Sexual Slavery, etc.

[bloom]

Forced prostitution

Forced prostitution is a form of sexual slavery that is often directed at immigrants to western countries. Often the "owners" of these people will confiscate passports and/or money in order to make the women involved completely reliant on them. This practice is universally illegal.

In many countries, illegal immigrants often work in prostitution in circumstances such that they feel they have no other choice. Often these prostitutes are kept in financial debt by the brothel owners, who charge them for their travel and other costs. The arrangement may be such that the prostitutes can never earn enough to pay off the debt. This is a form of debt bondage. This kind of sex slavery is often found in Germany and the Netherlands. Clearly separating this from East European women entering prostitution in Western countries knowingly and more or less willingly, to escape the daily hardships of their lives, is often not possible.

In addition to the First World, this also takes place in countries of South Asia such as India and Thailand, where young girls are sometimes sold (often by their own parents) to brothel owners. In modern day Thailand this is becoming much rarer, but is still widespread.

http://www.answers.com/topic/sexual-slavery

"Gangs use voodoo in Nigeria sex trade"

Thursday, May 19, 2005

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - If she runs away from her life of prostitution, her parents will become sick and die.

At least that's what this Nigerian woman believes. The threatened curse, she claims, was part of a voodoo rite performed in her homeland just weeks before she was brought to Greece by a prostitution ring.

"I have no doubt in its power," says the petite 24-year-old, who goes by the alias of Maria and described being forced into seven-night-a-week duty at a flophouse brothel on an Athens back street. "Even if I had a doubt, how could I risk the life of my mother and father?"

Maria's case illustrates one of the least understood corners of the sex slavery underworld: gangs using the perceived potency of native West African voodoo and hexes to hold women in their grip. Recently, however, an unusual alliance has started fighting back.

One of Nigeria's new anti-prostitution inspectors is turning to Christian-affiliated groups to confront a system that -- even by conservative estimates -- may hold sway over at least 10,000 Nigerian women forced to work as prostitutes in Western Europe. <more>

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/05/19/voodoo.sex.ap/

Petition for the closure of the Angeles Prostitution slave camps!

To: The Philippine Government :

This is a worldwide petition calling on the Philippine government to close the prostitution slave camps of Angeles, Philippines.

A woman or Child is raped or killed on average every six seconds in Angeles City, Philippines.
An estimated 150,000 girls work in Angeles City, Philippines as prostitutes, of that about 30,000 are girls as young as six years of age. Despite the fact that prostitution is illegal in Angeles not one person has been convicted of this crime.

The prostitution trade is controlled by foreign gangs who rake in millions while the girls suffer on a bowl of rice a day. Young girls are forced to work up to twenty hours a day and are expected to service up to 100 customers a week. Most of the gangs that run the prostitution trade are foreigners. They pay off corrupt police, military and city hall officials. The girls are locked away to sleep watched over by armed security guards who carry batons, electric prods and shotguns.

The buildings are surrounded by razor wire as used in prisons. The average life expectancy of a bar girl is 25 The gangs control prostitution, drugs, extortion, gun running, paedophile movies and a host of other criminal activities. Anyone who speaks out is quickly disposed of by the gangs. <more>

http://www.petitiononline.com/44441212/petition.html


Normally - I would assume that people are against this. But with some posters arguing against women's studies, etc., and arguing for "Beauty Pornography" you can't take anything for granted.

I think it is more difficult to think of any prostitution as a good thing knowing how women are exploited and used in this manner. Do the men who pay for the "services" of these women know that the women are slaves?

And on a related note - do men know whether the women in pornography are doing that job because it is what they freely choose (IOW could the women make a living doing something else) and that the women themselves get the royalties and benefits?

[sce56]

1. See this topic also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1800097

[beam me up scottie]

2. Good questions.

"I think it is more difficult to think of any prostitution as a good thing knowing how women are exploited and used in this manner. Do the men who pay for the "services" of these women know that the women are slaves?"

