Sex work is work: Rights groups demand courteous, inclusive language for sex workers

However, what has not gone down well is the problematic terminology used by the Special Rapporteur in her call for inputs.

“The Special Rapporteur seems to have rejected the term ‘sex worker’ in favour of denigrating and archaic terms such as “women who have been prostituted”, which embody the idea of women not in control of their own destiny and livelihood,” 3640 members of various organisations have said in their petition submitted to UN High Commissioner of Human Rights and UN special rapporteur among others.

Advocates Vrinda Grover and Aarthi Pai who mentored the submission of the petition from Sex Workers and Allies South Asia (SWASA) have said that Special Rapporteur’s call for inputs exemplifies the ‘rights- unfriendly’ terms and assumptions against which sex workers and their allies have struggled for decades.

“We believe that a ‘call for input’ that starts out espousing a framework that denies sex workers’ rights can’t lead to a process that will contribute to the respect, protection and fulfilment of those rights,” Pai told The Indian Express.

Meena Seshu, a member of SWASA further pointed out that they demand courteous language. “It is important to avoid terminology that conflates human trafficking, sexual exploitation and sex work. Such a conflation is inaccurate, as trafficking of persons into forced or coerced labour (including sexual exploitation) cannot be equated with consensual sex work Such a conflation also contributes to human rights violations against sex workers, who end up further policed and abused despite being characterised as “victims” of trafficking,” Seshu said.

The National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW) a pan-India network of over 1,50,000 female, trans and male sex workers have also, in writing, flagged concerns about the terminology used. “There must be a clear separation of women and girls, who should not be clubbed with the category of adult women. The terms prostitution and prostituted women are not used in the Indian context. The Supreme Court of India (SCI) has issued a Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes offers guidance on avoiding harmful gender stereotypes and suggests that the word prostitute be replaced with ‘sex worker’,” members of NNSW have said in their petition.

“Desist from using the terms ‘prostitute’ and ‘prostitute women’, avoid clubbing minors with the category of ‘sex workers’ which denotes adult individuals in sex work, and stop conflation of trafficking and voluntary entry into sex work,” they have demanded.