Every time I think of this topic, I think of the pros and cons and now, after some research, I think I can tackle it from this standpoint.
As I drive past some prostitutes on some of our roads, I look at them and feel sorry for the poor beautiful creations of God. I imagine what a life it is. I cannot help but wonder why they are doing this. After all, I remember they are God’s children just like you and me. They do not parade on the streets because they are desperate for sex but because they are definitely desperate for cash.
Maybe one should elaborate what prostitution is. Again, one should ask themselves if you found yourself in their circumstances, if you would resort to prostitution.
A prostitute, commercial sex worker or “pros”, as others would rather say, also means a professional in a certain discipline and in this case, well … Most of us think prostitutes are only females but, in many a place, men are also prostitutes themselves.
However, in our case scenario, most of us think of the women who wait for men by the roadside to be taken for some casual sex at a cost, the charge mainly determined by varying factors i.e. an hourly charge, on performance rounds, etc. But as for me, prostitution can be described broadly.
Fact: all women who love men for what they have and what they can get in exchange for sex are prostitutes. I do not care if one is paid in cash or in kind. However you look at it, the difference is that one is dignified and the other not.
Well, as for some of our “pros” I learnt that they were not only beautiful but also brainy and envisioned as they spent the hard-earned money wisely building themselves or their families nice houses or investing in other ways.
I also learnt that their services varied for different reasons from a lousy P5.00 per session to P1, 000 for the high caliber “pros”. Imagine having a property with 8 bedrooms all master en suite, ceramic tiles, clean, air conditioned and all rooms booked per hour. How much would you be making per month? Isn’t that good business!
As a Christian, I am not for Prostitution. However, given the worldly circumstances, hardships of life and the escalating HIV and AIDS infection statistics, I think, prostitution was, is and will always be there for generations to come. So being real, legalizing it may have some advantages. Obviously, for the men that cannot contain themselves and end up raping innocent victims, for the men that can never seem to be content with their “one” partner/spouses, for the men that just want to sex for the thrill or for whatever reason, they will now satisfy themselves legally without hurting anyone physically and emotionally.
The Government will also benefit from the tax money and, finally, all will stand to benefit when the Ministry of Finance allocates it to good use. I also learnt that these ladies used condoms (of course, with few exceptions) with their clients responsibly as they had their own families to protect and did not engage in this act for fun. Some cited very sad upbringing, for some backgrounds, for others just by associating with the wrong friends and dropped out of school resulting in no employment not to forget mouths to feed.
Another way to look at this is that maybe wives will rest assured that their spouses are at the regular brothel, where he parts with his hard earned money for his pleasure and nothing more. They will not be wondering with whom and where the spouse is at because this way one is sure where he is and why he is there. No more pretending to be hanging out with buddies at the bar until the wee hours of the morning. That way, you will be sure where the money goes.
Another way of looking at this is a Brothel and a Youth Grant and CEDA opening its doors for new business ventures, maybe then we will not have so many of our youth roaming the streets “jobless”. After all let’s look at the “Best Practices” from other countries. A brothel is a beautiful apartment with beautiful ladies and the ladies are tested for HIV before being recruited. Doctors are engaged for their personal health and security is of paramount importance and, last but not least, condoms are not compromised. So in other words, these are “safe” havens.
As researchers would have us believe, it has been proven that on average men think about sex a lot in a 24hr day. This may be attributed to many reasons, some being the way our women dress so suggestively at offices and barely clothed at social events in the name of fashion. Maybe having legal professional sex worker entities would lessen the outrageous passion killings, lessen rape cases, lessen the spouses mistrust, lessen the stories like the one our Minister of Presidential Affairs, Rre Phendu Skelemani, witnessed recently at Francistown where prostitutes had casual sex in the open.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the truth must be told! We are living in a very complex world which we cannot ignore or shut ourselves from. Are we going to hide behind ethics or join the rest of the world? Anyway, this is my personal and humble opinion. But let’s not forget Sodom & Gomorrah and our beautiful country will be cursed, before the eyes of the beholder?
EDDIE MDLULI
BDP ACTIVIST
GABORONE