I think some justify their purchases by saying that a few women are deliriously happy in their chosen profession.

The idea that women can just walk away, get a good job and a clean place to live for themselves (and their children in some cases) is about as stupid and unrealistic as refusing to hand out condoms to prostitutes because it encourages them to continue hooking.

[MountainLaurel]

3. What did Neil Bush think

When the attractive young women just happened to show up in his hotel room in Bangkok?

[beam me up scottie]

4. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Did you read the transcripts from court?
The prosecutor said something like
"So you thought all those young attractive women just happened to show up at your hotel room to engage you in sex without being paid for it?"

I'll have to try to find the quotes again, it was priceless.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. The abilility of guys like that to delude themselves

Never ceases to amaze me. I'm sure on one level Neil Bush realized the women were being paid but on another he probably really did think they wanted him. It's precisely the self-deluded fantasies of these jerks that fuel this sad industry.

When I was in the Navy, a lot of guys would describe their sexual activity with women in places like the Phillipines. It was clear that they were fully aware that the women there were sexually servicing them for money but at the same time they would insist that the women "loved" it, and them. :wtf:

[beam me up scottie]

6. Ah yes.

I've heard the same thing from others.
When I was 16 I went to see Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" with a date and two friends.
During the gang rape scene one of the guys said "Oh, c'mon, you can't tell me she wouldn't start to enjoy it after a while"

A real eye-opener that was.

[bloom]

9. Bobby Knight was infamous

for a similar remark he made publicly. Something about women might as well enjoy rape or some such thing. He should have been fired then.

[beam me up scottie]

10. I'm sure they

just chalked it up to women being over-sensitive.
How many times have you heard the phrase "ahhh, you know what I meant"?

[Swamp Rat]

14. I cannot watch that part of the movie

It really bothers me, as does any rape or murder scene on TV. I don't know how I could stand it when I was younger, but violence in movies and on TV is unbearable for me now.

[beam me up scottie]

15. I'm the same way.

That movie makes an impression you never forget. Apparently what he took away from it was different than what I did.

[mongo]

7. Women in Porn

And on a related note - do men know whether the women in pornography are doing that job because it is what they freely choose (IOW could the women make a living doing something else) and that the women themselves get the royalties and benefits?

In the US, women in porn are doing the job of their own free will. As far as whether they could make money doing something else, some could and come couldn't. Nina Harley for example was a nurse before she got into porn. As for most of the ladies, they have chosen porn over waitressing, a job at Wal-mart, etc.

Most performers are paid on a per-scene basis and do not get royalties. They are also contract labor and do not get benefits. More popular performers get exclusive contracts with a certain company, and can then negotiate for royalties and benefits - although I do believe that royalties are rare. The top performers Jenna Jameson, Jill Kelly for example, go on to form their own companies where they are in control of the films they are in and in control of the profits.

[mopinko]

8. some men, like mongo

(who i presume is a man) believe what reinforces what they already believe. do you really think that a choice between waiting tables and taking your clothes off is a choice? do you really believe that women have as many choices as men? even before they get stuck raising the kids alone, they don't have the choices men have. yeah, wait tables, take your clothes off, or beat your head against the glass ceiling. free will. right.
seriously, i applaud the women who really do want to do this, who reject puritanism, own their own bodies, and use them as they see fit. but just because they are citizen of the us does not make them free.
no good comes of painting a complex situation in black and white, mongo.

[mongo]

12. I think we are talking about more of a class issue than anything

as far as limiting choices. Yes, there is a glass ceiling, but it impacts more women in the upper middle classes. Yes, it affects women in the lower classes too - Wal-mart is a good example of this, but I think it is more prevalent and noticeable in the educated, skilled labor force.

Do uneducated/unskilled men have more choices? Maybe. They can dig ditches and do construction, but now in most road crews I've seen around here, the flagger is a woman. A waitress at a Chilli's or Ruby Tuesday can make more money than a house framer.

