Prostitution in India

SOCIOLOGY
2 nd semester

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Amit Nagar Mr. Rahul Kosambi

Roll no: 23 assist.Prof(sociology)

1
 Index
1. Introduction

2. What are the social effects of prostitution

3. Emergence of religious prostitution

4. Prostitution in different tribes

5. Sociological perspectives

6. Child prostitution

7. Stories of victims(field study)

8. Steps to be taken to fight with prostitution

9. Shall India legalize prostitution

10. Conclusion

11. Bibliography

2
Introduction
Prostitution is one of the oldest professions of the world practiced since the birth of the organized
society. Prostitution is practiced in almost all the countries and every type of society. Prostitution
and the accompanying evil of the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution are
incompatible with the dignity and worth of human person and endanger the welfare of the
individuals, the family and community.

Prostitution has been generally defined as promiscuous intercourse for hire whether in money or
in kind. Prostitution is not to be confused with the illicit sex union of lovers, for there is no
affection in prostitution, prostitution as a commercialized vice has existed in the world from time
immemorial, though its institution has never been recognized by the society as such. As the
world’s oldest profession prostitution has undoubtedly existed in some form as long as society
has attempted to regulate and control sex relationship through the institutions of marriage and the
family. Society has not recognized it because it brings in its train not only the personal
disorganization of persons concerned, but also affect the life organization of the family and the
community at large. Prostitution has been important discourse of female criminality. With the
growth of urbanization and industrialization the problem of prostitution have become more
serious and complex. The growing population of female prostitutes, child prostitutes, male
prostitutes, trafficking of women etc. have created the situation in which a comprehensive and in
depth study of prostitution has become necessary. From ancient times Indian society is male
dominated society. Indian man is consciously taught to be aggressive and tough while women
have conditioned to submissive and docile. The teachings of the society concentrate on the point
that woman should please men; they should be useful to men, to make themselves loved and
honored by them. They should be 19 consol men and make their life sweet and agreeable. These
are duties of women at all times. In short the position of woman in society, the rights and duties
for her is settled by male members of the society. Women became used to institutional
legitimation of their low status and find nothing wrong in crimes. She has become a thing to be
kidnapped, abducted, raped and gifted. For the satisfaction of sexual appetite of her master, she
was purchased and also possessed. Thus she was reduced from human person to just bodies, for
male utility.

The most glaring form of exploitation committed against women is prostitution. However, the
contribution of women engaged in the supposedly immortal trade of prostitution and the effect
on them prevailing economic has being a subject of an analytical study. Although such women
were viewed with contempt, they still are a part of the entire female component of the society.
The aim of this project is to throw light on the unknown aspect of the exploited and neglected
life and profession of these women also the religious validity to this profession in different
religions.

3
What are Social effects of prostitution
Prostitution strongly affect communities. Some argue that prostitution affects the community by
contributing to the objectification of women. Men who participate in buying a prostitute view
women as mere sex objects and not human beings. This terrible attitude towards women
accounts for the high incidence of violence and murder perpetrated against prostitutes. This
antisocial macho persona is typically defined by the all-too common illegal urban occupation of
the pimp.
The pimp does not respect the agency of his female employees. He is only interested in the
money they can produce for him. Since he provides "protection" for his prostitutes, the pimp
feels that the power dynamic in the employee and employer relationship is skewed in his favor.
He then mercilessly wields his power with physically, sexually, and emotionally abusive
methods to "discipline" what he believes to be bad behavior on part of the prostitute.
The relationship between a pimp and his prostitution is an unsavory form of power abuse whose
disproportionate authority is strengthened by the illegal nature of their respective roles in society.
The life of a prostitute is a not a comfortable one.
The street poses many dangers to a prostitute as prostitutes are also subject to violence from their
clients who feel empowered by the fact that prostitutes are considered part of the lower echelons
of society. Unfortunately, due to the illegality of prostitution and the vicious perpetual cycle of
poverty and abuse, the public tends to be indifferent and apathetic towards the welfare of
prostitutes.
The entire life of the average prostitute can be summed up in two words: alienation and
exploitation. Many prostitutes have felt this-empowered and alienated from society and their
parents all their lives. Many prostitutes are the project of abusive homes which they runaway
from and are not legally qualified to work in any legitimate industry.They ultimately resort to
prostitution as a means of getting by.
This history of abuse increases the likelihood of substance abuse and this fortifies a person's role
in society as a prostitute. Pimps take advantage of the prostitute's situation and exploit them for
most of their money. There is no such thing as union organizing for prostitutes as their would be
serious violence in retribution for their "insubordinate" behavior. The prostitution industry is
ultimate expression of the free market without the rule of law when the power is determined by
the use of force against the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
Society has basically given up on eliminating prostitution. Therefore, in most major cities around
the world, there are neighborhoods where prostitution is concentrated. Society drives prostitution
into one part of town where prostitution can go "unseen" during the hours of the night.
These neighborhoods were typically laden with existing street crime and poverty before the
introduction of prostitution. It is a bad part of town. The most famous of these urban districts is
Amsterdam's Red Light District. In fact, the term "red light district" has become the generic term
for any urban neighborhood notorious for its high concentration of prostitution. London, New
York, and Paris are famous for their own "red light districts."

