As stakeholders working with young women, it is important that we understand the structures in which these young women are existing. One of the most common ways in which structures adapt is by providing an illusion of choice and progression in specific situations. In recent interactions with some of our clients, it has been observed that this illusion is a common thread among their narratives.

Over the past decade we have come across an increased use of the term survivors to refer to victims of trafficking. Various platforms, organisations, institutions, individuals use the term ‘Survivor’ widely differently and there has been little effort to put these usages in a comparative and analytical perspective for better understanding. We have not come across any serious analytical essay on the use of the term which implies a possibility that the use may be more a product of being fashionable than conceptually accurate. This note is an attempt to facilitate conceptual clarity on the use of these terms in the anti-trafficking domain.