Why do women come to prostitution in Tirunelveli City?
Women take up prostitution for the same reason as they may take up any other livelihood option available to them. Some of us get sold into the industry. After being bonded to the madam who has bough us for some years we gain a degree of independence within the sex industry. A whole of us end up in the sex trade after going through many experiences in life, – often unwillingly, without understanding all the implications of being a prostitute fully. But when do most of us women have access to choice within or outside the family? Do we become casual domestic labourer willingly? Do we have a choice about who we want to marry and when? The choice’ is rarely real for most women, particularly poor women. For all these reasons, the terms “Women in sex work” and “commercialized rape victims,” which more accurately reflect the experiences of women and girls in the CSI, are adopted in this chapter. At the same time, the decision by some women inside the CSI to claim the word “prostitute” as their