4
Some of the most infamous serial killers exclusively preyed on prostitutes because of society's
relative indifference to them. Most infamous among these serial killers was Jack-the-Ripper who
terrorized the streets of Victorian London in the 19th century.
The law recognizes the uman rights of every individual because justice is blind to the differences
of people. The law protects prostitutes from violent crimes committed against them. However,
the law fails to prevent prostitutes from engaging in the risky behavior in the first place. The law
can only punish someone after the fact. The law is fair on prostitution, it is illegal because it has
so many social consequences ranging from higher incidences of poverty, drug abuse, violence,
and sexually transmitted disease.
Attitudes in law enforcement and the general public have reoriented themselves towards
punishing the pimp and client due to their potential to harm prostitutes. The law still punishes
prostitutes for their illegal activity but is not as harsh due to the unfortunate nature of their role in
society.

Emergence of Religious Prostitution

In the Medieval period temple emerged as the owner of vast land property and the employer of a
large number of religious and nonreligious functionaries. The religious functionaries included the
priests, dancing girls, dancing masters, singers and others. The temple pidariyar in kolar had
twenty four dancing girls. The deity of an early medieval temple can be compared to a feudal
lord who was provided with all the amenities and pleasures of life were needed by a feudal lord
who was provided with all the amenities and pleasures of life were needed by a feudal lord. The
divine prostitutes had therefore to be employed to give company to the god as wives and
concubines .The origin of the custom is traceable to the practice of ritual dancing which formed
an integral part of the ritual service of gods and goddesses. The purpose of ritual dancing was to
please the deity and seek some favor. This process, began go accelerated with the development
of temple and temple economy during the early medieval and later medieval periods. The
association of dancing girls with the temples was materially beneficial to the state 36 and the
temple. A large number of pilgrims helped to enrich the coffers of the temples as and state.
According to Huen – Tsang there were several dancing girls in the Sun temple of Multan.
Several Puranas recommended that arrangements should be made to enlist the service of singing
girls to provide vocal instrumental music at time of divine services. These singing girls were
usually prostitutes and even they have recommended purchasing of beautiful girls for their
dedication to temples. The account of the Arab traveler Abu Zaid al Hasan, who came to India in
867, states divine prostitutes earning from prostitution went in to the hands of the priests and was
used for defraying the expenses of the temple. Al Baruni (in the eleventh century) have recorded
that the income from prostitution in temples used to be taken by the kings for meeting the
expenditure of the army.These examples suggest that the divine prostitute’s property and
earnings went to the state treasury. The institution of divine prostitution helped to enrich the
wealth of the temples. In India the temple women came mostly from the low caste, non –

5
Brahmin and other higher caste women were rare. Slaves were also dedicated to or purchased by
the temples. Parents from lower casts offered their girls to the service of temple out of their
devotion to god and religion. These temple women were considered essential at the time of
offering prayers and were given a place of honor. Temple women also called as Devdasis.
Devdasis means slaves of God, who dedicated their lives to the service of God. They were also
devaradiyar . Many of them were proficient in the field of fine arts, especially music and dance.
Originally they were employed in the temples for cleaning the premises, washing the vessels,
preparing the flower garlands and doing other jobs. But in the due course of time they took to
dancing and music also. Gradually, due to the laxity of morals among the priests, the system was
missed by them for immoral purposes. Under the grab of religious dedication of girls to temples
clandestine prostitution developed.

