Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies Risk, Stigma, Agency

This book centers the life histories of three women engaged in sex work in Kolkata, India to show how they make sense of their lived experiences and reveals deep insights into the risks women face in the current social environment of India. “Cisgender women in sex work in Kolkata are branded as marginalized and spoken about through the words of other people. In her timely and very significant book, Dr. Sunny Sinha does the opposite. With ethnographic precision and theoretical sophistication, she weaves their words and her data from years of intense fieldwork into a powerful story about the infinitely complex intersections of risk, stigma, agency in the lives of women who can speak for themselves.” —Treena Orchard, Associate Professor and Faculty Scholar, Western University’s School of Health Studies, Canada “Sunny Sinha does a brilliant job in presenting the voices and agentic strategies of these women in the context of the challenges they faced in both their work and personal lives.” —Ronald Weitzer, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, George Washington University, USA This book centers the life histories of three women engaged in sex work in Kolkata, India to show how they make sense of their lived experiences and the risks they face in their current social environment. Whereas much of the risk discourse surrounding sex work in India comes from academics, social and health workers, epidemiologists, and policymakers, this book foregrounds the lives and voices of the women themselves to provide a richly nuanced picture of the diverse and complex realities that shape women’s lives and the different interrelated vulnerabilities many sex workers face, such as poverty, familial violence, child marriage, marital rape, stigma, and health risks. This book will be of interest to researchers and students in social work, anthropology and sociology, women’s studies, public health, and criminal justice, as well as non-academic professionals who address issues of violence against women, human trafficking, or health risks in sex work. Sunny Sinha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Appalachian State University, USA. For nearly two decades, Dr. Sinha has conducted research among women residing in brothels, women indirectly employed in sex work via informal jobs, transgender sex workers, and clients of sex workers. This book centers the life histories of three women engaged in sex work in Kolkata, India to show how they make sense of their lived experiences and reveals deep insights into the risks women face in the current social environment of India. Much of the risk discourse surrounding sex work in India comes from academics, social and health workers, epidemiologists, and policymakers. Departing from this approach, the author foregrounds the lives and voices of the women themselves to provide a richly nuanced picture of the diverse and complex realities that shape many women’s lives in India. It provides a deeper understanding of the different but interrelated vulnerabilities to which many sex workers are subject, including poverty, familial violence, child marriage, marital rape, public ridicule, stigma, and health risks such as HIV/AIDS, along with their reasons for entry, exit, and reentry into sex work. This book will be of interest to researchers and students from a variety of academic disciplines, such as social work, anthropology and sociology, women’s studies, public health, and criminal justice. It has also been written in an accessible and engaging style that should appeal to a diverse global audience of non-academic professionals as well as scholars. It will resonate with professionals in health or social welfare fields (e.g., nurses, social workers, lawyers, psychologists) who address issues of violence against women, human trafficking, or health risks in sex work.