Transactional Sex

The inability to afford sanitary pads, combined with stigma and fear of leaking, drove girls and young women to exchange sex for pads and basic necessities. Participants described transactional sex for pads as necessity driven by lack of alternatives rather than free choice. Men who promised pads or money sometimes failed to deliver, and girls who became pregnant were typically abandoned. These exchanges often involved older men in relationships marked by major age and power imbalances.