‘Do you really want to hear about my life?’: doing ‘feminist research’ with women in sex work in Eastern India

ABSTRACT

This article reflects on insights gathered from doing feminist research during my doctoral studies in international development. My research focused on the lives of women formerly and currently in sex work in Eastern India, and their experiences and resistance of everyday violence. I argue that the adoption of a life-history interviewing method created possibilities to move away from standard topics associated with sex work, and allowed women in sex work to discuss the dynamism and fluidity within their lives, within, before, and after sex work. I also explore how this method enabled the theme of koshto (pain) to emerge which challenges the framing of violence in sex work as exceptional. I argue that women in sex work need to feel heard and acknowledged within feminist research, not simply as subjects of knowledge gathering or to inform development discourses and interventions, but as human beings with dynamic personhoods. Finally, I share lessons learnt which can be useful to future feminist researchers researching sex work, within a current environment of ideologically polarised discussions on victimhood and agency in sex work.

Cet article présente une réflexion sur les aperçus recueillis lors des travaux de recherche féministe que j’ai entrepris durant mes études de doctorat en développement international. Mes recherches portaient sur la vie de femmes s’étant précédemment livrées ou se livrant alors au travail sexuel dans l’est de l’Inde, et sur leurs expériences et leur résistance face aux violences quotidiennes. Je soutiens que l’adoption d’une méthode d’entretien basée sur le récit biographique a créé des possibilités de s’éloigner des sujets courants associés au travail sexuel, et permis aux travailleuses du sexe de discuter du dynamisme et de la fluidité présentes dans leur vie dans le cadre du travail sexuel, mais aussi avant et après ce dernier. J’examine par ailleurs la manière dont cette méthode a permis au thème de koshto (douleur) d’émerger, ce qui remet en question la présentation de la violence dans le travail du sexe comme exceptionnelle. Je soutiens que les femmes se livrant au travail sexuel ont besoin de sentir qu’elles sont entendues et reconnues dans la recherche féministe, pas simplement en tant que sujets de collecte de connaissances ou pour éclairer les discours et interventions de développement, mais comme des êtres humains dotés d’identités individuelles dynamiques. Je présente enfin les enseignements qui peuvent se révéler utiles aux chercheurs féministes futurs s’intéressant au travail sexuel, dans un environnement actuel de discussions idéologiquement polarisées sur le statut de victime et le libre-arbitre dans le travail sexuel.

El presente artículo analiza varias ideas surgidas de la investigación feminista que realicé durante mis estudios para obtener el doctorado en desarrollo internacional. Mi investigación se enfocó en la vida de mujeres que anteriormente realizaban o actualmente realizan trabajo sexual en el este de India, abordando sus experiencias y su resistencia respecto a la violencia cotidiana. Sostengo que usar el método de entrevista para abordar la historia de vida de las entrevistadas crea un espacio que permite que ellas se alejen de los temas comunes asociados con el trabajo sexual, posibilitando que hablen sobre el dinamismo y la fluidez existentes en sus vidas, tanto al ejercer el trabajo sexual como antes y después del mismo. Además, examino cómo este método permite el surgimiento del tema del koshto (dolor), que pone en entredicho el encuadre de la existencia de violencia en el trabajo sexual como excepcional. Afirmo que las mujeres que realizan trabajo sexual necesitan que la investigación feminista las escuche y las reconozca no sólo como sujetos que sirven para la recolección de conocimientos o para avalar discursos e intervenciones de desarrollo, sino también como seres humanos con personalidades dinámicas. Finalmente, comparto los aprendizajes que pueden ser útiles para futuras investigadoras feministas que estudien el trabajo sexual, en un entorno actual de debates ideológicamente polarizados sobre la victimización y la agencia en el trabajo sexual.

KEYWORDS:

• Feminist research
• life-history interviews
• sex work
• Eastern India
• koshto

Notes on contributor

Mirna Guha is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Her research specialisms include gender-based violence, social justice, and social relations within marginalised communities. Postal address: HELMORE 204, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 As a term, ‘prostitution’ is contested. It is a term used by abolitionists (in conjunction with commercial sexual exploitation) to emphasise its sexually exploitative nature. However, it is rejected by those who argue for its destigmatisation and decriminalisation, and emphasise it as a form of work – this perspective argues for the use of the term ‘sex work’. In this essay, I have used ‘prostitution’ in quotes to acknowledge its problematic and pejorative history and ‘immoral’ connotations, and have used sex work instead as a less-stigmatising descriptor.

2 Despite the mainstream feminist movement’s reluctance to engage with sex workers in a practical and material way, gender and development policymakers and practitioners (often located in the global North) have funded sex workers’ movements and organisations in developing countries, informed by the different and polarised understandings of sex work outlined here (Guha 2018b). Sex work is alternately seen as a livelihood among livelihoods that offers more for women in acute poverty than other forms of work available to them, or as violence against women. These debates are currently live in international NGOs, with some staff advocating for their organisation to adopt an agreed position on legalising sex work, as Amnesty International did on 26 May 2016.

3 ‘Carceral feminism’ refers to a feminism that advocates criminalisation (through a reliance on the state to police and prosecute) and incarceration to solve gendered and sexual violence violence. It was first used by Professor Elizabeth Bernstein (2007) in the article ‘The sexual politics of the “new abolitionism”’.

4 For more information, see Shilpa Phadke et al. (2011), Srila Roy (2016), www.facebook.com/groups/418272638270238/, and www.facebook.com/pinjratod/ (last checked 10 October 2019).

5 The term ‘a thick description’ is associated with anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1973). It requires ethnographic research to be highly detailed and contextualised, where differing meanings and interpretations within a culture are considered and thoroughly documented.

6 All names have been changed to ensure confidentiality, and all ages are self-reported.