The intersection of tradition and reality is evident in the depiction of courtesans and sex workers in the Hindi film industry. The portrayal often evokes images of opulence, with courtesans surrounded by jewels, 

. However, the truth remains that these women face significant stigma and hardship in real life. Regardless of the terminology used – whether it be sex worker, prostitute courtesan, or 

 – the social stigma attached to their lives persists. Belonging to a highly denounced profession with no financial and familial support forthcoming, the latter years of the lives of impoverished female sex workers are spent in abject misery and poverty. The income earned is very meager with hardly any amount left to be saved. Most of the women live in one-room rented accommodations. Their access to medical facilities is found to be extremely restricted; specifically, there are no provisions provided to them during their menstrual time, childbirth, or even during the elimination of unwanted pregnancies.

This denunciation is never limited to these women or how shamefully they are paraded in the society but, rather, it penetrates their next generation as well. With limited access to adequate education, their children are cut off from other options in life. It is common for the children of sex workers to enter the sex trade when they reach the age of maturity. Girls become prostitutes and boys become brothel keepers or procurers. For the children of the owners of a 

, they will probably take over the business of the 

 are these sex workers’ ultimate home and graveyard. It is the place where they begin their life as a sex worker and end their lives as rejected bodies. Each 

 on GB Road has a specific number and is identified by it. There are others, which mainly offer women from the northeast who are of lighter skin color and can therefore fetch a higher price. It’s also an open secret that G.B. Road`s most notorious Kotha offers virgin girls. 

Numerous researches concerning prostitution and sex work produce data that enable us to understand the reasons behind their entering the sex trade – underlying poverty, poor living conditions, or a family of women trapped in this business. Although the majority of data undertake poverty to be a reason, there exists a whole universe of vulnerabilities behind such a choice. Also, it may be true that the bulk of women in this trade are trafficked (NCRB report, 2015) and therefore, forced into this profession against their will.

With beauty and attractive appearance at their side during their younger years, survival is somehow managed. But when due to factors like progressing age, accident, or physical assault, the quintessential good looks are compromised, it has a direct bearing on the income making the survival of the sex workers difficult. With no financial and familial help forthcoming, life becomes a daily struggle to make the two ends meet especially during the older years of the women of this highly marginalized and vulnerable group.

The sex trade knows no religious boundaries, despite the portrayal of sex workers in cinema being often restricted to specific religions. According to the 2011 census, the majority of sex workers identified as Hindus (66%), followed by Muslims (28%) and Christians (6%), representing a greater proportion than their share in the national population. However, religious affiliations become immaterial as trafficked women are forced to change their identities, appearances, and names to be fixed as sex workers. During an interview, 

, a widowed Muslim sex worker from Bengal, shared her poignant experience of having her original name 

 at the brothel when she was trafficked to Delhi. She reflects on still following Islamic practices but adopting a Hindu identity to command respect in the community. Another sex worker, 

, emphasizes the societal perception that a woman’s respect is linked to her husband’s existence.

Historically, the British silenced the cultural tawaifs and shaped them into sex workers. Post-independence, society further deprived them of their dignity, compelling them to provide sexual gratification to men. The shift from being revered artists to sex workers reflects a societal failure. I am often reminded of 

” which compassionately delves into a sex worker’s longing for a normal love life, emphasizing the empathy needed when considering the lives of sex workers.

The Interplay of Sharam and Human

It has been known and understood till now of what importance the word “

” bears. Not just regarding its use in personal advantage but also rather providing it to the fellow citizens of the world. “Choice” is a very controversial word as it portrays itself easy to be accepted but very difficult when given. The most contrasting notion about this word is how powerful it is when unarmed and how ruthless it becomes when armed.

When courage joins choice, it gives birth to the most brilliant society. However, when it gets corrupted by dominance, it results in devastations of life and humanity. What brings us closer to the word “

” is the ideology of providing it to ourselves; but when been granted to others, it changes into authority. Choice strangles neither freedom nor justice, but what butchers it, is authoritarianism. And hence having a choice becomes a privilege been granted to a few and distributed by many.

A woman has the supreme abundance of power, strength and wisdom to choose for herself. But what remains delusional is the answer to why she is asking others to make a choice for herself. It isn’t just the woman who rather remains answerable to her choices in life but the men, the society and the government who time and again decide for her. A society where a man is priveledged and a woman who has religiously created them isn’t is not a society to be celebrated but rather one to be ashamed of.

