kalyan Samiti, a social organization. "The government is giving us voter ID cards and providing separate accommodation and education for the children. But there is no way out of this life."
The president of the organization, Aleya, 41, says: "Every other day, we clean up in the morning and wait for customers. When a customer enters the brothel, we present ourselves and take him home when a deal is agreed upon. This is how we earn and buy rice."
C&B Ghat brothel President (Sardarni) Ruby, 47, said: "There is no charm in our lives, but the body has. As long as the body is fit, we have ourselves. When it decays, there will be no customers. We have no other way to work."
Shapla Mahila Sangstha is the only organization working with the women and children of these brothels. "They have admitted our children to school and arranged their accommodation. They provide many more facilities," Ruby said.
An objectionable act?
The indifference of authorities in preventing an eviction stemmed from social norms and the Constitution, where Article 18(2) says: "The State shall adopt effective measures to prevent prostitution and gambling."
This provision, which describes the "fundamental principles of State policy", does not ban sex trade nor give any explanation, and in reality, both the objectionable acts—prostitution and gambling—have a significant presence in the country.
These housing complexes are usually a combination of small clusters of one-room houses owned or rented by independent adult women who are entitled to make a declaration before magistrates of their intention to join the profession.
However, in line with the Constitution and related laws, police take action against unauthorized brothels or secluded residential complexes, underage sex workers, and sex trade in public places. Pimps face a harsher punishment of 10 years imprisonment and fines for selling and buying minor girls for prostitution.
In Bangladesh, a person trying to attract another person in a public place through words, gestures, or indecent personal exposure for the purposes of prostitution is also a punishable offence.
It implies that nowhere in a place frequented by commoners should a sex trader invite her potential service seekers to bargain a deal, with or without the help of a mediator or pimp, and engage in non-marital sexual acts.
Though the fine ranges from Tk200-500 with a maximum of three months in jail, an offender has to endure social stigma when his/her involvement in the profession is exposed.
Such legal provisions and social norms surrounding this profession further complicate the matter, as both service seekers and those who campaign against it question these women's character and dignity. However, at the same time, some religions and social norms support men's polygamy.
Against social norms and laws, some other people would support the idea that brothels should be there to entertain men, but they are not vocal due to social stigma.
