The Pleasure Project, in conjunction with the Instititute of International Social Development, is taking a somewhat unorthodox approach. Since the game of preaching safe sex is all about how many ears you can tease, they’ve decided to bringing sexy back.

When they spoke at the most recent International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, they bared it all, and most definitely perked everyone up. Things started off with the slow sounds of smooth jazz, but when the moans crept in, it was inevitable what mirchi was to follow. Lo and behold, as the backdrop to their academic treatise they chose porn, projected in majestic proportion.

After sights like these, it was no surprise that when it came to educating prostitutes on safe sex, the Pleasure Project wasn’t evening thinking of whipping out the cucumbers and teaching these ladies the old pinch-and-roll.

No, apparently, these folk aren’t afraid of getting down and dirty, digging up India’s rich and voluptuous past — in the form of the Kama Sutra. In an effort to decrease the amount of sexual partners these prostitutes keep — but with full understanding that a girl (or guy) has gotta make a buck — they’re offering classes on practicing safe sex, using kamasutra.

“[The prostitutes] are specifically taught foreplay and other poses that will give men a high degree of pleasure,” chief of IISD Rajyashree Choudhury told BBC.

And, thanks to 2,000 years of horny yet scholarly Indians, that pleasure doesn’t have to come with pain.

“We teach the girls the art of ensuring a premature but very satisfying discharge,” assured Choudhury. “The Kama Sutra is a treasure house for all that.”

• IPS - Sexing up Safe Sex to Limit HIV Spread
• BBC - Kama Sutra Guide to Safe Sex
• The Pleasure Project

But, even in the least dreamy of places, there is reason for hope.

In Lahore’s red light district, the son of a prostitute has a dream. Iqbal Hussain, 58, can envision a rich and prosperous Pakistan. For himself — and for the handful of stray children he calls family — he’s been making strides. Years ago, he accidentally learned the way to Pakistan’s heart was through its stomach. So he continued to feed, cooking up a cultural remedy for his condition, and an elixir for his community.

For the last decade now, Hussain has been the sole proprietor and resident painter of Cooco’s Den and Gallery, a startlingly successful restaurant that belies its morally barren surroundings. And he’s even doing his best to spice up the neighborhood’s looks. When he’s not cooking, Hussain is painting the women upstairs who are selling their bodies for survival. And showcasing it as art.

“I mainly paint sex workers because my family is from the singing and dancing tradition,” he recently told a Guardian Weekly interviewer. “My mother and sister were prostitutes.”

• The Guardian Weekly: Suffering for Art