Prostitution in different tribes

The Bachara tribe from west Madhya Pradesh is famous for treating prostitution as a
tradition. The eldest daughter of the family is brought up with the knowledge that she will grow
up to this life, and once she gets older, the younger daughter takes over. The tradition comes
down from the days when the women from the tribe would grow up to become respected
courtesans—respect that is not given to women in the sex trade any more. The only way out of
this life is for the women to find a suitor who agrees to pay her parents the expensive dowry they
demand for her.
If you're wondering how the young girls get into this life, it is her father or brother who ends up
acting as her pimp, taking care of all the arrangements. In fact, the family has a dedicated room
which is meant for this purpose, and this purpose only. There have been several documentaries
made on this tribe, the most famous being the 2004-made Highway Courtesans, by Mystelle
Brabbée. A 10-year project following the life of Guddi, this documentary followed the life of one
woman, who fought and managed to make it out of the system. Don't be taken in by Guddi's
story though—what happened to her was a very, very rare circumstance.

Nat Purwa, a small village in the Hardoi district in east Uttar Pradesh, is another such place.
An extremely poor village, most of the villagers here belong to the Nat community. In 1871,
when the Criminal Tribes Act was passed under British rule, the Nats became one of the
communities accused of being involved with “criminal activities.” Editor of Manushi, Madhu
Kishwar told Al Jazeera, “During the colonial period, the British outlawed their activities. They

6
got beaten up, arrested, locked up and brutalisation continued. This dried up their traditional
source of livelihood, and women had no choice. They ended up in prostitution - what [else] will
they do?”

One of the sex workers, Chandralekha said, “My grandma said: 'The whole village is involved
in prostitution. What difference does it make if you become one?' My grandmother is the one
who got me involved...I'd say a woman starts feeling bad since the beginning, but there's a
weakness. There's a hungry stomach to feed and there is resignation.” Children in this village
know only their first names, and most don't even have first names—not surprising, considering
Nat Purwa is known as “a village of bastards.”

The devadasi system has changed from being a religious custom to one of simple exploitation.
A devadasi literally translates to “God's female servant,” and this practice goes back as far as the
6th century. Young pre-pubescent girls are “married off” to the local deity, and in ancient
periods, it meant that she was dedicated to the service of God. In addition to taking care of the
temple and performing rituals, the women learnt classical dance, and enjoyed a very high status
in society. They would go on to marry patrons, who were often kings, and wouldn't need to
participate in the daily workings of the household. During the British rule, these kings soon lost
their power, leaving the devadasis to their own devices, and soon they turned to a life of
prostitution to support themselves.

Even though the system has been outlawed since 1988, there are hundreds of women still forced
to turn to this life in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Instead
of serving God, they now have to cater to whoever places the highest bid on their virginity, and
then go wherever they are sent to, to lead their lives as what can be basically termed prostitutes.

Wadia village in north Gujarat is famous for its prostitution, with the birth of girls being
celebrated, because it just means there's another breadwinner for the family. Girls are groomed
for a life as a prostitute, and some start as young as 12, and boys are trained to be pimps. Men
come to Wadia from as far as Ahmedabad, Pakistan, Rajasthan, even Mumbai to buy sex.

In every single one of these areas, efforts have been made to try and rehabilitate the women by
NGOS and the government alike. Nothing has really changed for the women, and if there's

7
something that we see common to all of these places, it is that the fates of all the women are in
the hands of the men in their lives. While the women are simply looked at as a means of money,
and barely treated as human, the chances of things changing for them looks grim.

Sociological Perspectives
Beyond explaining why individual women and men are more likely than others to pay for sex or
to receive pay for sex, the three sociological perspectives outlined in —functionalist theory,
conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism—offer more general insights on
prostitution. provides a summary of these insights.

Theoretical
perspective Contributions to understanding prostitution

Prostitution is functional for several parties in society. It provides prostitutes a

source of income, and it provides a sexual alternative for men who lack a
Functionalism sexual partner or are dissatisfied with their current sexual partner. According
to Kingsley Davis, prostitution also helps keep the divorce rate lower than it
would be if prostitution did not exist.

Prostitution arises from women’s poverty in a patriarchal society. It also

Conflict theory reflects the continuing cultural treatment of women as sex objects who exist
for men’s pleasure.

Prostitutes and their customers have various understandings of their behavior

that help them justify why they engage in this behavior. Many prostitutes
Symbolic
believe they are performing an important service for their customers, and this
interactionism
belief is perhaps more common among indoor prostitutes than among street
prostitutes.

