Child sexual tourism and the commercial sexual exploitation of women are widespread and well-known practices in Thailand. A sexual tourist is a person who travels from a foreign country in order to commit sexual acts that are illegal or socially unacceptable in their home country and thus avoid prosecution or a personal sense of responsibility by paying for the “service” from an exploited woman or child. Commercial sexual exploitation involves the recruitment, manipulation and forcing of women and children into prostitution, in exchange for money (Vejar & Quach, May 2013) (Newman, Holt, Rabun, Phillips, & Scott, March 2011). Sexual exploitation can also include the transport of women from other countries under false pretenses, such as for …show more content…
It is obvious to me that by looking the other way and allowing women and children, who are members of the human community to be treated as vacation play things; we are on a slippery slope and the value of all humanity is diminished.
Thailand’s commercial sexual exploitation industry is also trading short-term financial gain for a long-term healthcare crisis. Thailand is becoming the breeding ground for HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases that sex tourists carry back to their homelands like unwelcome souvenirs (Fontanet, et al., October 1998) (Morinsky & Coan, 1998).
The mental health effects of chronic trauma and widespread sexual abuse of children may also have long-term consequences for Thai society. Elderly Thai men and women are relying on their daughters to care for them in old age. However, the repeated humiliation and emotional trauma experienced through a life of prostitution could leave these “good” daughters unable to care for themselves or anyone
…show more content…
This can also be seen as a form of sexual servitude. These brides are leaving their home, their family, their culture and very often their children in order to make a lifetime commitment to sexual and domestic service to one man (Angeles & Sunanta, 2009). They are banking on the fact that this one man will treat them well, but they have no assurance that this is true. Many women find out too late that their new “husband” is actually a sex trafficker in disguise (Huda, 2006). Even women with true marriages are not equal partners. Their husband is entirely dominant in that he holds all the economic and situational power in the relationship. The new bride must continue to earn her place in the marriage more like a pet than a true
"Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific." (2012): n. pag. UNDP. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
"Thailand: Trafficking In Women And Children." Women 's International Network News 29.4 (2003): 53. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 3 Nov.
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
When it comes to human trafficking the one thing we know is that trafficking for sexual exploitation is a huge issue all around the world. What we are not fully aware of is how big of a problem it actually is. Due to the illegality of human trafficking for the purpose of sex it is extremely difficult to truly appreciate the scope of the matter. Many differing estimates have been made to suggest the number of people that could be involved in this terrible trade, but these numbers do not explain the concealed activity of sex trafficking. They are only considered to be good estimates determined by the data collected. The prostitution industry is the key driver of sex trafficking because of its money making potential. Due to prostitution, sex trafficking is getting more and more out of hand. To address this subject buying sex should be a considered a criminalized act, and selling sex should be decriminalized. Doing this on a worldwide basis could help drive demand in the sex industry down, and could encourage women and girls in captivity to come forward without fear of persecution.
Children who have been sex trafficked or sexual exploited have all of these mental health issues and also have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), dissociation, and attachment issues (Miller-Perrin and Wurtle, 2017, p. 136). In fact, 77% of sex trafficked victims between the age of fifteen and forty-five had PTSD after being rescued from CSEC (Miller-Perrin and Wurtle, 2017, p. 139). Furthermore, in addition to mental health issues many sex trafficked survivors have several physical health issues. Ernewein and Nieves (2015), reported that victims suffer from unhealthy eating habits, sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and broken bones and other physical injuries (p. 798). In addition, Barnet (2016) reported that 80% of CSEC and sex-trafficking victims reported suicidal thoughts (p. 250). In brief, all victims of sex trafficking even after being recused suffer the consequences of being exploited sexually for the rest of their lives. These children have not only their childhoods taken away from them but their entire
Millions of women and child have been trafficked across borders and within countries in recent years, making human-trafficking a global industry that generates an estimated five to seven billion U.S. dollars each year. It is estimated that 300,000 to 450,000 people are trafficked within Asia each year, of which more than half take place in South Asia. Women and children, particularly girls, are trafficked within country boundaries and to other countries beyond South Asia. The growing of human-trafficking problem in South Asia has been recognized and has become a serious concern over the last decades. The reason it has become a main concern is because of the health issues such trafficking is causing is the rise of HIV/ AIDS and other STD,STIs
Sex trafficking is a term that covers a range of activities. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines it as “a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years” (The Campaign 1). Victims of sex trafficking may be forced to do any number of activities to earn money for their traffickers. These include “prostitution, pornography, stripping, live-sex shows, mail-order brides, military prostitution and sex tourism” (10). Wherever there is demand for the sexual exploitation of a certain type of individual, such as teenage girls, young boys or children, traffickers will find people to meet that demand. Unfortunately, this puts innocent people in situations where they are taken advantage of.
