![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
This article examines resilience and coping behaviours of adolescent girls from rural Indramayu (West Java) who entered (but also resisted entering) the sex trade. It explores how they perceive and experience oppression, and pinpoints aspects of their agency in the face of dire circumstances. It argues that the tendency to categorise minors in the sex trade as a homogeneous social group of victims whose agency is entirely effaced obscures better understanding of their real-life circumstances.
Notes
1. The research was undertaken under the academic sponsorship of the Centre for Population Studies of the Indonesian Institute of Science. Indramayu was selected for the following reasons: (1) the district has long been a major source of sex workers in Java; (2) the widespread procurement of girls for the sex sector has received attention from academics and journalists; (3) the district has attracted global and local counter-trafficking initiatives since the early 2000s.
2. The names of people and the village and sub-district are pseudonyms.
3. For a detailed debate on the ethical dilemmas of researching about children in the sex trade, see, Montgomery (2007, pp. 426–7).
4. Organ concerts, Singa depok (a dance parade with dangdut live music) and theatrical shows (sandiwara) are popular forms of entertainments. A fully elaborate party costs about twenty million rupiah (US$2000). Such an extravagant ceremonial is normally held only by wealthy families. Eight million rupiah (US$800) is considered to be a minimum.
5. This place is well-known for its high concentration of sex establishments. Many young women from Indramayu engage in commercial sex there.
6. The mother's siblings and extended family are devout Muslims who have a strong connection to the network of Muslim schools in West Java. Her brothers are active in the Islamic teaching of village children.
7. This is a contraction of the title of a pop song (vogue at that time) which had come into use in the local parlance. The words (jarang dapat kasih sayang) literally mean ‘a woman who is rarely given affection’ and—according to my informants—connotes a prostitute.
8. IOM had run the Rescue and Repatriation and Social Reintegration Assistance Programme for the Victims of Human Trafficking in collaboration with YKB in Indramayu.
9. Regardless of the process by which girls enter the sex trade, the pimp involved will usually make an advance payment in cash to the parent(s) or to the girls themselves. It is a system whereby a pimp pays out (in advance) money which will be paid back through the given girl's work. The amount varies—from two million rupiah to twenty million rupiah (US$200–US$2000). Such provision of kasbon is a common practice for the procurement throughout Indramayu.