According to functionalist theory, prostitution exists because it serves several important

functions for society generally and for certain people in society. As we have already mentioned,
it provides a source of income for many women who otherwise might be jobless, and it provides
a sexual alternative for men with the motivations listed earlier. Almost eight decades ago,
sociologist Kingsley Davis (1937) wrote that prostitution even lowers the divorce rate. He
reasoned that many married men are unhappy with their sex life with their wives. If they do not
think this situation can improve, some men start an affair with another woman and may fall in
love with that woman, threatening these men’s marriages. Other men turn to a prostitute.
Because prostitution is generally impersonal, these men do not fall in love with their prostitutes,
and their marriages are not threatened. Without prostitution, then, more men would have affairs,

8
and more divorces would result. Although Davis’s hypothesis is provocative, there are no
adequate studies to test it.

According to conflict theory, prostitution reflects the economic inequality in society. Many poor
women feel compelled to become prostitutes because of their lack of money; because wealthier
women have many other sources of income, the idea of becoming a prostitute is something they
never have to consider. Sad but interesting historical support for this view comes from an
increase in prostitution in the second half of the nineteenth century. Many women lost husbands
and boyfriends in the war and were left penniless. Lacking formal education and living in a
society that at the time offered few job opportunities to women, many of these bereaved women
were forced to turn to prostitution to feed their families and themselves. As American cities grew
rapidly during the last decades of the nineteenth century, thousands of immigrant women and
other poor women also turned to prostitution as a needed source of income (Rosen, 1983). This
late nineteenth-century increase in prostitution, then, occurred because of women’s poverty.

According to the feminist version of conflict theory, prostitution results not only from women’s
poverty but also from society’s patriarchal culture that still views men as the dominant figure in
heterosexual relationships and that still treats women as “sex objects” who exist for men’s
pleasure (Barry, 1996). In such a culture, it is no surprise and even inevitable that men will want
to pay for sex with a woman and that women will be willing to be paid for sex. In this feminist
view, the oppression and exploitation that prostitution inherently involves reflects the more
general oppression and exploitation of women in the larger society.

Symbolic interactionism moves away from these larger issues to examine the everyday
understandings that prostitutes and their customers have about their behavior. These
understandings help both prostitutes and customers justify their behavior. Many prostitutes, for
example, believe they are performing an important service for the men who pay them. Indoor
prostitutes are perhaps especially likely to feel they are helping their customers by providing
them not only sex but also companionship (Weitzer, 2009). A woman who owned a massage
parlor named “The Classic Touch” echoed this view. Her business employed fourteen women
who masturbated their customers and offered a senior citizen discount. The owner reasoned that
her employees were performing an important service: “We have many senior citizens and
handicapped people. We have some men who are impotent and others who are divorced or in bad
marriages. This is a safe, AIDS-free environment…that helps marriages. Husbands come in here
and get a stress release and then they are able to go home and take on more. These are men who
aren’t in bars picking up strange women”

Child Prostitution
Prostitution of children or child prostitution is prostitutions involving a child. It is a form of
commercial sexual exploitation of children. Child prostitution and abuse and exploitation of
children in various forms have been going on all over the world over the years. It has become a

9
massive problem, confined to third world countries, where poverty, socio – economic conditions
and growing population are forcing the children into a life of degradation.

The meaning of Child Prostitution

The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child 1990 defines child prostitution as
sexual exploitation of a child below the age of 18 for remuneration in cash or kind.74 Child
prostitution refers to the sexual exploitation of a child for remuneration in cash or in kind,
usually but not always organized by an intermediary (parent, family members, procurer etc.75
The problem of children forced into prostitution is a grave issue. Its reason may vary from
pedophilia obscure beliefs like ‘sex with virgin’ as cure for STDs and sexual dysfunctions etc.
Child prostitution and abuse and exploitation of teenage children in various forms, have been
going on all over the world over the years. Children under the age of 18 can now found in large
numbers in brothels in different parts of the world. It has become a massive problem mostly
where poverty, socio – economic conditions and growing population are forcing the children into
life of degradation.76 135 The failure of schooling systems, the failure to curb children forced to
work in adult occupations, the harsh treatment of children in the name of discipline, are
continuum of the marginalization of children in India.

