child prostitution
It started out like any other day. Sokha was helping her stepfather beg for money on the streets of Phnom Penh. Unfortunately, neither made a cent. Frustrated and drunk from cheap liquor, her father raped her. Not satisfied, he invited his friends to join him. One after the other, they took turns in pleasuring themselves, until she was reduced to a bloody, crumpled heap. She was only 9 years old. Months later, her father sold her to a brothel. There, like any other girl, she was forced onto ruthless men every night for a mere 20 cents. In addition to that, she never received any of it. Trapped in the windowless brothel, her hopes of living a normal life were diminished (Lee 83-86). Meanwhile, Julie was raped by a stranger at knife-point when she was fourteen years old. Sexually traumatized by the stranger, she was neglected by her parents. Her heartless mother had even told her to keep it a secret and never to talk about it again. Seeking love and assurance, Julie made friends with Irving, who turned out to be a pimp. Before she knew it, she was trapped in the profession. She wanted to get away, but then her own mother would not even help her (Sereny 30-83). The similarities between the causes of these two cases are not obviou
In the United States, broken families and abusive families also cause child prostitution. "When it goes wrong, parents hardly ever know how and why it happened" (Sereny 22). Too caught up in their own relationship problems, the parents do not realize what had happened to their children. In addition to that, Sereny also believed that "the majority of girls who become child prostitutes appear to have suffered childhood traumas associated with early sexual experiences. Combined with other family tensions or emotional deficiencies - whether in the child or in the family - makes the probability of catastrophe in puberty extremely high" (27-28). Being sexually abused by their own flesh and blood is not the end to their suffering; they are also being deprived of the emotional assurance that they need from their parents. In the end, these children run away from home and seek love and attention from strangers who often turned out to be pimps. Sereny, Gitta. The Invisible Children: Child Prostitution in America, West Germany and Great Britain. New York: A.Knopf, 1985. One cause of child prostitution is that the children are being force into it by their own parents or guardian. Take Sokha for example, the people that she trusted with her life betrayed her by selling her a brothel in order to get a meager amount of cash. These plights are not uncommon. In fact, a 1995 survey in Cambodia on child victims of prostitution found that 40 percent were sold by their own families and another 15 percent by "friends" (Lim 180). Driven by their economic standards, most of these low-income families lack moral values. They were not given the chance to get the education or knowledge on how to raise a family. Before they knew it, they found themselves burden with unwanted children. These parents would rather sell their kids than work hard to earn a living. Girls like Sokha end up being sold out of their supposedly safe environment without even knowing what lies ahead of them. So, what actions have been taken to stop all this? Somaly Mam, one the victims of child prostitution, established AFESIP in Cambodia, a French
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Approximate Word count = 1425
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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