https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Meena_SeshuMeena Seshu - Revision history2026-10-23T00:35:44ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meena_Seshu&diff=157558&oldid=previmported>Helper201 at 21:25, 14 December 20202020-12-14T21:25:36Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Activist for sex workers' rights}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Meena Seshu<br />
| image = Ms Meena Seshu Photo.jpg<br />
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --><br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Meena Saraswathi Seshu<br />
| birth_date = 24 March 1962<br />
| birth_place = [[Bengaluru]], [[Karnataka]], India<br />
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --><br />
| death_place = <br />
| nationality = Indian<br />
| other_names = <br />
| occupation = Social activist<br />
| years_active = <br />
| known_for = [[Sex workers' rights]]<br />
| notable_works =<br />
<br />
}}<br />
'''Meena Seshu''' is an activist for [[sex workers' rights]]. She is the founder of the [[Non-governmental organization|non-governmental organisation]] (NGO) [[Sampada Gramin Mahila Sanstha|SANGRAM]]<ref name="SANGRAM">{{cite web|title=Sangram is a voluntary organization|url=https://www.sangram.org/|website=SANGRAM}}</ref> which is aimed at empowering sex workers. She created Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP),<ref name="VAMP">{{cite web|title=VAMP (VESHYA ANYAY MUKTI PARISHAD)|url=http://www.nswp.org/members/asia-and-the-pacific/vamp-veshya-anyay-mukti-parishad|website=Global Network of Sex Work Projects|language=en|date=1 December 2010}}</ref> a collective of people in [[sex work]]. Seshu is based in [[Sangli]], [[Maharashtra]],and SANGRAM and VAMP work in Maharashtra and [[Karnataka]].<ref name="Livemint" /><br />
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== Background ==<br />
Seshu was born on 24 March 1962, in [[Bangalore|Bengaluru]], Karnataka. She grew up in Mumbai. She has a bachelor's degree in Life Sciences and a master's degree in Social Welfare from [[Tata Institute of Social Sciences]] (TISS), [[Mumbai]]. She worked with Stree Mukti Sangharsh, the women's wing of [[Shramik Mukti Dal]], Maharashtra. She moved to Sangli in 1986 along with her husband who got a job with the Marathi Newspaper [[Kesari (newspaper)|''Kesari'']].<ref name="Livemint">{{cite news|last1=Ratnam|first1=Dhamini|title=Dignity to sex work|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pNfD4rrJwCji3JVwtzDmYP/Dignity-to-sex-work.html|work=LiveMint|date=7 November 2015}}</ref><br />
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== Social work ==<br />
During the mid 1980s, Seshu was an activist looking to stop brutality against women in Maharashtra state. Her real focus in the following decade was HIV/AIDS as it took a destructive toll in the poor regions where she worked. She began working with a group of women who experienced disturbing rates of both violence and HIV/AIDS.<ref>{{cite web|title=Celebrating Our Global Leaders: Meena Seshu|url=https://ajws.org/stories/meena-seshu/|website=American Jewish World Service - AJWS}}</ref> Her experience showed her that organising into collectives is a useful method for bringing about empowerment, so she adopted this in the brothels she visited.<ref name="OSF">{{cite news|title=Spotlight on Meena Seshu, SANGRAM: Sex Worker Rights in Rural India|url=https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/spotlight-meena-seshu-sangram-sex-worker-rights-rural-india|work=Open Society Foundations|language=en}}</ref> This led to the setting up of Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha (SANGRAM)<ref name="SANGRAM"/> set up in 1992<ref name="Lancet">{{cite journal|last1=Shetty|first1=Priya|title=Meena Saraswathi Seshu: tackling HIV for India's sex workers|url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61044-6/fulltext?code=lancet-site|journal=The Lancet|volume=376|issue=9734|pages=17|language=English|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61044-6|pmid=20609982|date=July 2010}}</ref> and Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP),<ref name="VAMP"/> a collective led by sex workers, set up in 1996. These work in eight districts across Maharashtra and Karnataka.<ref name="VAMP"/> Seshu went on to set up Vidrohi Mahila Manch, a collective of rural women that spreads awareness against HIV/AIDS, in 1997.<ref name="Livemint" /> In 2000, she set up two more collectives: Muskan for [[Men who have sex with men]] (MSM) and Nazariya for women living with HIV.<ref name="UNAIDS">{{cite web|title=UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights {{!}} Meena Saraswathi Seshu|url=http://www.hivhumanrights.org/about-us/who-we-are/meena-saraswathi-seshu/|website=www.hivhumanrights.org|access-date=2018-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521021028/http://www.hivhumanrights.org/about-us/who-we-are/meena-saraswathi-seshu/|archive-date=2018-05-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2006, she set up a Centre for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalisation (CASAM). She had begun working with children of sex workers in 2004, and built a hostel for them called Mitra in [[Nipani]], Karnataka, in 2009.<ref name="Livemint" /><br />
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Seshu's work is focused on decriminalisation of sex work. She believes rehabilitation efforts can be misguided:<ref name="VAMP" /><ref name="TOI">{{cite news|title=NGOs rally for safety of woman sex workers - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/NGOs-rally-for-safety-of-woman-sex-workers/articleshow/7937590.cms|work=The Times of India}}</ref><ref name="Indian Express">{{cite news|title=Anti-trafficking measures leave sex workers vulnerable to exploitation: study|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/anti-trafficking-measures-leave-sex-workers-vulnerable-to-exploitation-study-5086446/|work=The Indian Express|date=5 March 2018}}</ref><br />
<blockquote>"In VAMP we have a slogan: “save us from saviours”. These saviours are saving us for themselves, they’re not saving us for ourselves. If they had come to save us for ourselves, maybe they’d help us get better working conditions, they wouldn’t use the most oppressive arm of the State, the police, to “help us”"<ref name="Ladies finger">{{cite web|title='If They Really Wanted to Help Us, They Wouldn't Send the Police.' 5 Things We All Get Wrong about Sex Work – The Ladies Finger|url=http://theladiesfinger.com/meena-seshu-get-right-sex-work/|website=theladiesfinger.com}}</ref></blockquote><br />
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Seshu wants safety and removal of occupational hazards in sex work - violence, unsafe conditions and practices, and she wants sex workers to have access to treatment for [[sexually transmitted infection]]s (STIs) like HIV.<ref name="Ladies finger" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Are Indians Outraged by Sex Work Because of their Taboos about Sex? - The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger|url=http://theladiesfinger.com/sex-workers/|website=theladiesfinger.com}}</ref><br />
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These aims led to a controversy in 2005, when Seshu made the decision that SANGRAM would not support a [[United States]] government policy, the [[Anti-prostitution pledge]].<ref name="AJWS">{{cite web|url=https://ajws.org/blog/meena-seshu-discusses-india-sex-work-and-human-rights/|title=Meena Seshu Discusses India, Sex Work and Human Rights|publisher=American Jewish World Service}}</ref><ref name="OSF" /><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Seshu, Meena}}<br />
[[Category:Indian human rights activists]]<br />
[[Category:Sex worker activists in India]]<br />
[[Category:1962 births]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]</div>imported>Helper201