Examining hopes, aspirations, and future plans of women in non-brothel-based sex work in Kolkata, India

Abstract

Sex work can offer a quick way of making money and is the only profession in which women may earn more in fewer hours when compared to other available jobs. However, most studies with sex workers in India are based on socially biased assumptions about sex work; that is, women are either coerced or trafficked into sex work. Limited attention has been paid to the voices of non-brothel-based sex workers in India. Drawing data from a larger ethnographic study conducted between December 2009 and July 2010, this paper analyses how women sex workers operating from non-brothel-based sex work settings in Kolkata, India, foresee their future. Unlike the popular ‘victim imagery’ of women sex workers in the Global South, this study found that women are not passive recipients of the trade; instead, they employ agency - sometimes transgressing the normative boundaries and at times reinscribing these boundaries to secure a future for themselves and their families. Therefore, to promote HIV preventive behaviour programmes reaching out to sex workers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) must proactively inquire about women’s future plans and assist them in materialising their future goals, which are mostly concerned with their children’s future, a life free of stigma/shame, and financial security in old age.

Keywords:

• Perceived future
• sex workers
• prostitution
• HIV risk
• India

Acknowledgements

Data for this paper derive from the first author’s doctoral dissertation research project, completed at University of South Carolina. We thank Emily Apgar for conducting the literature search for this paper and the anonymous reviewers of CHS for their excellent feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the Fahs-Beck Research & Experimentation Award & the Walker Institute of International Relations & Area Studies, University of South Carolina. The views expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not reflect the policy or position of the funding agencies.