Social Geographies of Bombay’s Sex Trade, 1880–1920

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between spatial and social stratification in Bombay, focusing on the history of Kamathipura. With its heterogeneous racial makeup, this officially sanctioned red light zone was an exception to the orderly delineation of European and Indian spaces in the colonial city of Bombay. What did it mean that differently hailed social groups lived side by side in the same set of streets? Drawing on Jim Masselos’s call to examine, at a granular level, how social distinctions were drawn and maintained in proximity, this chapter focuses on struggles between Europeans and Indians to claim specific streets in Kamathipura. It recounts the history of migration of European and Indian sex workers and the conflicts that intensified in the early 1900s as the population of the city grew. It also reflects on how racial hierarchies were experienced by onlookers: even though Indian and European brothel workers lived side by side, social stratification was observed in ways that were felt deeply; class and caste enacted a clear grammar of difference. The story of how this part of Bombay emerged as the iconic center of its sex trade is a reminder of how intense social stratification can be experienced amidst the dense sharing of public space.