From Victimhood to Survivor-Hood: Reflections on Women’s Agency in Popular Films on Sex Trafficking in India

James, N and Ranganathan, Shubha (2016) From Victimhood to Survivor-Hood: Reflections on Women’s Agency in Popular Films on Sex Trafficking in India. Psychological Studies, 61 (1). pp. 76-82. ISSN 0033-2968

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Abstract

Crimes against women have increasingly been reported in news media, since the 2012 ‘Nirbhaya’ incident took place. Recently the number of ‘women-centric’ films is steadily increasing. The present paper focuses on three recent films- Naa Bangaaru Talli (2014), Mardaani (2014) and Lakshmi (2014), which engage with the issue of sex trafficking, to understand the depiction of women’s vulnerability and agency with respect to gender-based violence. Though the films portray sex trafficking and their related issues in a realistic manner, none of these films move on to portray the next phase of rehabilitation and reintegration of victims. I also explore the extent to which the films emphasize the importance of individual resilience versus social enabling factors for overcoming sex trafficking. Finally, the paper speculates on the potential impact of these films on viewers.

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