Now, as an author, Dutta busts myths and half-truths associated with women in
one of the world's oldest professions.
His "Jauno Karmider Jiban Satto" (Truth about the Life of Sex Workers) in
Bengali is hitting the bookstores and is awaiting translation in English,
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada by the NGO Care India.
The book, brought out by the apex body of sex workers in West Bengal called
DMSC, is already receiving critical acclaim.
Told through the lives of eight sex workers in seven stories and replete with
statistics based on surveys in red light areas, "Jauno..." is the story of
exploitation of sex workers as well as their battle for dignity and a better
deal. It also deals with several beliefs and superstitions of the sex workers.
"I have tried to portray in the book why the women join the flesh trade and the
politics revolving round their lives. A woman primarily chooses to be a sex
worker because she sees it as a better option and not because she is forced,"
Dutta told IANS.
"My book tells the story of difference in the lives of our women since 1995
when DMSC was formed.
"Sex workers used to suffer from a sense of guilt previously. But all that
changed since the formation of DMSC," he said. The body has about 60,000 women
members.
According to him, the turning point in the lives of sex workers came when the
HIV/AIDS prevention programme undertaken by Smarajit Jana of the All India
Institute of Public Health and Hygiene began in 1992 in the city's largest red
light area called Sonagachi.
"Born into brothel and growing up here, I have seen them from close and so the
book is an authentic account of sex workers' lives," he said.
Noted Bengali writer Samaresh Majumdar is amazed by the depth of the book.
"I have written on sex workers based on my imagination. Mrinal has blended
figures with real life stories and this piece of literature is of first grade,"
Majumdar opined.
"The book unmasks the male chauvinistic society's effort to divide women into
good and bad to keep them under leash. It is a seminal effort to set right the
wrong notions about sex workers," said filmmaker Gautam Ghose, who has written
the foreword to the book.
