IDS Bulletin
Volume 35, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 104-111
'Streetwalkers show the way': Reframing the debate on trafficking from sex workers' perspective (Article)
Bandyopadhyay N. ,
Gayen S. ,
Debnath R. ,
Bose K. ,
Das S. ,
Das G. ,
Das M. ,
Biswas M. ,
Sarkar P. ,
Singh P. ,
Bibi R. ,
Mitra R. ,
Biswas S.
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Abstract
Challenging the dominant discourses on trafficking which fail to include or reflect the experiences of those who are trafficked into a range of labour markets every year, and deny the trafficked "victims" any possibility of autonomy or voice, Durbar, an organised forum of sex workers based in West Bengal, has intervened into the debate on trafficking and has offered creative, inclusive and effective ways of thinking about and acting on the issue. The article recounts the stories of women who had once been trafficked, to understand why and how some women get trafficked, and more critically, how they exercise their agency to get out of the trafficked condition. In analysing these stories and Durbar's position on and intervention against trafficking, the article also explores the ways in which a marginalised group of poor women can claim citizenship rights by participating in public discourses and voicing and actualising their demand for self-determination.
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Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-8344229995&doi=10.1111%2fj.1759-5436.2004.tb00162.x&partnerID=40&md5=bfc2877d76196a691af7d7a34a40ed92
DOI: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2004.tb00162.x
ISSN: 02655012
Cited by: 7
Original Language: English