Prostitution vs. Murder: What's the Difference?

Lucy Ellis, 10C

Three million. There are three million women and girls that are currently enslaved in  international sex trade (forced into prostitution against their will).  Try to imagine that, three million daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, that are currently living hidden in fear against their will.  To put this into perspective, consider, that to this day, far more women and girls are shipped into brothels, than African American slaves were shipped into slave plantations each year in the 19th century. The State Department concludes that, 50,000-100,000 women and children are forced into prostitution in the United States alone per year. Prostitution is defined as the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money and force is defined as having done something involuntarily (Dictonary.com). Being forced into prostitution has several components other than prostitution itself, including abuse, rape and death. Forced prostitution and male violence kills more women ages fourteen to fifty than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war conflict, combined.

Why haven’t some changes been made? Sickening enough, a majority of the policemen have played a major role in the rights against women. On January 10th, 1986, a woman named Sagbara Isluka went to report her gang rape by four policemen and on her way she was tortured and robbed by the policemen. Stated by Dr. syed, “When I treat rape victims, I tell the girls not to go to the police... Because if a girl goes to the police, the police will rape her.”  (Kristof, 84.) One young woman living in India, had been kidnapped and and gang raped, she later went to the policemen to report what had happened, and the policemen responded by gang raping her themselves. Seems unreal doesn’t it? Well, being gang raped by policemen is disturbingly commonthroughout India.

(Source:http://www.burgessct.com/)

Take the stories of  these two young women, working as prostitutes in Cambodia, Long Pross and Momm. Long Pross was forced to work in a brothel when she was thirteen and had her eye gouged out with a metal rod for rebelling and Momm, a sheer, thin woman always caught smiling, who worked in a brothel for five years. Momm got the chance to be sold from the brothel for $203. Mind boggling to think any person could actually be worth a certain amount of money, let alone, $203, isn’t it? Momm’s one wish was to go back to her family in hope that they would take her back. As Momm arrived in her home village, she jumped out of the car when seeing her aunt. Momms aunt along with much of the village ran up to her to embrace her after five years of separation. Still yet to see her mother, Momm’s biggest fear was that her mother wouldn’t forgive her for leaving home five years ago. Without any hesitation Momm’s mother ran up to her as soon as she set eyes on her and with tears and a smile, she hugged her as though she was never letting go. Momm stayed in the village to help with selling meat but unfortunately soon after Momm ran into some complications. Momm had escaped from home again, going back to the brothel. It turns out, many girls who once worked in brothels found themselves in conflict with going back after they escaped. During their time at the brothel, many of the pimps would get the prostitutes addicted to meth, knowing that it would cause them to return. When the women are able to escape, after a short period of time, they crave the drug and end up returning to the brothels to get their share of the drug but then want to leave again. Momm ran into a lot of trouble with her meth addiction, found herself lying to her family and time and time again begging for forgiveness. Though some prostitutes are able to escape from brothels, the scars imprinted on them during their time there, never go away.

Imagine this, the small children you see at the park playing with their toys, the teenage girls, going out to the movies, mothers pushing their children in strollers, just imagine all those people being kidnapped, taken into brothels by pimps, being stripped of their dignity, abused daily, raped by grown men, separated from their families, and scarred for life. This isn’t just a daily battle that happened years ago, forced prostitution is still happening today, everyday. Each year 1.2 million children are trafficked, actually, young girls are preferred by older pimps, because they have not yet gone through puberty. Signifying that each year, 1.2 million children will grow up living like the older prostitutes, feeling worthless, helpless and living life marginalized.

(Source:http://dingo.care2.com/)

You can make a difference. Make a donation CATW (Coalation in Trafficking against Women.) can continue to work internationally to end human trafficking in our lifetime; or you can take small actions by educating your community, speaking out, and again donating.