Commercial sex work in India: Genesis and current situation

Societies always prescribe certain norms for its inhabitants to maintain and sustain themselves without much effort. Prescribing certain behaviors and proscribing others is ubiquitous. Everyone in the society does not follow the norms and is hence marginalized from the mainstream. Commercial Sex workers are examples of such marginalized sections of society who do not follow the sexually normative behavior. Since time immemorial, they were stigmatized as well as sexually exploited. The current article brings together the historical account of their situation, as it is today with the issues and problems they encounter, owing to occupational hazards and how they are addressed.