The Child and the Sex Industry

The basis of the child sex industry the designation of a child as a commodity for sale and
purchase against her will – demeans and dehumanizes the girl child. In 1991 the Govt. of India
under the Ministry of Human Resource Development initiated a survey of prostitution through
the Central Social Welfare Board in six metropolis cities of India. The study shows that the time
of entry in prostitution 15% of women were in the category of children and 25% were minors
between the ages of 16-18 years.77

Trafficking of Children

Women and Children are trafficked in their thousands. They are coerced, forced and sold as sex
workers, domestic workers, laborers and for other types of exploitative work. The persistent
gender gap in education both in quantitative and qualitative terms, are linked to the fact that girls

10
comprise the majority of children at risk of and involved in commercial sex. Commercial sex
work among girl children has its logical origin for the most in rural areas. Religious cause is a
major fact to promote this profession in rural areas. The urban areas manifest some in indications
of existence of child prostitution also. Now days the actual sites for promotion of child
prostitution have been shifting in large numbers of urban areas. These children arrive at urban
site brothel by force. Systematic, organized trafficking of children for profit by experienced
individual accounts for the greatest number of girls bought, transported and sold within and
outside India.

Stories of victims
Hajra Shah (Pune)
"When I was 13 I came to Bombay, to Faulkland Road. I used to live in Chennai with my
grandmother, but my parents lived in Mumbai. My mother brought me to Bombay by force and
married me to a man. He was about 30. A violent person. I tried to escape from this husband. I
wanted to go back to Chennai, so I escaped.

But when I got to Victoria Terminus train station I met a girl who promised to get me a job in
Bombay. She told me not to go back to my village. But she tricked me. She sold me to a brothel
in Falkland Road. She got about 20,000 rupees for me. My mother wouldn’t help me. She
disowned me because she said I was already married. I’ve been in Falkland Road ever since.

I have scars where I was beaten as a young girl in the brothel. I used to refuse to sleep with the
men, so they forced me. They raped me, beat me and burned me with cigarettes. When I was
younger I used to see 30 or 40 clients every day. I would get 10 rupees each time.

After one month a man came who paid 20,000 rupees to take me out of the brothel. He was in his
twenties. I was married to him and we had two daughters. But after about three years he changed,
and started beating me and my daughters. They were only toddlers.

He forced me to be a sex worker again. I refused but he cut me with a knife. He cut all my hair
off too. So I started again. I would earn 2,000 or 3,000 rupees a day, and I had to give it to my
husband. He spent it drinking, smoking and gambling. He was very jealous and accused me of
giving the money to another man if I did not earn any money that day.

He used to beat my eldest daughter. He threatened to send her to the brothels too when she
started to grow up. Once, I came home and caught him beating her. I fought with him but he
poured a lamp over me and set me on fire [she points to another scar on her stomach]. I had to
jump into the mud in the lane from the balcony to put the fire out. It was only the first floor.

11
Eventually I stood up to him and I reported him to the police. I did it because I didn’t want my
daughters to have the same life.

Then I met uncle Devraj, who works for Bombay Teen Challenge. They took my girls into their
hostel. They went to school there and could stay for free. I went back to Falkland Road so I
could eat and live.

Later, when I was 28, I met another man, Ahmed. He was kind to me and good. He worked for
[the NGO] SAI, which is how I know about it. We got married and he was so lovely to me. But
he died from AIDS about four or five years ago, and now I am HIV positive from him.

When I was young, I used to see so many more clients and they paid me ten rupees. Now I only
see ten or 15, and they pay me 300 or 400 rupees. But when I get a foreigner – American or
British – they pay me 1000 rupees and they take me to a hotel. I have had many foreign clients.
I’ve actually got one this week. They’re usually regulars.

Maybe eight or nine of my clients every day are regulars. I will not see clients who are drunk or
abusive or on drugs. They are from all walks of life: family men, business men. I don’t tell any
of them I’m HIV positive, otherwise I wouldn’t get any work at all. But I always say they have
to use a condom.

I pay 50 rupees per day for my pinjara [room] in the brothel. We have a family room and no-one
has sex in the family room. The other sex workers are like a family, we help each other. But the
government doesn’t help at all.

My daughters are now 19 and 15. The eldest is about to go to America to study missionary work,
sponsored by Bombay Teen Challenge. My youngest is studying so she can become an air
hostess. I am really proud that my daughters are not prostitutes. They are doing so well.

I would like to ask the government to provide a room and a job for sex workers and their
children. They need to be educated. They need to be trained to do something else, so they can
leave the brothel."

