ABSTRACT
Since the late 1980s, the discourse on sex trafficking from Nepal to India among local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), donor partners, academics, and governments has evolved from a small set of questions and speculations to a complex and increasingly sophisticated discussion. 1 At the core of that discourse is the trafficking “myth”—a typifying narrative of the trafficking episode. The myth serves several purposes: it is the “consensus description” of a typical trafficking episode around which the discourse revolves; it encapsulates the issues for the media, public, governments, and donors; and—in the absence of a firm body of knowledge—it is the basis upon which some, but not all, anti-trafficking interventions are determined.
