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Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters: Patriarchy and Prostitution among the Bedias of India PDF

264 Pages·2008·3.404 MB·English
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ISBN 978-1-138-37678-6 R o u t le d 9 781138 376786 g www.routledge.com e Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters Patriarchy and Prostitution among the Bedias of India Anuja Agrawal First published 2008 By Routledge 912 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi 110 001. Simultaneously published in UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN. Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Transferred to Digital Printing 2007 © 2008 Anuja Agrawal Typeset by Bukprint India B-180A Guru Nanak Pura, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi 110 092. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-415-43077-1 This book is dedicated to Shri Ramsanehi Founder of Vimukt Jati Abhyudaya Ashram, Morena Contents List of Tables viii List of Plates ix Acknowledgments x Introduction 1 1. Prostitution as “Tradition” 19 2. The Making of a Bedia Prostitute 34 3. Bedia Women and “Love Marriage” 59 4. Prostitution as Family Economy 76 5. Prostitution and the Indolence of Bedia Men 120 6. Prostitution and the Marriage Economy 141 7. The Morality of the Bedia Economy 186 Conclusion: Patriarchy and Prostitution 210 Appendices 216 References 235 Index 246 List of Tables 4.1 Bedia family size and number of kin women engaged in prostitution in each unit 83 4.2 Distribution of Bedia families in Category A and B on the basis of size 85 4.3 Internal composition of Bedia families 88 4.4 Age-based break-up of women engaged in prostitution in each family unit 91 4.5 Parentage of women engaged in prostitution 106 4.6 Non-kin and distant kin women engaged in prostitution to support Bedia families 114 5.1 Income possibilities for agricultural workers/workers in the informal sector/petty business keeping 129 6.1 Marital and non-marital relationships of Bedia men and women 142 6.2 Clans and divisions among the Bedias 151 6.3 First category of Bedia wives in Nagla 157 6.4 Second category of Bedia wives in Nagla 160 6.5 Third category of Bedia wives in Nagla 165 6.6 Generation-wise distribution of wives in Nagla 166 6.7 Time-based distribution of marriages in Nagla 166 List of Plates 1. Three generations of unmarried Bedia women with their brothers’ wives 5 2. Photographs of a Bedia woman and her long-term patron 73 3. Two Bedia women await clients in their open-air shed 79 4. A male-centered Bedia family 105 5. A young Bedia man with his new scooter 134 6. Two Bedia women with their brother’s child-wife 178 7. Veiled Bedia women sit in their open-air kitchen 200 8. Ramsanehi 223

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