More to Sex Trade Than Sex Workers
As 2013 draws to a close, Surabaya is stepping up its campaign to wipe out all the city's "red-light" districts. The legendary "Dolly," once reputedly the largest red-light district in Southeast Asia dating back to the Dutch colonial era, is about to be closed down by early 2014. As the crusade against the city's "visible" sex industry gains pace, several questions deserve to be pondered.
The driving force behind the scheme is Surabaya's first woman mayor, the energetic and idealistic Tri Rismaharini, popularly known as Bu Risma. Risma is adamant about closing down the brothels, even going on public record that she was prepared to put her life on the line to push the initiative through. While investigating the problem of human trafficking, she claimed to have found a direct link between the existence of red-light districts and the cases of young women living near them ending up as sex workers.
Despite the reasoning given by Risma, the policy is clearly one of principle, at least the mayor's principle. She said that she hated to see people "living in sin" if the brothels continued to be condoned. But history also shows that no human civilization to date has succeeded in completely eradicating sex work.
To give her credit, however, admittedly the mayor appears to have thought the policy out thoroughly. From the beginning, she refused to bow down to pressure from religious leaders to order immediate closures of all the red-light districts in the city. Instead, she set about accomplishing her task through a gradual process. The sex workers and their pimps were given training in various home industry skills and even granted start-up capital to set up their own small businesses outside the sex industry.
While the former workers of the sex industry appear to have found other vocations, the problem with the sex industry is that it is a two-way traffic. The mayor may have found a solution for the sex workers and their pimps, but what about their former clients?
Prostitution boomed in Surabaya because there was a great demand for it. Even with the non-existence of red-light districts, procuring paid sexual services will always go on in the city, but with one difference: prostitution will become less affordable to the great majority, especially the lower middle class bracket, who were actually the largest frequenters of the red-light districts.
Prostitution in Surabaya was always divided into two classes: high-class prostitution which only took place in hotel rooms, out-of-town getaway villas and condos with its clientele being exclusively from the upper middle class. Naturally, the closure of Dolly and its sister complexes has no impact on this market segment.
But the red-light districts were always popular with the lower middle class because they could afford the prices there. And with pre-marital sex being frowned upon and prevalent "raids" on unmarried couples even in their own homes, the red-light districts were ideal for people who wanted sex without strings attached.
Obviously, these clients of the endangered red-light districts will not stop looking for sex just because the mayor conscientiously deems prostitution undesirable. And, if truth be told, there is no guarantee that all the sex workers and pimps would not revert to their old profession. If so, the industry would perhaps go underground, being carried out in cheap hotels and even in residential areas.
These "guerilla" brothels may in all probability create new social problems for Surabaya. For one, the prevention of STDs through unsafe sex may be more difficult when the target is an underground industry. Further, sex workers working in scattered enclaves may find themselves more prone to assaults and violence by their clients. There is, after all, greater safety for the individual sex worker in a broader complex.
Arguably, the key principle in working with the sex industry is pragmatism. Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly called Ahok, seems to recognize this, as he said he would like to see the sex industry in Jakarta "localized" within red-light districts — for easier management and monitoring.
Clearly, a more pragmatic and perhaps honest approach to Surabaya's struggle with the sex industry is needed.
Notwithstanding the noble intentions of Mayor Risma in eliminating human trafficking, serious thoughts should be given to the possible repercussions for the closures of the city's red-light districts. It is perhaps insufficient to provide for the economic needs for the sex workers, while at the same time turning a blind eye to the sexual needs of the clients.
Johannes Nugroho is a writer and businessman from Surabaya. He can be contacted at johannes@nonacris.com
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