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Shehzad Noorani |
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UNCA - Oct. 30- |
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Sex Workers in Bangladesh Bangladesh - 2000 Award Winner With more than half its population living below the poverty line, Bangladesh remains one of the poorest countries in the world. As in other countries, poverty, low social status, and lack of opportunities for education and employment have forced many women to become sex workers. Prostitution in East Bengal is a centuries-old profession. However, "civilized" society has always managed to deny the existence of sex workers. In the early nineteenth century, the Decennial Census of India categorized sex workers as "non-agricultural, unskilled labor." In 1991 the national census of Bangladesh categorized them as beggars and vagrants under the subheading of "miscellaneous." According to the non-governmental organizations, over 150,000 women are involved in prostitution in Bangladesh while government statistics acknowledge only 9,000. The social status of sex workers in Bengali society is considered so low, that they are not allowed to wear shoes or sandals outside the brothel. Even death fails to end their misery. Regardless if a prostitute is Hindu, Muslim or Christian, she is denied basis funeral rites. When sex workers die in Daulatdia, a brothel near Padma River, their bodies are just thrown in the river. Prior to 1995, NGO's simply ignored the brothels. However, the threat of HIV/AIDS and its prevention programs rapidly changed the situation. Experts have been brought in to conduct studies. On one hand it means that sex workers are being noticed and given an existence. On the other hand, they are noticed only as possible carriers of HIV and AIDS, thus further enhancing the stigma against them as "untouchable." Bangladesh is inscribing the same history as many other countries in the beginning of an HIV epidemic. As a result of social discrimination, several brothels have been attacked and demolished. Sometimes the attacks are initiated by the righteous men of "pure society," sometimes by religious groups and sometimes by government supported law enforcers. Whichever the group may be, the motive is simple - clean up society's garbage. Brothels are essentially no different from slums in urban areas or villages in rural areas. Many tiny rooms on both sides of a lane with people going in and out of the rooms or sitting around talking over the glasses of local wine. Children chase each other in the midst of laughter. Shelter is provided to thousands of women who have absolutely no where to go. It is a place of desperation, violence and exploitation, yet it is a place where true feelings can be expressed without any apprehension.
Statement: I have been working as a freelance documentary photographer in Dhaka since 1988 and produced several bodies of work with a focus on the social issues addressing the problems of urban women and children. My family's migration to Pakistan, resulting from the liberation war of Bangladesh, forced me to work as a child labourer in garment factories and to scavenge on the streets of Karachi. The odd jobs I did during my childhood, which then enabled me to support my family and the education of my siblings, now contribute enormously towards a better understanding of people living at the very bottom of social ladder in Bangladesh. In 1990, just two years after returning to Bangladesh, I unknowingly walked into a brothel where I met a group of sex workers for the first time in my life. It was shocking to see the extent of social disgust and degradation against them by a society I belonged. This experience lead me to start a self supported photography project with the sex workers and their children in Bangladesh called "Daughters of Darkness". My interest and needs to understand the issues better also took me to neighboring countries like Nepal, India and Pakistan. Between other short commercial assignment to keep afloat, I am continuing to collect information and images to address rapidly deteriorating condition of sex workers. My aim is not to prescribe some solution but rather to just raise some questions and to bring the plight of sex workers in the light. Captions:
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