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.
In a review by the New York Times, the author, Stephen Holder, highlights the context surrounding prostitution in each different country. From Thailand having a high end brothel ran by rich Asian men, to Bangladesh full of towering, run down apartments oversaw by madams,
To highlight this topic, Kristof and WuDunn relate the history of Meena Hasina, an Indian woman in her thirties as she walks down the street while adults stare at her, some even glowering – this reflects how bad gender inequality is in some developing countries, to the point of not even being able to walk on the street. Kristof explains that Meena was from a poor family that sold her to a brothel. Of all the possible ways to raise money like reaching out to a foreign non-government organization (which offers incentives to set up stalls so women can start their own business selling goods), or joining an activist group to promote education to young girls, her family simply saw no value in Meena and decided to sell her. Meena ended up in a brothel, but the authors also use this event to thoroughly develop on the abuse of women. Kristof clarifies that once women enter into the brothels business they feel worthless with no hope; in fact, society looks them as a sub-level of illiterate girls with the sole purpose of prostitution – which is absolutely false. The problem here is that women feel rejected by society and are psychologically traumatized as is the case of Ainul the family matriarch in Meena’s brothel. She had been herself a prostitute when she was young, and eventually her daughters were also forced into prostitution. Ainul was so shattered that eventually she became the woman in charge of beating up new girls and finally in charge of the brothel forcing the daughters of other women into prostitution. In this case, the authors pointed to the fact that society forces women into sexual slavery, and that they get punished when they try to escape, so in turn, women exploit more
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).
Women and children who are being sexually exploited are often found in the urban areas of Thailand, but even rural areas have a share of commercial sex workers (Lau, June 2008). The Thai society is extremely male dominated as men are considered superior to women and hold the government and societal power (Vejar & Quach, May 2013). Foreign investors have a great deal of power in Thailand as the country has become more dependent tourism and manufacturing rather than the traditional small farm economy (Geary & Meyer, June 1993).
The author talks about being in brothels, massage parlors, street corners, and apartments across the world. Instead of making the book a narrative the author decided to recount a life-altering journey, one that motivated in a newfound mission to contribute to more successful international efforts to abolish sex trafficking and all other forms of contemporary slavery. The author mentions the slavery still exists may surprise some readers, but the practice of violently coerced labor continues to thrive in every corner of every
Another major consequence of legalizing prostitution becomes apparent when the legitimization of sex markets strengthen the criminal-enterprise of organized pimping (Poulin par. 19). Such bolstering, accompanied by a significant increase in sexual solicitation activities and human trafficking, brings with it the deterioration of these enslaved women (Poulin par. 19). Decriminalizing prostitution presents one of the root causes of sex-trafficking, to the extent that human trafficking promotes the delivery of people into slavery—a crime equally as old as civilization (Raymond par. 9). “Around the world, for those in desperate poverty, the false promise of a better life often draws victims into the control of criminals who then traffic and enslave them” (Bales par. 1). “Many victims of trafficking of persons begin their journey by consenting to be smuggled from one country to another. Because of this, the crimes ‘smuggling’ and ‘trafficking’ are often confused. Smuggling and trafficking both involve moving
However if the goal of criminalization is to end prostitution, it is clearly not yielding the desired results. Making the act of selling sex illegal actually causes the sex workers to go further underground, making them more vulnerable to police and poor working conditions. It creates a culture permitting violence against sex workers. In countries such as China, Cambodia and Vietnam where prostitution is also illegal, sex workers are detained in facilities for ‘rehabilitation’ or ‘re-education through labor’. The approach of these facilities is to punish sex workers for engaging in behavior that is regarded as a