Jyoti (Mumbai)
"I grew up in Mumbai, and living here I have seen the hard and horrible life. This life is nothing,
a waste of a life. We do all this for very little money, just to survive. I am Devdesi [a woman sold
to a religious institution as a prostitute], so I cannot marry. But I wanted to do something to help
others, to help my sisters. So I found out about SAI, went to their van and asked about working
with them. Now I work as a community volunteer. I am getting respect in society, and I’m saving
lives of others by teaching the risks of HIV and STIs.

When I was young I wanted to be a doctor or a police woman, because these jobs are respectable.
But my mother became ill and there were financial problems at home, so my sister had to work
as a prostitute. Then my mother made me a prostitute too, when I was 14, and I had to stop my
studies. I had to do all the work in the house because my mother was bedridden, and my sister

12
was out all day and night. When I started working in the same hotel as my sister, she showed me
what to do.

Now, if I get the opportunity to study, I would still like to be a police woman. My childhood
dream is still my dream. I know all the horrors you face in the red light areas. If I was a police
woman I could help them. I could also marry, and have children and a normal life. Even if I died,
my children would be looked after and they would never have to enter this life. I am not working
as a sex worker anymore, and I never ever want to go back to it again."

Steps that should be taken in order to fight with prostitution:

# Formal education should be made available to those victims who are still within the school
going age, while non-formal education should be made accessible to adults
# The Central and State Governments in partnership with non-governmental organizations
should provide gender sensitive market driven vocational training to all those rescued victims
who are not interested in education
# Rehabilitation and reintegration of rescued victims being a long-term Recruitment of adequate
number of trained counsellors and social workers in institutions/homes run by the government
independently or in collaboration with non-governmental organizations
# Awareness generation and legal literacy on economic rights, particularly for women and
adolescent girls should be taken up.
# Adequate publicity, through print and electronic media including child lines and women help
lines about the problem of those who have been forced into prostitution.
# Culturally sanctioned practices like the system of devadasis, jogins, bhavins, etc. which
provides a pretext for prostitution should be addressed suitably.

Shall India legalize prostitution?

Benefits of legalizing prostitution are:

Legalization of prostitution and the sex industry will stop sex trafficking.

Legalization of prostitution will control the sex industry.

Legalization of prostitution will decrease clandestine, hidden, illegal and street prostitution.

Legalization of prostitution will protect the women in prostitution as they will have rights.

13
Women in systems of Prostitution want the sex industry legalized as they are the one who suffers
the most as they don’t have any rights.

Legalization of prostitution will promote women's health as they can have easy access to medical
facilities which they don’t have when it is illegal.

Recognizing prostitution as an economic activity, thus enabling women in India to obtain

working permits as "sex workers".

Conclusion
Thus either India shall legalize prostitution which is the most suitable step that can be taken or
shall make such deterrent laws as to curve up the problem of prostitution. Laws should not be
such as to just remove the prostitutes but also to change the mentality of people who are
interested in paid sex by punishing them in such a manner that people of same mentality will
dare to indulge themselves in similar activities. According to my study people indulge in this
profession never want their children to practice the same because they know the cons of
alineation from the society and the brutal behaviour of the pimp.

In my field study I also came across that if prostitution legalize in India then they may indulge
their children in this profession because of the securities and protective laws.

I also came across that people who are practicing prostitution as their religious practice they are
also forced into it even if they are not willing to practice because of the societal and family
pressure and if one deny then she is threathned to death.

14
 Bibliography
 “Child Prostitution – The Ultimate Abuse” – A Report of the National Consultation on
Child Prostitution, November 18-20, New Delhi, 1995.
 Gathia, Joseph, “Child Prostitution in India”, Concept Publishing House, New Delhi
1999.
 Kumar Arun, “Empowering Women”, Sarup and Sons, New Delhi, 2002.
 Meena Menon "The Unknown Faces," The Hindu, 18 August, 1994. 56. “Mind of the
Survivor”, A Report on Mental Health Interventions for Survivors of Trafficking in South
Asia, A Capacity Building Process and A Service Delivery Model, New Delhi, 2004.
 National Study on ‘Child Abuse’, Ministry of Women and Child Development, New
Delhi, 2007.

 Jump up^ Mahendra Kumar Singh (24 November 2007). "'Sex workers' clients shouldn't
be penalised'". Times of India.
 Bishaka Datta; Siddharth Dube (12 December 2007). "Leader Article: Sex Work Is No
Crime". The Times of India.
 Field study@Mumbai and Pune

15