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Fig. 3:1 A sex worker waiting for a client
and wearing bindi, nose pin, mangal sutra,
and bangles.
I wanted to flee from hunger at thirteen…now after seventeen years, I have
enough money, enough and more…all I lack is a home….children…the desire to
be domesticated…. I know my desire for a home of my own and children would
never be fulfilled.
(Ghosh, 2004, p. 114)
Male-dominated Indian society is very conservative and generally categorised on the basis
of wealth, caste and gender. Women are generally cast into specific roles as daughters,
sisters, wives or mothers. A woman abandoned by her family or husband, a widow, a
woman of lower caste, an infertile woman, a rape victim, or a woman with an unmarried
child, faces ostracism in a society that allows little flexibility to its prescribed roles. A
woman involved in prostitution is a pariah.
Marriage is a culturally reinforced desire for young women. From childhood they are
asked to learn the basic duties of family life and to keep chaste so that they can ensure
themselves access to good husbands. In Indian society, marriage is the vehicle for a
woman to achieve status and respect. Once a girl is married she gets support from her
family and freedom to move in society. She has dignity. Exemplifying ‘family values’ and
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