Furthermore, there are numerous families that partake in this business due to socio-economic factors like insufficiency coupled with high unemployment rates and gender discrimination. Padam Simkhada asserts, “Many girls involved in sex work in Asia do so because they are compelled by economic circumstances and social inequality. Some enter sex work voluntarily; others do so by force or deception, sometimes involving migration across international borders” (236). People in rural parts of India and Nepal, are so impoverished and have no jobs that they are willing to just do anything to uplift their economic status, and he...
“Sex trafficking, along with labor trafficking, has been described as modern day slavery. It is the coerced commercial sexual exploitation of a human being, and is both an international and a national issue. Sex trafficking does not require a border crossing, but rather involves the forced sale of a human being for sex.” (Makatche, 2013) Sex trafficking industries may seem as if they only conduct business in poor foreign countries. The reality is that it is happening in every country and everywhere. Just as other illicit markets that sell and trade nuclear materials, illicit arms, drugs, or art and antiques; the markets that sell women and children for commercial sex are just as common.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of women and children are abducted, apostatized, seduced, or sold into coerced prostitution, coerced to accommodation hundreds if not thousands of men afore being discarded. These trafficked sex slaves form the backbone of one of the world's most remuneratively lucrative illicit enterprises and engender astronomically immense profits for their exploiters, for unlike narcotics, which must be grown, harvested, refined, and packaged, sex slaves require no such ‘processing,’ and can be perpetually ‘consumed’. There has been report which says that there is evidence of men breaking into the shelter home and sexually abusing the inmates. It says that several inmates have been held there illegally for months despite court orders for their release. Women who can grease the palms of the superintendent are released; others just languish in inhuman conditions. The report concludes that the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) “has neither the heart, will nor sk...
Situated on the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, is Punta Cana, a gentle paradise welcoming visitors throughout the year. Locals embrace tourism and the droves of vacationers ascending on Punta Cana’s white sandy beaches because this area is booming 12 months out of the year, courtesy of impressive tourism numbers. Travelers’ demands for luxuriance are catered to by amenable locals who extend themselves to ensure their guests’ good time. This good-natured aura is definitely reflected in the area of adult entertainment. Add to it the Dominican Republic’s liberal sex industry laws, and Punta Cana can be considered a virtual Utopia where fruit which may be forbidden in one’s home country is bountiful and easily accessed.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
Human trafficking is prevalent throughout the world, especially in Asia and more specifically in China but the government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) are taking measures to put an end to it. Human trafficking involves exploitation of human beings; either sexually or by coercing them to work in unfavourable conditions for little pay or nothing at all. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” Women and children, especially girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty constitute the majority of victims of human trafficking. “China is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking; the majority of which is internal trafficking” (www.humantrafficking.org).
Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women. New York: New York University Press, 1996. Print.
This sex tour is just one example of the direct links of tourism associated with sex work in Asia. While specifically analyzing the implications of tourism on prostitution/sex work supported by organizations such as the World Bank, which is profit seeking and economically focused, Thailand and the Philippines seem to be two very affected nations struggling with the issue. There is significant evidence, such as official documents, personal accounts, interviews, and scholarly work, which strongly indicates that the World Bank knowingly promoted tourism in Thailand and the Philippines in order to generate large economic profits. Mass tourism increases and further fuels the sex industry, which forces and degrades poor women into being objects to ensure their survival.