Anjali Arondekar

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496 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 1 May

Anjali Arondekar’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 1.

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Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society · Sex Work in Colonial India · 1 May 2026 podcast

So there is this kind of past.

And of course, there is on the ground exploitation, which whenever you have capital, there always is.

But when the British arrive, something shifts.

And it shifts not because of the depravity of the native, but because of the depravity of the English.

Let me explain how.

In 1864 is a very important period, which is, of course, the passing of the Contagious Disease Act.

Right.

which is an act that regulates, surveys women's bodies and decides who is respectable and non-respectable.

But the Contagious Disease Act, now we got to think about any law that's passed in the metropole.

Metropole is a fancy word for saying London and then travels to the colonies.

It is not the same law because the law that is built in the metropole is designed for white people.

So when you carry it over to the colonies, you have to figure out how do I use the same law and translate it to brown bodies that work in different ways.

So the Contagious Disease Act, which was, of course, an act to protect bodies and the spread of venereal diseases, was used by the British

to also set up these lock hospitals, Lal Bazaar, which is basically Red Bazaar, the biggest of which was in Calcutta, which was the capital of the British Empire at the time in India, which were basically places that surveyed women's bodies, made sure that they were clean so that they could service British soldiers.

It was a ruse because it was a way to ensure that they weren't worried about Indian women.

They were worried about the British soldiers.

But what's even more interesting is this is an open exception or not exception, open agreement that British soldiers were using sex workers.

So, I mean, this is an open secret.

You can't have so many women in a hospital being checked out, even if it's for dodgy reasons, if there aren't so many men who are coming into contact with them.

So, 1864 is a super important moment because it's an acknowledgement of the fact that the soldiers are crossing racial lines.

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