Sex Trafficking and the Sex Trade Industry: The Processes and Experiences of Nepali Women

Abstract

Over the past decade, girls' trafficking and the sex trade industries have intensified in contemporary South Asian nations, particularly in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. The sex trafficking of Nepali girls and women into Indian brothels has been widely discussed on both local and global levels. In this paper, I examine cases of Nepali girls and women who were trafficked and sold into Indian brothels and illustrate how trafficking of girls and women has occurred within the intersections of larger structural conditions and micro level factors. By using gender, intersectional, and globalization/transnational perspectives, I analyze the processes and conditions under which sex trafficking occurred and women were forced into prostitution. The paper draws on an earlier study, follow-up research, personal communications, and secondary data to explore why, how, and under what circumstances women are forced into prostitution; what factors make them vulnerable or susceptible to sex trafficking; and how do globalization and transnational practices, Nepal's political economy, women's roles and position in Nepali society, gender socialization and perception, gendered culture of oppression, and kin and ethnic relations contribute to the trafficking of Nepali into the Indian sex industry.