Defining Girlhood in India : University of Illinois Press : 9780252084560 : 025208456X : 11 Oct 2019 : "At what age does girlhood end and adulthood begin? This question vexes the modern practice of setting legal age standards for sexual consent. Societies across region and time have varied in defining when girls reach sexual maturity, and indeed they differentiate across contexts: laws on prostitution, rape, and marriage frequently contradict each other when demarcating an age of consent. Despite the variations, it is clear that a striking upward shift in the legal age of sexual consent has occurred around the globe over the course of the twentieth century. In this book, Ashwini Tamba explores the shifting legal age boundary between the "girl" and the "woman" in India across the twentieth century and into the present. Tambe investigates how age boundariessuch as 18 years emerged as meaningful distinctions, and explores the transnational circulation of ideas about appropriate age standa