Annual Editions Paper

Annual Editions Paper

Nicole Blumeyer Soc 142 (#7254, 12:30) 6 November 2008 A.E Response #3 Article #20 In Alice Leuchtag’s article, Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution, the controversial of legalizing prostitution is explored. Millions of people globally are enslaved by pimps and brothel owners and are forced to have sex with numerous “customers” every day just to survive. Leuchtag begins her article with the depressing story of a young Thai girl named Siri who is sold into sex slavery by her family. Siri recalls that a well-dressed woman came to her village, offered her parents $2,000 in exchange for Siri; she had an excellent job waiting for her. Her family made about $2,000 in one year-they were poor rice farmers. Siri is an example of how vulnerable young women are taken advantage of easily. They lack the knowledge to not fall prey to these traps. Siri was only 14 years old when she was sold to a brothel by the woman for $4,000-a debt she would be forced to repay to her abusive “owner”/pimp. She is initiated by being raped by the pimp. Siri is forced to have sex with 300 men a month just to pay for her rent. Another way the pimp keeps a hold on her is through psychological abuse; he tells her she must have done terrible things in her former life to be born a woman. He uses her religion against her by feeding her lies that later brainwashes her to the point that she gives up on trying to run away. The girls in the brothel are tested (at their own cost) for HIV every month and given Depo-Provera (birth control) injections. Leuchtag states that, “an estimated 35,000 women [work] as brothel slaves in Thailand.” The article continues to explore the issue of sex slavery, prostitution and the legalization of prostitution. Many governments, such as the Thai government, don’t want to acknowledge the issues prostitution brings to its citizens; “HIV is epidemic in Thailand, with the largest segment of new cases among wives and girlfriends of men who buy prostitute sex.”...

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