Personally, I have seen more women than men really make the effort to get an education, and do everything they can to better themselves - perhaps this is a cultural thing. Many men in the lower class are content to go to their dead end job, get off and drink beer every night. I've known far more women, even single mothers juggling work and school in an effort to climb out of near poverty (perhaps just so that they can look at the glass ceiling).

As far as porn performers, it takes a certain personality to go into it. I don't think the average woman is thinking "gee, I'm not making any money in this diner, I think I'll move to California and do porn".
Most of the girls in porn started out dancing in some local club, and adapted well to that job - which is an incredible display of power OVER men. If you have never been to a strip club, you should go and watch the girls part men from their money. Sometimes they are talked into it by their boyfriends (known as suitcase pimps in the industry - a scumbag leech), but it has to be something that is at least an acceptable option to someone before they try it.

So yes, I do think it is free will that brings the women into the adult industry. It is a choice. And just to clarify, I'm talking about the industry in the US. There is sex slavery and coerced porn going on overseas; but these videos aren't getting distributed in my store, or any of the other adult outlets around the country.

I know a lot of strippers. I sell them outfits and shoes. But I get to see them without the makeup, in sweats and jeans, with a toddler in tow. They are just normal young women doing their best to make a living. If I go into the clubs, which I usually don't, I can't even recognize them half the time. They have a different persona at work. They only sad observation I have about them in general is that far too many of them have some dead-beat boyfriend sponging off of them. But, of course, that is also their choice.

[mopinko]

18. there is a half way house for prostitutes here

obviously, it is full of women who do not want to do what they are doing. so it is not a representative sample. but most were molested as children and are terribly damaged by what happened to them then, and what they have done since. many are addicted to drugs, either before they started, or while they were prostitutes.

<They only sad observation I have about them in general is that far too many of them have some dead-beat boyfriend sponging off of them. But, of course, that is also their choice. <
which shows that these women are acting out of something other than a rational choice.

this is always the trouble with prohibition. it makes everything sink to the lowest level. nobody is getting shot for selling beer anymore. we should take a lesson.

[bloom]

13. I think porn would be more marketable

to women if all the women involved received royalties and there was an expectation of respect.

That is not my perception of the industry.

It seems like part of the way some people want the industry to be seen is that disrespect is part of the "game". That porn is part of a world that is outside the realms of respectability. That is part of the allure - wouldn't you say?

It is why your statement about being a "proud purveyor of smut" is intended to be provocative and disturbing to people who don't wish to accept the rules of the "game". If it were something to be proud of - the statement would be unnecessary.


And Walmart's employment practices are hardly anything to hold up as a standard to justify any other business practices.

[mongo]

19. I don't think it is something to NOT be proud of.

It is why your statement about being a "proud purveyor of smut" is intended to be provocative and disturbing to people who don't wish to accept the rules of the "game". If it were something to be proud of - the statement would be unnecessary.

I don't think that most people realize that I risk arrest every single day for the crime of SELLING A MOVIE. I sit on the bleeding edge of the first amendment and I'm proud of that. I do believe that all consensual sexual expression (except child pornography and animal abuse - both CRIMES) in film and print should be protected under the first amendment.

if all the women involved received royalties and there was an expectation of respect.

Well, not all actors in Hollywood get royalties either. Only the biggest stars do. In that respect, porn valley is no different than Hollywood.

It seems like part of the way some people want the industry to be seen is that disrespect is part of the "game". That porn is part of a world that is outside the realms of respectability. That is part of the allure - wouldn't you say?

Well, personally I am trying to make porn respectable and acceptable.

There is certainly a trend for titles to be shocking or derogatory. Lots of (fill in the blank) "whores", "sluts" and "teens". But again, although I do have plenty of titles like that - that is not what is being produced by the biggest players in the industry.

So yeah, there is an element of the industry that is going for shock value - Extreme Associates for example. After they were indicted for obscenity by the feds, most of the industry kept their distance. Even Larry Flint had bad things to say about Rob Black and his company.

