The changing face of prostitutionFrom the one-stool parade in the Majengo where they sat invitingly in the 1960s through to the 1980s, prostitutes have taken to new aggressive and sophisticated methods of plying their trade. Then, the women paraded themselves, with thighs exposed, on stools at doorsteps of their mud-walled hovels, from where they beckoned their male clients. It was some kind of open market arrangement with the sellers spreading their "wares" for sampling by the male buyers. And, as late as in the 1980s, men parted with five bob for a fling or a shot, as it is known in the commercial sex trade parlance. However, in line with the changing trend of retail trade, today's prostitute is also playing the hawker � meaning she is literally on the move hunting for clients and not glued on the "Majengo stool" hoping and praying for a client to darken her door. Incidentally, the Majengo slum estates, spread in virtually all the country's major towns, have for ages been synonymous with this particular trade. Today, the women have defied the unwritten tradition of being prompted by the men and instead move along, like hawkers, approaching prospective buyers. Prostitution is no longer a confine of the low-class, uneducated, street or bar women. It is not for the poorly dressed and filthy looking. The prostitute of today cannot to be found in specific slum estates, along the streets or in dingy bars downtown. In fact, less than a third of the commercial sex workers today are street workers. Today's prostitute is trendy and sparkling. She dresses immaculately because this is her selling point. And, by the way, the politically correct terminology for her is no longer a prostitute, but a commercial sex worker (CSW). The whole trick, they concede, lies in looking beautiful, hence their heavy investment on looks, styling their hair and buying outfits. Prostitution is known as the world's oldest profession. Then, women were used as property and exchanged for sexual pleasure. Today the hunt for sex money has become more creative, competitive, exciting and sophisticated. Threatened by the Aids scourge, scores of others have refined trade techniques to sustain their dwindling market. The women have designed "friendlier" and "less risky" methods to hold on to male clients who are increasingly shying away from intercourse. At a popular Nairobi discotheque on Moi Avenue, the men are allowed to only caress, fondle and kiss at an agreeable fee. "Babe sitting," or what is known in the West as "lap-dancing", is the hottest item on the menu. Under this procedure, half-nude women sit on the client's laps cuddling and wriggling to the disco music. And then there is this other lot, mostly found in crowded bars, that makes money by just "offering company" to drinking clients. Owing to economic constraints among other reasons, a growing number of women, including the so-called working class, college and even high school students, are getting into the trade. Presently, it is not uncommon for office girls (or women) in other employment to change into twilight gear after work in a hunt for male clients. Yet still, others do it inadvertently by engaging in sexual relationships with their seniors at the work place or lecturers or teachers in learning institutions with the hope of making an extra coin or winning special favours and not out of love. In fact the market for "exotic prostitution" is not lacking, especially in Nairobi, given that the city is a major regional hub and home to a number of UN agencies. Elsewhere prostitution is real lucrative business. In the UK, for instance, the trade generates over �700 million a year. Related services, including stripping, lap dance and ponorgraphy, generate twice as much. Only last month, one of the countries with a leading thriving commercial sexual industry, Thailand, launched an unprecedented national debate on what to do with its billion-dollar industry which draws thousands of foreign tourists. There are at least a quarter million Thai land nationals working as prostitutes nationwide. No one knows how much money rolls through them, but it is estimated at between US$ 40 and US$ 50 million a year. Neary half of the figure is pocketed by the police who are bribed to turn a blind eye to the business. In such developed countries, and lately here in Kenya, lobbying for recognition and legalisation of the trade has taken centre stage. Commercial sex workers the world over are equally demanding for their rights and the need to be treated justly. "Sex workers need a trade union and a decriminalised industry, not feminist pity," Ms Ana Lopes, a student and spokesperson for a branch of sex workers in the UK, was recently quoted in a London newspaper, The Guardian, as saying. Sex workers suffer from daily victimisation and violence. Other than the specific activity in which they engage to earn a living, these are the key factors that define and legitimise the industry. According to Ms Josephine Macharia, a programme officer at SourceNet, a non-governmental organisation that rehabilitates CSWs, the trade is probably here to stay and the only way out is to advise and train the women to engage in safe sex. |
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