Due to colonialism and decolonisation, the people of South Asia have experienced conflict, violence and dislocation. Women’s experiences in South Asia are more or less similar, if not identical, due to similar traditions. While notions of honour and sexual purity govern women’s lives, brothel-based sex work also prevails—often in unique forms that separate it from the brothels in the Western world. By adopting a Southern perspective, this article analyses the nuances of brothel-based sex work in South Asia, outlining how family relations, caste, hierarchical organisation of labour, tradition and domesticity influence sex workers’ lives. By documenting the diversity of sex work in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, this article will contribute to the democratisation of knowledge and add to global literature on sex work, making it more inclusive of knowledge from the Global South.