Sex as Work A Changing Discourse

Abstract

Nalini Jameela's autobiography, Oru Lyngikathozhilaliyude Athmakatha (The Autobiography of a Sex Worker), dictated and written in Malayalam, an instant bestseller in 2005, touches upon a number of issues that should have raised a stormy debate, but has not. This article attempts to understand Jameela's experience of initiation into this ‘occupation’ and her purpose for relating it to a wider audience, particularly in the context sex as legitimate work in the context of the HIV and AIDS epidemics. The book's societal meaning is explored by placing it along with various other perspectives on the institution of prostitution/sex work and prostituted women. The range of approaches articulated by the women involved in this, from one of total rejection to its very glorification as an occupation ‘like any other’, are exemplified through historical and contemporary testaments of individual women and the organizational manifestoes of sex workers.