Prostitution is the most lucrative trade world-wide; should never be part of the equation

Third letter to the Workers of Zimbabwe: 1st of May 2015

Dear Workers of Zimbabwe,

Thousands of women, young women, teenagers in Zimbabwe are going for the oldest trade in the world: prostitution to make ends meet. They are trading with their bodies for money, for cash. Prostitution has become part of work culture in Zimbabwe, the pimp culture they call it. What was known as adult activities, this trade has attracted girls even as young as eleven years old out of sheer desperation. It is now normal to see very young girls hanging around drinking places hoping to hook up with some old sugar daddy for that quickie to get the dollar and wait for the next client. These young girls may have seen it, or were told, how lucrative the trade is from the older women prostitutes or they are forced by circumstances into the trade. Curiously the mothers, fathers, and grandparents of these young girls do close their eyes, are complacent and overlook it, pretend they do not see these sad developments unfolding in their presence. They condone child prostitution because it directly benefits them. Guardians of minor children, because of economic hardships have stippled low to see girl-children as the source of income by selling their bodies to bring the wanted cash in the homes. That child will gain some recognition to the home and will be allowed to visit these growth points to illicit income earnings by prostitution. Life has become very challenging especially in rural and growth points of Zimbabwe and indeed in towns and cities of Zimbabwe. It is about the rains that are not reliable and the yields from the fields are insignificant. The government is not able to meet food distribution, there are food insecurities in most parts of the rural areas of the country. Despite all the challenges we have in Zimbabwe, prostitution should NEVER replace formal employment in the country.

Prostitution is an undying and a very complex trade that is not only practiced in the third world but also in industrialized countries as well. Prostitution predates early civilization, it can be traced as far back as early men in history books. It is widely mentioned in the holy Bible to the extent of making it civil; Mary Magdalena was a prostitute but found grace in Christ and was made pure in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ by associating with him. But today in almost all global communities, prostitutes are viewed differently from all other people, they are deemed less people, sex objects and almost outcasts and dirty people. They are subject to all kinds of violence by the men they engage with and sometimes they even get murdered because of the disproportionate relationship between the client and the prostitute. It is the illegal nature of this illicit relationship that puts a woman in a dangerous situation. The man would wield his power to mercilessly assault a prostitute physically, sexually, emotionally by using most horrendous, abusive methods to discipline this woman at his disposal purposely defiling her in the process. The woman on the other hand will accommodate all abuse because of the exchange of it with the money. The sex acts are mostly pervasive in nature, the sex that this man cannot get from his decent married wife, he will demand it from a prostitute including anal, oral sexual intercourse, an adventure he will allow himself to experience from the woman in the red-light-districts. The illegal nature of their respective roles makes it subhuman, but it is the woman who will be most exploited at the end of the day. The life of a prostitute is exploitation from this man who is getting sexual pleasures from her on one hand, and alienation from her own people and society on the other hand.

 The difference between promiscuity and prostitution is obviously demarcated. In Zimbabwe they will be called prostitutes and very cheap women. This labeling a promiscuous woman to a prostitute is to understand it as an insult than the actual description of prostitution. A promiscuous woman will have her pleasure in seeing so many men and getting her fun in the sexual acts without exchange of money, it is indeed another level of relationship that is developed in the process. It will not only be sex per se but exchange of spiritual self with the man involved. They will share coffee and breakfast in the morning after a good night together, a sign that there is some spiritual togetherness in the whole intimacy. She may also tell the man that it was good to have known him but she will want to move on, departing from that man to seek yet another one to get her fun. At the end of it all she will settle for some marriage or partnership then she is rounded up to a full mature personality. Prostitution is not the case, it is far from any emotional connection, it is a cold coming together of two sexes, one to please himself and the other for commercial purposes, to get money to survive.
Prostitution, which is sometimes called a raunchy culture, is a lucrative business world-wide. The younger the prostitute, the higher is the price remunerations too. It is mostly poverty that lands children in the trade. They are forced into it to survive mostly. These children are either orphans or they were abandoned and left to fend for themselves at an early age, sending them straight to red-lights-districts as the ultimate means to get money that they cannot get in any normal employment set up. These children or young girls are mostly uneducated; they will be living rough in the streets, taking drugs to cope with the prostitution making it challenging to get into mainstream employment later in their lives. These red-lights districts are not without danger. Criminals usually come to such dark places literally making these places crime scenes during the night. Criminals come either to sell drugs or to rob the young girls of their income. Because they are young they get physically abused too or even murdered. The longer they stay in the trade, the better they get to know that they are preferred to older women for many reasons: they are simple to please, some do not have sexually transmitted diseases. They are also easily trafficked without knowing where they are sent to. Again most men enjoy the virginity of young girls than old women and do prefer them than mature women. It is the crying in pain of a child that sets the sexual mood of a man, the men enjoy sex more when a child cries during sexual intercourse. It is considered luck to sleep with a virgin in some communities. In Zimbabwe men believe that sleeping with virgins cures HIV/AIDS. However, it is surprising that none so far has been cured of HIV/AIDS by sleeping with a virgin, having sex with a virgin.

