ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Adolescent girl's own perspectives of working in the sex industry in Java. Adoption of a rights-based participatory research approach acknowledging the validity of children and young people's own experiences, perceptions and perspectives presents a new way to understand diverse sexualities in Indonesia. The lives of adolescent girls involved in sex work in Indonesia cannot be understood without appreciating the context within which they live. There is a distinct distrust of women who break any unwritten rules, act independently or leave the "traditional sphere" of home and family. The practice of early arranged marriages and an associated marriage ideology that does not stigmatise divorce are of particular importance when considering the realities of adolescent girls working in the sex industry in Indramayu. Children and adolescents are also sexual beings, with feelings of desire and connection, curiosity, and lust. Sexuality and the license to deal with sexual feeling are rights and responsibilities for children.
