Objects of Desire: Stories

In 2027, India passes The Right to Sex (Protection of Sex Workers’ Rights and Public Health) Act, fully decriminalizing prostitution, on the United Nations' assurance that decriminalization will end discrimination against sex workers and slow the spread of HIV.

But things don't go as predicted. By 2031, India has become the world's most popular sex tourism destination, and 18-year-old women are its hottest commodity.

Each month, climate upheaval, poverty, market growth, and consumer demand push and pull thousands of young women into megabrothels. HIV infection rates are rising and girls’ high school graduation rates are plummeting.

In a coastal village in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, an NGO's program to keep girls in school instils awareness of rights, dignity, voice, bodily autonomy, and agency in 17-year-old Anbu and her peers, and ignites her dream of becoming a marine biologist.

But larger forces have laid claim to Anbu. Her family’s dire circumstances impose a grim duty.

Through her ordeal, Anbu’s dream becomes even grander—to create a more equitable social order. But can a young woman’s voice and agency contest the powers that ordain destiny?

Click Read Now or Buy Now to find out if Anbu’s voice and agency can challenge the powers that command her destiny.