There are numerous cases of toddlers, children, young girls who have been abused by beasty women and men, even mothers in Zimbabwe. When one follows these abuses, it is established that it is either the mothers, or grandmothers, or relatives who will have designated the use of small children for sexual activities in exchange for remunerations in cash and kind. These children become infected with HIV/AIDS. Most of them suffer from vaginal tearing and deformation of the wombs. Later in their lives, they will fall into depression, confusion, aggression and anger, they can suffer from mental health problems too. They may have mistrust and hatred towards adults not necessarily those who abused and abandoned them. These children develop pre-mature sex drive, will be addicted to drugs they were exposed to during the red-light-activities. They can easily engage in criminal activities as they are extremely light hearted and care-free in their attitudes due to use of drugs in the trade.   

Prostitution is a trade that should not be tolerated in Zimbabwe. Prostitution should be abolished and condemned at all cost because it infringes in the rights and dignity of girl-children, young women and all women. The number of girls and young women going for this trade in Zimbabwe is alarming. We blame the current government that has been insensitive regarding the directionless economic development that neglected women and children to fend for themselves. Prostitution in Zimbabwe shall be abolished and pedophiles be prosecuted.  Zimbabwean societies will be affected by this huge number of girls who have resorted to prostitution because we do not know the hidden costs until the next generation. The impacts of girl-child prostitution are the same; crime and criminal behavior related to drugs use and drug trafficking in national and international spaces. There are several unwanted pregnancies resulting from prostitution, next, the pregnancies will be aborted illegally. A child prostitute is not in a position to tell a client to wear a condom, men prefer sex without condoms. It is very pertinent to abolish prostitution in Zimbabwe: the Honorable Thabitha Khumalo should be told this. Sometimes the girl child prostitutes are not paid as they are not in a position to effect payment or demand that money after sex. Because of drug use and the presence of criminals they lose the cash they may have made during the night in those red-lights-districts. They will not report this as the trade itself is illegal, a catch 22 situation. Red-lights-district is indeed a criminal world. Prostitution in Zimbabwe must be abolished but at the same time those girl-children who have been in the trade should not be criminalized by the state and society but should make a big effort to claim them back. When the government of Zanu PF has gone, removed, replaced by democratic forces, there is need to develop a new culture, and one of them is to bring back our girl-children who have been hooked into prostitution and provide pro-poor projects that will uplift and turnaround their lives and be able to see a better and much fulfilling life beyond the life of prostitution. Prostitution should be viewed as gender inequality and as such cannot be classified as work. There should be a culture that will emphasize decent work ethics as a means to survive. There is a danger in prolonging this decayed fabric of quick money by prostitution. Young women and girl-children who have been prostitutes should be accepted back without labeling them as such and integrate in the society to accepted levels to balance gender equalities.

 Early marriages should be classified as forced prostitution or forced slavery, because it is the parents or the guardian who forcefully, illegally gave away a girl-child to a man in return for remunerations in cash or kind. These girl-children will be subject to rape most of the time in these heartless and disproportionate marriage relationships. The coming government should make it explicitly clear that such practices will be prosecuted by the law. Prostitution is not work and should never be accepted as work in our society. As we approach the workers day, the first of May we should reflect on the plight of young women who have been neglected and sidelined by the government of Zanu PF, and those girl-children have landed on a dangerous trade to make ends meet. The new government should provide extensive poverty reduction and poverty elimination programs to uplift the lives of the girl-children:
•    It is the poverty reduction and poverty elimination that the new government should embark on to reduce the number of prostitutes in our societies.

•    It is re-education of our girl-children we shall have won back from this "sad and pervasive trade" and offer them better life-fulfilling projects with social ethical ends  

•    No stigma attached to them so that they develop high self esteem and self respect

The Duke of Edinburg, husband to the Queen of England said: "A prostitute can never have less morals than a housewife because both do the same thing." One wonders if this statement from the high office is true at all. I cannot discuss this statement competently, better to leave it as such without further comment.

Your final letter will be out soon dear Workers of Zimbabwe, Vashandi, Izisebenzi.
Chirikadzi

Ugogo omncane
Nomazulu Thata