Guilty Without Trial: Women in the Sex Trade in Calcutta

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They both are write with rare perception and sensitivity about the lives of sex workers in Calcutta who have shared their stories with them. Through interviews and surveys and case studies, they interrogate the double standards of sexual morality that govern the lucrative sex trade in India thus making visible the more than twenty thousand mothers, heads of households and community members whose activities and voices have been silenced so that others may profit from their activities. Linking the social and economic vulnerability of sex workers to the trade's supply, the authors reveal the harassment, economic insecurity, health hazards and stigmatization programmes by government and other organizations so that their needs may be addressed and their exploitation halted.

About the Author:

Carolyn Sleightholme is a consultant on health issues and legal rights of sex workers. She has an M.A. in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development studies in Sussex, U. K. She has worked with health and women's organizations in London, Calcutta and Rajasthan and as a social development consultant for the ODA in India.

Indrani Sinha is the founder and director of Sanlaap, a non-governmental organization that works to stop trafficking of women and children. An activist she is associated with several women's groups in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and the Northeast. She conducts gender training and is a member of several national and regional networks in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. She is also the vice-president of ECPAT, and international organizational that strives to stop child sexual exploitation.