The other side of this coin is that some people find this alluring because it is something they are not getting at home. People seek out horror and slasher films too - but they don't end up being ax murderers. And these terms are derogatory when applied to porn, but I think it was Annie Sprinkle that did the workshop on "brining out your inner slut", and she is a celebrated feminist.

An often repeated misconception is that people seek out "harder and harder" porn. People like what they like, and that is what they buy. And people buying porn don't buy it for the title - they buy it for the picture on the box. No one is buying a movie because it has the word "slut" in the title. (Although the word "teen" is a different situation - and not something I really want to go into here).

I just sold 3 movies to a guy a few mins ago - all of them were BDSM porn with a Male sub - having nasty things done to him by ladies. But I don't think that he's buying it because he wants to put men down - or because he is bored with Vivid features. It is more about his personal fantasies. And just for the record, the customer browsing now is a lady with a toy in her hand, and some other novelties I can't quite make out on the monitor.

I think that as porn becomes more and more mainstream, we will see better quality, more women friendly, more sex-positive movies in the
marketplace. The old model adult store with the peep show booths in the back is a dying breed. The new model is the couple-friendly superstore that is well lit, has a good selection of toys, and is structured so that the products go from being very light in the front and harder as you walk back.

We are kind of a hybrid store. We only have 800sf of selling space and half of that is lingerie, hosiery and non-explicit merchandise. But we also are trying to service the largest range of customers we can. So our movies run the gamut from the nice to nasty.

[Nikia]

11. What I have wondered is why none of the men help them?

I realize that the average john sees these women purely as sex objects. Their encounters with prostitues usually don't take into account her feelings. Still, with all these encounters, some with men with economic means and power to help these girls and women, they choose not to. I realize that there is a language barrier in many cases and these girls and women are often afraid of risking things by telling the wrong person that this is not truly their choice. There may be isolated cases where a man does help the prostitute. Still, even if there was a small but significant number of men who considered these women worthy of their help as human beings, sex slavery would be rarer and something that these women wouldn't have to suffer in very long.

[Hello_Kitty]

16. Honestly, some of them think they are helping them

As disturbing as that is. Those Navy guys I would justify hiring "bar girls" in the Phillipines to perform sex acts on them because they were getting more money for it than they would doing anything else in such a 3rd world country. Okaaaay....First, I'd ask them how they knew how much money the girl was getting as opposed to the bar owner. That they never knew. Then I'd ask them why they couldn't just give someone money to help her WITHOUT getting a blowjob in the process. Most of them would look at me like I was loony.

I blame the U.S. military for a lot of it. G.I.s are encouraged to avail themselves of prostitutes overseas in order to boost morale. In fact, many of the bar owner/pimps in the Phillipines were retired Navy guys and the U.S. Gov't actually helped them set up shop there! So is it any wonder the guys thought it was perfectly acceptable? And as if that's not bad enough, problems are further compounded when guys get sexually transmitted diseases and bring them back to their spouses or girlfriends.

[mopinko]

17. david hackworth

had a brothel on the base for his guys in nam.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. When I worked with street kids, there was one girl who

was half-Thai, half-American, and her father owned a brothel in Bangkok. He prostituted his own daughter when she hit puberty. :grr:

She said that once a john asked her how much money she would need not to work for three months, and when she told him, he gave it to her.

She used the money to come to the States instead, but being illiterate in English (although she could speak it after a fashion) and probably illegal as well, even though she technically had dual citizenship, she ended up on the streets and back in prostitution.

At thge time I knew her, she had learned to read English through the program's alternative school program and was working on her GED.

I don't know where she is now, because she "aged out" of the program a few weeks after I started volunteering.

[Tinoire]

21. This is really sad and very common in Thailand

I wrote a paper on this subject about 8 years back and the research into it broke my heart.

Young Thai country girls often consider it an insult to their impoverished parents if they don't accept to go to the city and work to supplement the family income. The trouble is, these parents are so old country, that they don't realize how horrible the "work" scene has become in the cities. Young 12 year old girls are literally shackled to beds for the amusement of Western and Asian tourists some of these johns being horribly sick men.

