Intimate City

In this one-of-a-kind book, Manjima Bhattacharjya examines how globalization and technology have changed where and how sexual commerce is transacted. From changing red light areas to the world of escort services, massage boys and men in search of casual encounters cruising the internet highways, this book maps offline and online geographies of sex work and unearths voices never heard before. Through these fascinating narratives, Bhattacharjya tries to understand how the internet has re-configured intimacies in the digital age. In doing so, she offers a new lens to look at long-held feminist understandings of sex work, choice, consent and agency against the backdrop of the ‘maximum city’: Mumbai.

MANJIMA BHATTACHARJYA is a feminist researcher, writer and activist based in Mumbai. She has been part of the Indian women’s movement for over two decades. She holds a PhD in sociology. Her areas of specialization include gender and sexuality, and labour and the body. She is the author of Mannequin: Working Women in India’s Glamour Industry (Zubaan 2018).