Rethinking hope in the lives of transgender women in sex work in India: an IPA study

Title

Rethinking hope in the lives of transgender women in sex work in India: an IPA study

Creator

Mishra, Alaika; Rani, Akanksha

Description

Background: Transgender women engaged in sex work often navigate lives shaped by stigma, precarity, and systemic exclusion; within such contexts, hope becomes a complex and negotiated experience. However, its lived meanings and processes of meaning-making remain insufficiently understood within psychological research. Objectives: To explore the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of hope among transgender sex workers in India within the socio-cultural and political context. Method: This study uses an interpretative phenomenological approach to understand the meaning-making of hope in the lives of transgender women in sex work, and the influence of sociocultural and political factors on hope. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven people in India who identify as transgender women and are engaging in sex work either part-time or full-time. The data were analyzed according to the guidelines laid down by Smith etal. Results: Findings revealed nine superordinate themes: compelled to actively build hope for survival, movement from interpersonal to intrapersonal hope, education and employment as sources of hope, body as a site of hope as well as hopelessness, sex work as an existential double-bind, hope forged in crisis, social influences of hope, anticipatory hope for legal provisions, and cultural and religious influences on hope. Conclusion: The study reconceptualizes hope as a survival labor, shaped by intersecting identities and lived adversities. It contributes to feminist, queer, and existential scholarship while offering implications for policymaking and the development of trauma-informed, trans-affirmative psychotherapeutic interventions. 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Source

International Journal of Transgender Health;

Date

01-01-2026

Publisher

Routledge

Subject

Critical hope; India; intersectionality; minority stress; sociocultural and legal factors

Coverage

Mishra A., Christ (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bengaluru, India; Rani A., Christ (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bengaluru, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 26895269;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2026.2673424

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038980688?origin=resultslist