Sex Trafficking in Cambodia: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine by Somaly Mam

Females and children have a greater risk for sexual exploitation. Approximately eighty percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls up to fifty percent are minors. Although the average age of entry for children victimized by sex trade is twelve years old. It is estimated that seventy six percent of transactions for sex with underage girls start on the internet. Over seventy one percent of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies. Two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global sex trade.

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

Because of this situation, victims would rather remain with the reliable danger of their work instead of going into the society beyond the walls of their routine lives. Some girls living in brothels believe that someone will emancipate them or their captors will release them. Unfortunately, this could hold them back from attempting to better their lives on their own. The girls have gotten used to the routine of their present lives, and some see no need to change it. Pushpa, a character in Sold, is one of the women who live in the Happiness House. When Pushpa comes down with the coughing disease, Mumtaz threatens to kick her out since she can no longer work due to her illness. She begs Mumtaz to let her and her children stay because she does not know what the outside world has in store for them. “What is Human Trafficking?” states, “... integration back into society is incredibly difficult because of the shame, stigma, threat of retribution, and trauma experienced during enslavement.” Leaving the life she has become so familiar with scares Pushpa. As for most people, change can be troublesome, especially if one’s life has changed so drastically before. The thought of altering their way of life may frighten some of the victims. Members of the Happiness House cannot depart until they entirely pay off their debt towards Mumtaz. This seemingly impossible task gives the girls the thought that simply staying and suffering would be easier than

Nothing drives emotions out the window more than hearing about innocent children being used for sex. In Cambodia, sex trafficking has grown into a troublesome issue. Sex trafficking has become one of the fastest growing crimes occurring internationally. It is the third largest crime-business in the world, after drugs and arms trafficking. Women, girls, and even men and boys are victims of the billion-dollar sex trafficking industry. Sex trafficking occurs everywhere, and it is not culturally specific, but a gender specific issue. There are numerous cases of sex trafficking within Cambodia, however child sex trafficking is extremely captivating and distressing to learn about.

The culture of Mango Street lends itself to espousing two main gender roles for women, most importantly the role of mother and caretaker, and less significantly, as sexual figure. Women on Mango Street commonly embrace or are forced to embrace at least one of these roles. Marin, a woman who takes care of her cousins by day and sits outside smoking by night, easily embodies both roles. Sally particularly exemplifies that women cannot get away from the gender roles that bind them. In her family, being a female means becoming a vulnerable person for the man to control. However, Sally prefers to ignore this gender role and advertise herself as a seductress. As she agrees to give “a kiss for each” boy (Cisneros 97) in exchange for her keys back, “beauty is linked to sexual coercion …; there are no promises of marriage here, only promises of giving back to Sally what is already hers” (Wissman). Her family rejects his role, though to some extent accepted by Mango Street. By accepting the alternate gender role, Sally tries to break away from the gender role her family expects of her. However, she is unsuccessful. To escape from her father, Sally is “married before eighth grade” (Cisneros 101) to an equally controlling man who “won’t let her talk on the telephone” or “look out the window” (Cisneros 102). The marriage is a way

Sex trafficking is a problem that is happening and occurring all over the world. Many families and individuals suffer due to sex trafficking. Many people are not even aware of what it really is. Sex trafficking is when young girls, as young as five or six, get kidnapped and are used for the sexual pleasure of others with a profit, or are sold as sex slaves to other people. The official definition is, “Human sex trafficking is a form of slavery and involuntary servitude resulting in grave human rights violations. Sex trafficking involves individuals profiting from the sexual exploitation of others and has severe physical and psychological consequences for its victims.” (The

A theme that keeps reoccurring throughout the book is, never backing down or running away from your past. It is correct that at first, Somaly ran away from the brothel with her husband, Pierre, and went to live in France for a while, however they moved back. “Your experience is yours forever. Keep it and find a way to use it” (page 156), the best motto that fit the story. In the book when Pierre and Somaly moved back to Kratie in Cambodia, where she started volunteering in the mornings with a MSF clinic. During the mornings, some girls would come in seeking help for their sicknesses or AIDS so they could work, however, the nurses who see who they were judge them causing neglect to help them. Although, Somaly knew from experience it was not the girls fault and had to do something to help them, since the workers

