Legalise Sex Work - Kgosidintsi
Thalefang Charles | Monday February 10, 2020 14:55
Kgosidintsi was a special guest at a panel discussion on sexual economics organised by the University of Botswana Union Society on Friday.
A day before the debate she presented a prelude of her argument via Facebook saying, “If society allows Isaac Makwala to use his legs (a part of his body) to make money then society must also allow Resego Kgosidintsi to use her vagina (a part of her body) to make money”.
Kgosidintsi, who proved to be well versed on the sex industry, argued that sex work is already widely happening in Botswana. She presented various types of sex workers, from the scantily dressed roadside ‘ladies of the night’ to the elegant escort that accompanies moneyed executives on foreign trips. She also cited a World Health Organisation report that puts a number of sex workers operating in Botswana to 4,000.
She said sex work is a private agreement between two consenting adults. “Why should we choose what people do with their own bodies in their own private space? If I am not interfering with anyone, why will there be a problem?” she asked. Kgosidintsi further argued that regulating sex work would actually help curb prevalent gender-based violence and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. She said the country is losing money from possible tax that could be collected from a legalised sex trade industry.
Presenting an opposing views on the legalisation of sex work were University of Botswana students, Mosetsenagape Lebotse, Tshepo Mafojane and Dikosha Dikosha.Lebotse and Mafojane anchored their arguments on morality and societal expectation.
Lebotse argued that sex is sacred and must only happen when there is love. She argued that to protect the moral fibre of society, sex must not be made a commodity that could be randomly traded for money.
Mafojane listed the possible disadvantages of sex trade including diseases and moral decay. She argued that proliferation of trade could lead many girls using their free resource – vagina – as an easy way of making a living.
“Why would a girl child go to school to get education and later not find a job while they have a vagina that she can make money from it?” she argued. Dikosha, who was the only male on the panel, said sex without love should not be encouraged. He argued that it is another one of the patriarchal ideas that would encourage bad competition amongst women and destroy themselves in the process.