Born Into Brothels

The sex trade is not a choice; there many situational factors contributing as to how these women and children got into the sex trade. Most of the women and children who are bought and trafficked into this industry are vulnerable or have a background of abuse and neglect (4425 Hossain). Exploiters use the vulnerability to their advantage by making promises of stability and love to lure their victims in. Many

Prostitution, sometimes referred to as “the world’s oldest profession” (Henslin, pg. 54), is defined by James M. Henslin as “the renting of one’s body for sexual purposes” (pg. 54). This arrangement, though illegal and socially deviant in most parts of the world, exists universally in many different forms (pg. 54). As a matter of fact, types of prostitutes range greatly in variety from call girls – who are said to be “the elite of prostitutes” (pg. 58), to streetwalkers – “who have the lowest status among prostitutes” (pg. 58), to sugar babies -young, physically attractive women who provide “rich, older men” (Kitchener, par.4) “…with attention (and sex) in exchange for the finer things in life” (par. 4).

Whores' Glory by Michael Glawogger explores one of the biggest taboos in today's day and age, prostitution. The documentary exposes the lives of prostitutes in three different parts of the world: Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico. This documentary has attracted much attention from critics everywhere, and though it provides a proficient amount of information for the general public, the information has caused differing reviews as seen in the New York Times and the Examiner.

A documentary Born into Brothels, by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman in 2004, about a non-profit foundation Kids With Cameras. The foundation teaches photography skills to the children in Calcutta. Zana a photographer from New York started taking photos of the prostitutes in the red- light district of Calcutta, India. While Zana was taking photos she eventually developed a relationship with eight children, both male and female, these children were fascinated with the equipment that she used. Over the years the children were able to learn through workshops with Zana, the children have created their own photographs with a 35mm camera. The children were able to create and capture the intimacy and color of everyday life within Calcutta.

It is rare to see an exploration of prostitution in any sort of realistic way in Canadian television however that doesn’t mean they aren’t incorporated into programs now and again. When they are however, they are generally played up cute and in a way where the nature of their trade isn’t explicitly defined but rather merely implied.

Abel, Gillian, et al. Taking the crime out of sex work: New Zealand sex workers fight for decriminalisation. Policy Press, 2010. Part two: Implementation and impact of the Prostitution Reform Act (2003): the first five years: Review of the PRA

“They would beat you. They would make you feel like they would cause you yourself or your family harm. Another thing, some of the girls don’t have anywhere to go (Victims, 2011).” Keisha Head works as an anti-human trafficking advocate, but that was not always the case. She was once a victim to this cold and unforgiving way of life that many people simply call “prostitution.” It has been said by the ignorant that prostitutes must enjoy their line of work, as sex is generally considered pleasurable. However, Keisha tells another story. “I became numb to what I was doing. I guess that’s the survival instinct,” she says. Another woman who escaped the life preferred to remain anonymous, but her statement is profound. “I was hoping that I would

However, after watching Trade and Born into Brothels it is apparent that these issues occur still.Geographical locations play an important role in understanding why sex trafficking occurs in these regions of the world because it opens up multiple questions about the treatment of women and how well these individuals are educated on protecting themselves during sexual

Imagine hundreds of children walking through drug infested streets, women trapped in the line of exploitation and being face-to-face with young girls who have been rescued from sexual violence. I have seen them all.

This fascinating and informative documentary was researched and filmed in several different cities in India, as well as some small towns. The film focuses on two main groups of people dedicated to saving Indian children, mostly young girls, from the bondage of servitude and slavery. The first group featured is called South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude, or as most people call it, SACCS. This human rights organization is headed by activist Kailash Satyarthi. Mr. Satyarthi is also a member of a High Level Group that was formed by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, always called by its acronym, UNESCO, and an agency of the United Nations. In one scene, Satyarthi successfully convinces Indian fathers to allow their daughters to go to school. The other group featured in the documentary is called STOP, and they mainly focus on rescuing girls from the sex trafficking trade. Rinku is the frontline activist who helps rescue girls on behalf of the STOP program, and takes the lead in running the shelter where she and the girls they rescue stay. She is a brave, young, 19-year-old girl, and was at one time herself, a victim of the sex trade. This documentary is different from other sources in that it focuses only on girls from India, but is extremely

Sex workers inhabited the public space of Paris throughout the 19th century, their trade widely accepted as disreputable but necessary. When the French poet Charles Baudelaire was asked what art is, his immediate answer was “prostitution.” This proves that throughout history, artists have used prostitutes as models and muses for their artwork. Prostitution and painting go hand in hand. Among the first painters to use female models were Titian and Giorgione, producing Venetian reclining nudes, which appeared as advertisements for the most successful courtesans of Europe. These paintings hung in homes, showing real women as nothing more than an image to be looked at and judged by men. The interest in representing prostitution in art not

More organizations like the one that rescued Lakshmi could be made along with campaigns and fundraisers to raise money. In the documentary Born into Brothels children in Calcutta, who were from birth doomed to be in brothels, were given cameras. The photos depicted life in the brothels through the children's eyes. The woman who gave them the cameras, Zana Briski, worked to get the children out of the brothels and into schools. Unfortunately, most the schools would not take the children because of their backgrounds. “There is nothing called hope in my future.”(Weiss) were the words of eleven year old Avijit Halder who was one of the children born into the brothel. However, Halder is now a junior at New York University and studying film. The documentary he was a part of turned his life around and gave his future hope. Creating organizations and groups that raise money to aid the children affected by sex trafficking could make an education possible for them. Every person aware of brothels who are willing to assist the children involved in achieving a better life can make a difference.

In the film, Born into Brothels (2004), British filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman setout to present a perspective from the children of sex workers living in Red Light District of Sonagachi, Calcutta. This film, however incidental, demonstrate single narratives on the basis of morality, sexuality, and preconceived notions about the third world. Their attempt at filming an impartial ethnographic film that spoke of the true nature of life as a child in the Red Light District of Calcutta failed from their Western gaze and lack of insight about the community of Sonagachi to contextualize how the Red Light District and the poverty surrounding are a result of globalization. Acknowledging the “before” that Briski and Kauffman could never understand about the Red Light District because of their limited Western understanding about the third world, would’ve resulted in a more inclusive look into the subjective perspectives of the children. Instead, using footage and still pictures of the dirty allies, children covered in what seems to be oil, naked children chained like animals in a zoo, etc, as an aesthetic (lens) used to reproduce hegemonic narratives about the third world and objectively reflect reality. Additionally, these shots separate the people of the Red Light District from Westerners and establishes and “us” and a “them”, them being objects and not full established subjects.

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

Perhaps the most disturbing, yet intriguing parts of the film were the interviews with the Cambodian male clients who justify their desire for sex with young virgin girls because of their cultural beliefs about maintaining their youthful appearance and health. Participating in sexual activities with virgins is also believed to be a way of avoiding the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. The film delicately explains the cycle of young girls who are destined to remain in prostitution because there are no other options for them to earn money once they are forced into the