One night in Bangkok...

And the Thai government pretends, makes a half-hearted effort to go through a few motions of rescuing these girls and saving them but yet they continue to allow their country to be the world's most famous brothel because of all the hard currency that brings in.


Here's what their Embassy has to say about it. It's all good to distribute literature and all but when are you going to arrest the johns?
http://www.thaiembdc.org/socials/childprs.htm

=== On edit: Some sad reading:

To every one of us being a child means playing, laughing, eating ice cream, being surrounded with loving and caring parents. For children in Thailand however, this is just a mere image of the impossible. Thousands of them are tricked, drugged and then sold or abducted into prostitution. Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of prostitution is described as “the modern day slavery”. As Orlando Patterson, a Sociologist at Harvard University defined it, “slavery is the permanent, violent domination of natally alienated and generally dishonored persons”. It robs the individual of her honor, self respect and self consciousness.

We might ask ourselves why would this modern form of slavery exist today? One of the major reasons it still functions and generates tremendous profit is the fact that the poor parents sell their daughters and in some cases even young boys into prostitution or nicely put debt bondage to afford basic necessities like food, land or tools. It’s very simple and looks quite innocent; a well dressed Thai criminal playing a rich broker arrives in the small poor village to “hunt” for new fresh bodies, preferably young and innocent virgins because they bring higher price and pose less of a threat of exposure to STD’s. He lures parents into selling their daughters by bribing them with few hundreds dollars or pretends to represent a factory worker from far off a land who is not related to sex trade and who recruits new workers for his factory. The parents sign the debt agreement (with a mutual understanding that the daughter may only return once she has paid her debt through the labor). Many of the girls being sold believe that they are going to work as housemaids, in beauty salons, shops, bars, or restaurants. (“A Modern Form of Slavery: Trafficking and Child Prostitution in Northern Thailand”)

In reality they are transported southern brothel where they are beaten, raped, and put to work servicing 10 to 20 men a day. They have only few days off a month for their period, and a daily allowance of about $1.20 must pay for their food and all other expenses. Those children undergo sexual, physical and mental abuse, are forced to serve customers “The immediate and forceful application of terror is the first step in successful enslavement” (“Women Refugees Face Sex Slavery in Thailand”)

(snip)

Another type of slavery is the illegal confinement and forced labor where most of the children enter into prostitution forcefully. Their abductor uses a combination of physical and mental abuse, threats of revenge and even death. Often most of the brothels are surrounded by electrical fences making it impossible for the girls to escape. This harsh treatment causes a tremendous psychological trauma for those young children. Just within few hours of being brought into the brothel those girls are still in pain and shock. The youngest of children who have a little
understanding of what is happening is overwhelming and causes a horrible trauma
At first as they resist sexual encounters, they’re badly beaten and some might be killed. Many children forced into prostitution however are often constantly raped to degrade, humiliate, and to break down their resistance by destroying one crucial thing, their sense of self worth.

(snip)
http://prace.sciaga.pl/16435.html

[Hello_Kitty]

22. You are right. It is heartbreaking. n/t

[Senior citizen]

23. The petition only has 1,575 signatures.

They probably get more customers than that at the pedophiles' death camp for kids in the Phillipines in a single day.

This is what patriarchy is all about. Devaluing life and glorifying death and torture.

By subjugating females, patriarchy ensures cyclical overpopulation peaks which always result in the cheapening of human life, genocides, and atrocities. As overpopulation increases, patriarchy profits from lower wages, the military industrial complex, and the porn and prostitution rackets.

I was recently reading a book about a Catholic organization that rescues people from slavery and sexual slavery all over the world. And I had a strange thought. I happened to think of how our CIA and DEA would protect "their" drug dealers, who would, in gratitude, turn in "competing" drug dealers. I had to wonder if this organization is legitimate, or is just a way for the Catholic church to get rid of competing pedophiles. It is most probably a legitimate organization, but that's how cynical I've gotten.