ABSTRACT
Sex work is a stigmatised profession in India, as in many other parts of the world. As such, sex workers constitute a subordinate social group: in a society comprised of social categories which stand in power and status relations to one another, sex workers are categorised, by themselves and others, into a group ranking low in both. This is all the more salient in the context of a strongly patriarchal society, where a woman’s honour, status and, hence, security are closely linked to her sexuality through chastity before marriage and faithfulness after (Sleightholme & Sinha, 1996). Within such a context, the identity ascribed to sex workers is profoundly negative and problematic, framed by both material and symbolic social realities that would appear to provide little scope for maintaining a positive sense of self (Cornish, 2006).