When Minty turned the age of five, she started being deprived of her own childhood memories when she became forced to take care of her owners’ infant. Being too young to accept such responsibility on top of all of her household chores, she stayed on duty all night long most nights. She had to hold the baby in her arms, and rock her while she slept in order to avoid the risk of the infant crying. If the baby made a cry, her mistress would whip her around the neck out of lack of caring for her child the way she should.

This very interesting , intriguing story I selected from Krik Krak was the unusual story of the “prostitute” . This is the story of a lady whose husband passed away at a very young adulthood part of his life . He passed away because he was being greedy , sneaky, and dishonest . He stole a hot air balloon from his workplace in the fields . No valid permission. No nothing . On the other hand , the young lady , Lili , is now a true , valid widow. She has every right to “ look for a new suitor” however she wishes . In this chapter , she has sexual intercourse with a ma n . She also might tell her son he has a new dad , which is not biologically true. Women are feared in this particular story because she is an independent woman now , being as

An excerpt from Simkhada’s book, “Sex Trafficking in Nepal,” conveys how Nepali women are highly vulnerable to the ongoing issue of sex trafficking. Simkhada describes how “Girls who are trafficked are typically unmarried, non-literate and very young”(245), and “the majority of girls trafficked are within the narrow age range of 13-18 years”(245). Since Nepal is a third-world country, a majority of young, uneducated women fall victim to sex trafficking. “Estimates suggest that around 12,000 Nepali girls are trafficked for sex work each year, and 200,000 Nepali girls are working in the sex industry in India”(Simkhada 243). One of the most common method that traffickers use to lure their victims is by enticing the victims with employment opportunities. A majority of

Comprehensively, one in five casualties of human trafficking are youngsters, despite the fact that in poorer areas and subregions, for example, Africa and Greater Mekong, they make up the lion's share of trafficked people. Men and young men might be casualties of human trafficking for the motivations behind constrained work, constrained asking and sexual abuse, and as kid officers. The rate of recognized male casualties is excessively lower than that of ladies for various reasons, including the way that for a long time hostile to human trafficking enactment around the globe tended to concentrate on trafficking in ladies and kids or trafficking with the end goal of sexual misuse, of which most casualties are

Some 27 million people are enslaved today, more than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade (Bales, 2004). Of the most insidious forms of slavery is the buying and selling of people, primarily women and children, for sex. Commercial sexual exploitation is an international, multi-billion dollar black market. There are an estimated 1 million children entering the sex trade every year while approximately 30 million children have been exploited through the commercial sex industry in the last 30 years (UNICEF, 2001).

Siri’s story illustrates the complicated dynamics of sex trafficking. Prostitution and sex work in general has become part of the global economy (Truong 1996). Some women choose to go into the sex industry while others are deceived or forced into it. Human trafficking networks usually use deception, coercion, or force to push women into sexual slavery. Some women migrate with the knowledge that they wil l be doing sex

Sex -trafficking has not dissipated over time; it is a growing, adaptive market that is prevalent across the world. We are not talking about an industry that sells depleting commodities. Sex trafficking is a giant market that profits on human slavery. It is paramount that this issue be moved nearer to the forefront of global consciousness, in light of violations of basic human rights and losses of autonomy.

Imagine a four year old girl growing up in contemporary Cambodia. Each morning she wakes up miles from home, homesick and scared. She is forced to beg for money for the brothel that she belongs to, and all of her earnings go straight to her master. Then, that night, about seven men come to the brothel. These men, some as old as fifty, often pay as little as two dollars to partake in sexual intercourse with these school-aged children. The toddlers enslaved in the horrific sex trade are forever stripped of their purity, making human trafficking a major issue in present day Cambodia. Over 30,000 children are sexually exploited annually (“Children for Sale”), and millions have been forced into human trafficking