Caste and Prostitution in India. Conclusion 7/7

There exist an intimate relationship between caste, culture and prostitution that reinforces the structured and hierarchic powerrelations which are the reflections of caste system in India. The logic of poverty as being the primary driver for compelling woman to engage into this profession of prostitution is perhaps misplaced and half - baked truth. The poverty argument misses the link that Dalits are not Dalits because they poor but they are poor because they are Dalits. Quite visibly, caste forms the bedrock for the act of prostitution as the hard facts and cultural ways of subjugation points out this. Why is this so that majority of prostitutes are from lower-caste category, this is not merely accidental but schematic of caste system which excludes some from having equal opportunity and considers the lower caste as a category who must live their life according to normative Hindu way. The burden of Shame is put on those women in such a way that their feeling of belongingness to a community and perception about selfvanishes. This intimate link is one of the essential features of caste based power-relations. In order to understand the dynamics of cultural traditions that seek to dominate and subjugate women one must need to explore the link with caste system. Poverty is of course a reason, but not the principle reason as such.

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/caste-and-prostitution-in-india-politics-of-shame-and-of-exclusion-2332-0915-1000160.php?aid=69301