prostitution23

What is being done to raise awareness of the problem of girls being sold into
brothels?
Many local groups, especially in Bangkok, and in the North where many girls come
from, are working on the issue. Many focus on explaining to girls and their
families exactly what is involved in going with an agent who comes to their
village, and offers money to take the girls away. For example, one organization
distributes a story book about a girl who is tricked into the sex industry, and
another takes parents to see conditions in brothels. A very important campaign
spread the message that "men of the new generation do not use commercial sex."
What are some of the major problems that you face in putting an end to child
prostitution?
We need to remember, before we even look at the families where the girls come
from, or the circumstances under which they are sold or bonded, that none of this
would be taking place without a demand from men for the sexual services of
underage girls. The perceptions of Thai and foreign men towards women and
sexuality needs to change. While visiting brothels remains a norm among Thai
men and sex tourists, young girls will be forced into the sex trade.
Some people think that the fear of AIDS has reduced the demand for the
commercial sex industry, because AIDS is associated with brothels, but in fact the
sex trade has just moved away from brothels to all kinds of other locations. Men
seem to think that paying for sex with a hostess in a karaoke bar or a snooker hall
is somewhat less risky so they do that instead of visiting a brothel, so their
behavior hasn't really changed much. Changing male behavior in this respect
would be the most effective solution. Stop buying sex!
In the meantime, police underresourcing is a big problem. Police need more
training, so that they can identify offenses, collect evidence and prepare cases
better. Many policemen are not familiar with the laws that refer to the sexual
exploitation of minors. And of course, as long as police wages remain so low,
corruption is going to remain a serious obstacle to law enforcement.
On the supply side, one of the difficulties that girls face within the family can be a
lack of support for their own needs above those of the family. Our Thai
colleagues worry that traditional attitudes to children, especially girl children, as
subordinate to the needs of the family, make it easier to sacrifice a child to the
sex industry. A variety of projects have been set up, especially in the North, to
help persuade parents and provide financial support to help girls in school
beyond the minimum level. That not only keeps the girls out of the brothels for a
couple more years, but it also means that they will have more skills, and more
alternative job opportunities when they leave school.
The question is then: why do families need their children to leave school and
bring in income when they are still so young? The unequal distribution of wealth
within Thai society is an obvious factor. Many families were excluded from the
benefits of Thailand's economic boom, and needed to rely on even the younger
family members to contribute to the household income. As unskilled labor,
without influential connections, they have few alternatives to the sex trade.
The need for cash has also been stimulated by Thailand's wholehearted embrace
of consumerism. Every villager is aware of the televisions, motorcycles, and
comfortable houses, available for money. Selling a daughter often represents the
only possible opportunity to join the "good life."
What is ECPAT doing to try and penalize Westerners who sexually abuse Asian
children?
We are actively promoting extra-territorial jurisdiction so that if a person commits
an offense in say Sri Lanka, or Thailand, they can be prosecuted in their own
country. Local ECPAT campaigns have been successful in a lot of Western
countries - Australia, France, Germany, the United States, and New Zealand
among them.
We are hoping to persuade those countries to place special liaison officers in
countries like Thailand to work on these cases, or to extend the mandate of the
existing officers who work on drug enforcement. As many of those who are
already stationed in areas like the Golden Triangle, where large numbers of girls
are procured from and sold, it might make sense to use them.
The focus of the campaign seems to be on helping young girls, but what about
boys who are sold into prostitution?
ECPAT is concerned in protecting the rights of all children, boys and girls. In fact
the number of boys actually sold into prostitution is very small when compared to
the huge trade in girls. They are usually not packaged as a commodity in the same
way. They may have more control over who they go with, and they often seek
clients themselves, but they face very limited options when it comes to earning
money to survive. By selling sex, they are forced to expose themselves to
violence and disease.
What about the media's role in curbing child prostitution?
The media can help to change male attitudes, and to let everyone know exactly
what conditions are like in parts of the sex industry.
The other way the media can be helpful is by protecting children from social
stigma. We ask the media to respect the privacy of the children who have been
commercially sexually exploited, in the same way as victims of rape. The children
are anxious that they should not be publicly identified, by a photo or by personal
information. It can cause a child a tremendous distress if he or she knows that
somewhere out there is a picture which tells people that he or she was a
prostitute.
HIV is another difficult area when it comes to reporting - in some cases, social
workers may have decided that the child is not ready to hear that he or she is
infected, and it would be catastrophic for the child to hear via a third party.
We are also concerned that stories not be reported in a titillating manner.
Why do men, who would normally be conscientious, and respectful in their own
country, frequent the sex trade in Asia, and have sex with minors?
For the answer to this question we turn to Ron O'Grady's book, The Rape of the
Innocent:
"In their home country, many middle-aged men would never go to a brothel either
through fear of recognition or because they associate the sex industry with
sleazy back streets and uninviting buildings.
"When they travel all these restraints disappear. Suddenly, they find themselves
in a situation where all the hidden excitement of the sexual encounter is openly
displayed and apparently widely sanctioned. They discover themselves in a
culture where sex seems to be more open and respectable and where even
wealthy business people and professional people visit the cinema. The moral
teachings they learned as children quickly disappear. The presence of so many
other people acting in public implies a social acceptance which appears to justify
any of their actions.
"There is an important dynamic at work in tourism which derives from the fact that
when a tourist is away from familiar surroundings and in a foreign culture, the
moral restraints which give some guidance to behavior in the home situation no
longer apply. It seems that the further one travels from home the less moral one
becomes. A Japanese proverb sums this up well: `The Traveler discards all
shame.' (Tabi no haji wa kakisute.) It must be a universal phenomena that tourist
take more risks and act in a more liberal manner when they are on vacation than
when they are home.
"In his study on the connection between the sexual abuse of children and the
tourism industry. Kevin Ireland, says that, `tourists often shed not only their
inhibitions but also an element of social awareness and responsibility. External
inhibitory factors within the host environment of certain locations are often low
or non-existent, in that there are few constraints limiting contact between adults
and potential sex partners. In such locations the ready availability of children
means that there is no resistance of the child to overcome.'"
It has been said that many sex tourists go with children because they think they
will be minimizing the risk of getting AIDS by doing so, Mr O'Grady's response:
"It is a myth that the younger partners are less likely to have AIDS. The forced
penetration of the child by an adult is more likely to cause lesions and bleeding
by which HIV is transmitted. Far from being safer for the customer, sex with a
child increases the chance of contracting AIDS."
While you are wondering about how much money you make or what type of car
you are going to buy next, let's leave you with these words from Mr O'Grady:
"The prostituted child does not enter into the relationship by choice. It is a
contractual arrangement in which the child is simply the commodity available for
hire. After the price is fixed and paid, the child is used by the customer to meet
the customer's own needs and then referred to the "owner" of the child. The
child is probably given no more respect than a rental car.
"A sexual encounter in which there is no consent by one of the partners is a form
of slavery which takes away all dignity. It turns a subject into an object and is a
denial of that person's humanity. What does it means to be human when you are
kept on bondage to be the sexual slave of another person."