ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the societal beliefs and norms that promote child marriage and sustain dowry practices in Nepal. It examines how these issues play out differently among ethnically diverse peoples and how the two factors intersect to create situations of violence that are enacted and perpetrated in various ways against the participants of this study. The chapter goes on to explain how economics, notions of masculinity, and social structures interact to normalise and even justify intimate partner violence (IPV), making it the primary cause of personal trauma and violence in the lives of almost all the participants. For many, this played a critical role in influencing their decision to join the informal entertainment sector as they found themselves alone and isolated, with limited means to provide for themselves. The question underpinning this chapter is how social subjugation and intimate partner violence contribute to pushing women out of their homes and compelling them to engage in the sex industry. The chapter concludes by asking if experiences of violence in early life make women more resilient when confronted with the challenges that underpin the sex and informal entertainment industry.
