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Articles by Laxmi MurthySubscribe to Laxmi Murthy

Sex Work, COVID-19, and Half-truths

Vol. 57, Issue No. 19, 07 May, 2022
V Kalyan Shankar, Rohini Sahni, Meena Saraswathi Seshu, Aarthi Pai, Laxmi Murthy, Tejaswi Sevekari

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns have affected informal labour markets in India at large. But how have they affected sex workers in particular? Going beyond the urban-centric reportage of exploited sex workers confined to brothels with no incomes and heavy debts, how were they affected and what were their coping strategies? In this paper, we draw upon the results of a multistate survey of female/male/ transgender sex workers to present a more realistic and nuanced narrative. In particular, we revisit and complicate some of the stereotypes concerning the immobility of sex workers within informal labour markets, their indebtedness, and bondage to informal creditors. At the same time, we draw attention to the much-needed support from the state in tiding over the pandemic-induced crises.

MTP during Covid-19

Vol. 55, Issue No. 19, 09 May, 2020
Mohan Rao, Laxmi Murthy, Imrana Qadeer, Urvashi Butalia, Nivedita Menon, Ayesha Kidwai and 72 others

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Silence in the Valley: Kashmiri Media After the Abrogation of Article 370

Vol. 54, Issue No. 43, 26 Oct, 2019
Independent Kashmiri media appears to have been silenced and rendered powerless while the “national” media has been given more access, and allowed to shape the narrative on Kashmir.

In Its Haste to Rescue Sex Workers, 'Anti-Trafficking' Is Increasing Their Vulnerability

Vol. 53, Issue No. 28, 14 Jul, 2018
Framing trafficking as an issue of morality wrongly assumes no woman would enter sex work of her own volition. The article discusses the experiences of sex workers picked up during raid and rescue operations, who reveal that such a strategy rarely addresses the issue of trafficking, instead it results in large-scale human rights violations.

From Mathura to Bhanwari

Vol. 48, Issue No. 23, 08 Jun, 2013
Laxmi Murthy

The recent law on sexual harassment at the workplace rides on the back of decades of campaigns by women's groups, starting with the rape law in the famous "Mathura case" to the guidelines on sexual harassment arising from the fight by Bhanwari Devi to punish the men who gangraped her for opposing child marriage. Unfortunately, lawmakers have failed to heed some of the crucial lessons that can be drawn from these struggles.

A Sporting Chance for Gender

Vol. 47, Issue No. 31, 04 Aug, 2012
Laxmi Murthy

Against the backdrop of the violence which the Asian and Commonwealth Games medal winner, Pinki Pramanik, was subjected to and the current condition of another medal winner, Santhi Soundarajan (who failed a sex determination test), it is time to think about going beyond gender categories in sport.

Injectable Contraceptives

Vol. 35, Issue No. 50, 09 Dec, 2000
Laxmi Murthy, Vani Subramanian, Vineeta Bal

In the context of the increasing privatisation of health care and the involvement of private practitioners and clinics in the state family planning programme, the possible introduction of an injectable contraceptive in the programme is worrying.

Population Growth and Coercive Controls

Vol. 34, Issue No. 39, 25 Sep, 1999
Laxmi Murthy, Vani Subramanian, Vineeta Bal

While policies aimed at controlling population have become marginally more sensitive to people's needs, they continue to ignore serious health and welfare issues, particularly of women. The case of injectable contraceptives, their development, promotion and use, illustrates this.

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