A Conduct of Conversations: Sex Worker Activists, Legal Academics and Indian Feminist Jurisprudence

Abstract

This thesis demonstrates that Indian feminist jurisprudence is a diverse field that is not solely the domain of legal academics, but is developed in relationship with non-lawyer activists. In doing so, it argues that diverse experiences of mutual law–life relations, at varied locations, contribute to the productions of a field of feminist jurisprudence in contemporary post-colonial India. The thesis grounds its argument by conducting conversations with two sets of interlocutors— legal academics Upendra Baxi and Ratna Kapur; and sex worker activist groups Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) and Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP). It reads a select set of texts authored by the sex worke..