When Nick, one of the authors, asked a police officer why pirating DVDs was a more important matter to address than human trafficking, he replied by stating that prostitution is inevitable, and that it keeps the "good girls" in India safe. The authors then stated that if western countries were to overtly show their disapproval of slavery as they do for the distribution of pirated DVDs, then India would consequently dispatch people to halt traffickers. While measures are being taken by members of congress, it seems as though the parties are working separately, even though unifying the efforts would make them more effective. It seems as though the most favorable approach to ending sex trafficking is by cracking down, but also by providing job training and drug rehabilitation in order to decrease the chances that a freed woman would return voluntarily, due to being stigmatized or an addict searching for the drug they desire. To prove this, an example was given of Sweden and the Netherlands, both countries with different approaches to limiting sex trafficking and AIDS. The Netherlands legalized and regulated prostitution while Sweden cracked down and treated prostitutes more as victims than criminals. Ten years after the methods were put into place, Sweden reported having a 41% decrease in prostitutes, while the Netherlands showed almost no change. While preventing sex trafficking has proven to be a challenging yet important task, it is also important to take into account the effort required to rescue a girl from a brothel. Two girls, Srey Neth and Srey Momm were prostitutes from separate brothels, and were rescued and returned to their families. Although they had fairly similar experiences, Momm returned to her brothel due to her addiction to meth. Even though she hated the brothel, her “owners” had an insurance policy in
“Victims of trafficking who were working as exotic dancers in South Asian bar… The method of recruiting, transporting, putting to work, and maintaining victims within the trafficking system” (Nairruti & Scott, 2013) can be correlated to both the loose government regulation and the questionable gray created the nature of exotic dancing. The use of exotic dancing to cover up trafficking is mostly driven by the legal protection that is allowed for exotic dancing establishments. Not only is this issue of cover up association to South Asia, but around the world countries struggle to combat against the legalization of exotic dancing and ideas of similar nature. Additionally, this legal protection allows for the transportation of these women from
For centuries, prostitution has been apart of our society. Through the ages prostitution has become normalized and almost accepted. Indeed, concerns about prostitution and its consequences have undergone scrutiny, preventing many countries from following the trend of legalizing the practice. Further, prostitution has generated intense controversy: some feel strongly that prostitution is morally wrong, while others firmly advocate the rights of women to choose in the regard. Certainly, prostitution should remain illegal because the risk of contracted sexually transmitted diseases is greater; women are exposed to violence and danger; and prostitution promotes human trafficking.
In a small village consumed by poverty a man in a business suit shows up. He goes from family to family offering to buy children for a year’s worth of pay. He gets to one family with a young girl whose father sells her to feed his addiction for heroine. Scared and confused the girl is now forced into a brothel, sexually pleasing more than 20 men a day. Nearly five years later she is rescued only to lose her life to AIDS from unprotected sex. The human trafficking industry in Thailand has long been overlooked both internally and externally. Corruption, greed, foreign relations, economic pressure, and overall demand have fueled the trafficking industry in Thailand. Until the world and the Thai government make serious changes to the way they
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
The governments of the developing world encourage and utilize the sex trade industry as a progress strategy to repay millions of dollars of debt to international corporations. There are also economic incentives for the governments of both the exporting and importing countries to ignore the trafficking in women, and the governments are relatively uninterested in the women’s well-being.
Prostitution is known as “the world’s oldest profession.” It has been in practice since the beginning of time; whether it be legally or illegally. Prostitutes-typically women- are either accepted or shunned depending on the society they live in (Jenkins). At a point in time in Southern India, the Devadasi culture required girls to become prostitutes when they reached their puberty years in order to gather dowry money until it was outlawed in 1988 (Kelly). Despite the potential risks that prostitution has, it is still advocated in the twenty-first century. In the United States, prostitution is illegal everywhere other than ten counties in Nevada. “The most infamous brothel,” called The Mustang Ranch, resides in Sparks, Nevada (Nevada’s). Prostitution may reduce poverty; however, due to the increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, abuse against women, and human trafficking, The Mustang Ranch should be shut down and prostitution must be outlawed in those ten counties.
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
Prostitution has experienced in a long and questionable history in Indonesia and around the globe. Even though it was a legal profession, prostitution has been forbidden almost by every countries. On the other hand, illegal prostitution has continued in Indonesia, and it’s social, economic, and well-being effects on men and women have driven numerous arguments to debate what its legitimate status should be.