Sex fair in Kolkata! Well, why not, would be the echoes of 65,000-strong Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), the apex body of sex workers in Bengal. The fair, called the All India Conference of Entertainment Workers (AICEW), billed as the biggest and first such meet of entertainment workers in the city, is slated to commence from Feb 25.
There will be famed invitees to grace the 7-day meet, notably film directors Mahesh Bhatt, Goutam Ghosh, Rituparno Ghosh and even Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi. See this news report.
Debates on issues like Festival of Pleasure, Entertainment in Development, Entertainment in Revolution, and Sexual Rights and Relationship are expected to attract most attention, even as there will be fair and cultural events as well.
To be sure, there are issues of serious concern that affect the society at large that will be debated threadbare, AIDS for example.
The meet however sends an unequivocal demand that there has to be decriminalization of adult sex work and reform of laws that now restrict the human rights of sex workers, and tend to criminalize them and limit their enfranchisement as full citizens.
Melinda Gates at Sonagachi – Commitment for controlling HIV/AIDS [Picture source]
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