Forced to be Srey Kouc by: Aaron Griffin

Forced to be Srey Kouc

By: Aaron Griffin

In Modern day Cambodia the streets are flooding with girls that are labeled as “Srey Kouc”. This translates to broken woman in the Khmer language. Srey Kouc in the culture is also another word for prostitute. In Cambodia more than 90-95 percent of women that are considered to be Srey Kouc are forced into doing this type of work and would be rapturous to leave. Some people believe that selling your body is a choice or valid occupation path, but there are wrong. years of study worldwide and countless interviews with women in the sex trafficking crime ring it has averaged that 90 percent of prostituted women have been physically abused as children, 74 percent have been sexually abused by a family member, 50 percent have been sexually abused by a non-family member, and 75 percent have drug problems. So next time you hear a person say something positive about anything even remotely related to prostitution, look them in the eye with anger and tell them how wrong they are.

In 2005 a book, (more like an autobiography) about a woman named Somaly Mam that was sold into the sexual slave trade at the age of 12 by her one and only grandfather. For the next ten years of her life she was moved along the brothels of Southeast Asia, after being beaten beyond the point of mental repair she was scared deeper than veteran soldiers with massive cases of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). After countless nights of no sleep she could no longer live with knowing that there were still girls just like here still in other brothels all over and she took a stand and created the organization AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Situations). since that time the organization has prospered her she has won all 12 of the following,

Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, 2006 Glamour Woman of the Year, World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child,  Roland Berger Human Dignity Award 2009,One of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2009, A CNN hero 2011, CNN Freedom Project, Fortune Magazine's Most Powerful Women, Posco TJ Park Foundation Community Development & Philanthropy Prize, 2012 Nomura CARES Award,Fast Company's League of Extraordinary Women, Conde Nast Traveler Visionary, with Susan Sarandon, Speaker at Roundtable Breakfast, World Economic Forum at Davos. What shocks the developed world is how can a person but a price tag on a family member knowing what will happen to them. This is a quote from Somalys Mam’s book The Road Of Lost Innocence (cover shown above). “Some prostitutes are sold to the meebon by their parents or relatives, or by their husbands. The price depends on their freshness and beauty, as well as the cleverness and connections of the seller.”(47) This just shows how human values in some parts of the world are actually non-existent.