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A Life-Course Perspective Of Sex Trafficking Among The Bedia Caste Of India, Rochelle L. Dalla, Kaitlin Roselius, Victoria J. Johnson, Jessie Peter, Trupti Jhaveri Panchal, Ramani Ranjan, Mrinalini Mischra, Sagar Sahu

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Thousands of Indian women and girls enter the commercial sex industry (CSI) annually based solely on membership in particular castes (e.g., Bedia, Nat). CSI-involved females bear the burden of sustaining entire family units on money earned in the sex trade; it is a life-long responsibility with negligible social status or personal indemnity. Based on the life-course developmental theory (Elder, Jr. 1994, 1998) this investigation was intended to examine trafficked women’s experiences within the commercial sex industry across time. Beyond the CSI, we were equally interested in experiences with factors that could promote well-being (i.e., social support) and normative developmental transitions …