Brothel Born and Bred: Children of Sex Workers Speak

When children step out of their home, one world begins; when they return home it is the other; the conflict between these two worlds traumatises the children.

 

This dichotomy has many consequences, including a highschool drop-out rate and consuming intoxicants at an early age. Moreover, these children are forced to resort to falsehoods when dealing with the rest of society, in the process denyingthe history of their own lives.

 

What is the approach of society in dealing with children fromsuch a context? Society says that these children should be kept away from their mothers, thus resulting in them feeling increasingly abandoned. Besides intense loneliness, the impact is both physical and psychological.

 

When Sangram began working among sex workers, it alsobecame necessary to address the problems of these children who lived in such a divided mental universe. Theirs was a strange situation. Deeply troubled, they cursed their mothers,even beat them at times. But underlying this aggressiveness was one major trait – self-destructiveness.

 

Much time was devoted to understanding these young people. The women in business – who are also mothers – often try to purchase the love of their own children. The converse is that the children are violent, and sometimes even threaten to kill their mothers, and a mother might herself ask the police to arrest her child, frustrated by his waywardness. Spoilt by attempts to purchase their love, the children are more often than not headed towards delinquency.