The article depicts a pure example of how hypocritical and megalomaniac, we as a society have turned for women. Where at one side of the world she is denied education because of wearing a hijab and on the other side, she is murdered for not wearing it in a particular way. The question to ask ourselves is who are the ones who should moral police a woman and why has the society been justifying her place and her choices every day.

We live in a society where she is raped in broad day lights, at noon and at night, outside a bedroom and inside a bedroom, in washrooms or in classes, irrespective of her age, be it a 4 month old child or a 60 year old woman. What have we as a society given her to choose from, is it a total disappearance from the mainstream or is it the acceptance of the sins committed by others onto her. Are we as a society telling her to bath away all the abuses she faces everyday or are we making her believe that it is her destiny and ultimately her choice?

There are humongous number of similarities between the two incidents but yet there remains one difference that is, who holds the power, Iran or India. The countries where women are abused, raped and assassinated by those in power. The most horrific point is that how these people who exercise the power have the audacity to cover it up when questioned. A woman in a society is marked and visualized by them as a property of a man, who has to dress, eat, behave and die as per wishes of the men in our society.

On the 2022 new year, the world opened its eyes to the news of Bulli Bai – a platform to sell muslim women who spoke against autocracy. We reside in an India where a girl child is murdered within the womb itself. We live in an India where a young lady is not given permission to sit in exams because she wears a hijab. We breathe in an India where women are assaulted whether she is in a class, at her job, a public place, at the parliament and even at her home.

By wearing a hijab, she unknowingly hurts the sentiments of the ones in power. But is she really worshipped when she isn’t wearing one? In India, a woman is not allowed to go to any religious place when she menstruates, she is not allowed to take part in funeral services, and many times, not given her inheritance. We have seen an India where she is bargained with money and property. An India where her clothing matters more than her education, where she is silenced while being raped either by a stranger or her husband, an India where she is not considered equivalent to a man. For We are that India where she lives and breathes.

But is Iran different for women? No, or maybe even worse. A country where women are subjugated by men isn’t a country one should be proud of. It takes shelter under the belief of Islam, but does Islam teaches its followers to abuse a woman in any way. Will a religion ever erase a woman’s existence or ever dictate one to moral police such that it’ll eventually kill her because of her clothing? We can never get an answer to what wrong did Mahsa Amini commit, to the point she got mercilessly beaten up by the police. The Iranian government’s notorious act of killing women because they don’t fit their narrative proves how disgustful we as human beings have become.

There are thousands of women who are brought to death because they ask for a little more freedom. What remains with her at the end is nothing. Not letting her get and education, marrying her off too early, forcing her to constrict her world to the kitchen walls is increasingly normalised. Marriage, normally thought to be a beautiful bond is soon turned ugly when she is 13 and married to a 63 old man. It’s not just the age difference which becomes the reason for her death, but it’s how she is eventually treated after that. Iran, where she is taught to wear hijab much before she makes a choice shows how choices are forcefully levied on women.

“Iran and India” depicts a story of two rivers who run parallel to each other, although, they never meet but still together they destroy everything that grows near them. These two rivers portrays men living in India and those living in Iran. These men tirelessly and timelessly destroy, damage and dismantle a woman’s identity and her empowerment.

How can a woman rise and become strong when she is taught to always say yes. How will she ever learn that a whole universe resides within her, even when her world is destroyed time and again. How will she ever be confident enough to make her choices when there are people who are ready to set her body on fire. How will she ever fly when the society has been chopping off her wings? What a woman needs may not be acceptance from others, but rather self awareness and self confidence. She needs to be taught to love herself first. She needs to be taught to have the courage to stand for herself even when everybody is against her. She needs to be taught to question those who are in power. She needs to be taught to believe that there exists a world beyond the four walls of her house.

The most beautiful similarity between women of Iran and women of India is the power through which they rise when they are made to fall. They protest endlessly and without any fear. Her announcing the beauty of hijab while walking through a mob wearing saffron, and her courage to lift her scarf in front of mob wearing green is nothing but a complete depiction of what a woman is capable of. She doesn’t need anyone to make laws and rules for her neither does she wants to be a shown a way to live life. All she wants is nothing but a society which accepts her as a human. A society that does not differentiate between men and women. A society where men are not afraid of losing their identity in presence of a woman. A society that makes her identify all capabilities within her and allows her choose from endless possibilities.

Articles by Eishma Fatima

The Interplay of Sharam and Human

The Interplay of Sharam and Human

Who’s choice is it anyway: Women’s clothing in Iran and India

The Interplay of Sharam and Human

The Interplay of Sharam and Human

Who’s choice is it anyway: Women’s clothing in Iran and India