Humaari Kusum

I am still recovering from the hangovers of WeTheWoman experience we had in Mumbai last Sunday. Though it wasn't an LGBTIQ event per se, there were many LGBTIQ minds at work for the event. Plus, it was an event that celebrated freedom of thought and freedom to be. 

The star for me on Day 2 of the event was undoubtedly Kusum. Kusum is a sex worker who very candidly admitted that she is on a ghoonghat at home and that she has no qualms about admitting that she is a sex worker. "sex work bhi toh work hota hai" she tells me smilingly. I nodded my head in agreement. When Barkha Dutt probed her about sex work in the technologically advanced age, she responded quickly and rapchikly "ab toh phono sex ho jaata hai", also she had the audience in high spirits when she revealed that with the advent of digital transactions, she is paid for her services via digital payment apps. 

Kusum is so uninhibited that she has the audience empathising with her and championing her cause in unison. The best thing was that no one pitied her, there was no "bechaari, abla naari" kind of talk about her. As I met people at the conference, I just heard praises about her.

She got down the stage, came up to me and told me "section 377 ka ladaai bhi ladeinge". The "we are in it together" spirit that she was a living example of, is exactly what is needed in all movements. It is easy to assume that a person like her would need support from the other world that is not engaged in sex work. 

Pann Ikde, the case was different. She was assuring a more privileged cis gendered male upper caste middle class society whose only minority indicator was that he is a sexual minority, despite being a gender minority that is hugely subjugated and belonging to a profession that is ruthlessly despised. She owns her profession, she owns her children, she owns her family, more importantly she owns herself even in the market of flesh where sex is just the currency often encashed by men. She is in command. And we can see why she is in demand.

The LGBTIQ rights movement has got a lot of learning to do from the Kusums in our midst. Her life is a fantastic example of how one could walk with their head held high celebrating yourself in a world that ridicules who we are. Kusum is a lesson on intersectionality that the LGBTIQ movement needs to adopt more proactively, that while we champion the cause of LGBTIQ equality as the main agenda, we should get voices from the margins to come and march with us as themselves.

I am sure some LGBTIQ persons would read this piece and be offended that I likened us to a sexworker. Well, that's precisely my point.

Bahinn, privilege ke chasme utaar ke dekh, kaai diste tulla? Identity And Prejudice.

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