When did life become death? When did birth spell hopelessness? Trapped in small rooms their whole lives, the women that live in the district of Tangail, Bangladesh lead a complicated existence the moment they open their eyes to the world. Destiny has placed insurmountable adversities on their path, as if taunting them to abandon their will to survive. These women must face the task of accepting the embrace of strangers. They ultimately belong to all and to none. In this unwanted reality they seek a way to survive and find a shred of hope in conditions that most would find too unbearable to imagine.
Sixteen-year-old Rupa dances on the bed, while a client films her
As if ripped from the pages of a story from the Dark Ages, these women arrived there to pay their family debts. Bartered like cattle and their voices silenced, their reality is an unbearable reflection of a country in crisis and poverty ingrained into the very social fabric. Every day they face repulsive shows of fictitious love, the painful powerlessness of unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Many of them smile and some must surely fall helplessly in love with the men who offer empty promises and a glimmer of a life outside that hellish reality. All they crave is a heartfelt hug, a sweet kiss goodnight, and a tender shoulder to cry on. Very few of them can escape that life.
Each morning when they open their eyes, they collect the much-needed vitality to go on, and they murmur a prayer to their God. They pray for strength and a good day, and for them a good day is when the penetrations will not hurt, the men that seek their beds are not drunk, and they remain safe from the punches and lashings of abuse. They pray to avoid unwanted pregnancies and remain safe from sexually transmitted diseases.
This walled city is one of the few places on earth where prostitution is legal. With the little resources available, they protect themselves with labyrinthine hierarchies, and they engage in complex power plays. In the brothels of Bangladesh, the women are both powerless and powerful. The young girls are the most vulnerable, since they are basically indentured servants whose ages range between 12 and 14. Stripped from their rights and voice, their bodies belong to the Madame. As time goes by, their debts pile up, and whatever pittance they receive for their services is quickly snatched from their hands. They will remain there until the debt is fully paid.
Once the debt is settled, the women are set free, but many of them remain there, as it is the only reality they know. There is no escaping this world, for they were born to offer sexual favors, and they are unable to remedy their fate. Many of them are younger than 15, and they must remain there for another five years until the debt is repaid. Their childhood innocence is snatched from their hands, and what remains are the painful memories of a world that has forgotten them.
They don’t know any other form of life, and their sole profession consists of selling their bodies for a few cents, allowing others to touch their breasts, their backs, and limbs until their bodies no longer belong to them. At the end of the day, what remains behind are a few wads of cash.
Within the borders of Tangail, the Kandapara is the most notorious brothel and the second largest in the whole country. Hundreds of sexual workers coexist, and those that boast a room are better off. Living conditions are strenuous, for the women must bathe outside and throw away the used condoms in a remote place out of sight. The landfills of the district are covered in layers of latex until the very earth disappears from sight.
This place stood the test of time for 200 years until it was finally demolished in 2014. It was brought back to life when the Bangladesh National Women Lawyer’s Association stood up to the Supreme Court and claimed the unconstitutionality of evicting the prostitutes, and these women were finally able to return to Kandapara.
German photographer, Sandra Hoyn has explored the hidden corners of the world and has shone a light on the daily lives of these people.
These women are utterly controlled by the Madame, and their rights are stepped on by an unchangeable and harsh reality.
