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Thursday, October 09, 2003
So: Human traffic
By Jocy So
UNRAVELING
Prostitution was a large and profitable business in many colonial societies. Sachiko Sone, in her article on Japanese prostitutes in Southeast Asia or karayuki-san, writes that "Japanese brothel prostitution accumulated more foreign capital than any other business abroad at the turn of the century and held considerable economic influence and sway over Japanese communities overseas.
ALL over the world, women and children are toiling in sweatshops, are forced into marriages, domestic servitude, and prostitution. Human Rights Watch calls this trafficking of humans.
The UN reports that annual profits for child trafficking alone reaches US$10 billion, with 1.2 million children being transported illegally. Some estimate that the trafficking of young women has become a $7 billion global business.
In Europe, it has become the fastest-growing criminal activity with an estimated 120,000 women trafficked into Western Europe each year. Recently, a Fil-Am couple landed on Sun.Star Davao's frontpage for exploiting young women dreaming of being models and escaping their less glamorous reality in Digos.
Prostitution is considered the oldest profession. Of course, there are women who do choose this profession themselves, often because it is the only avenue towards financial stability, educational opportunities and freedom open to them in patriarchal societies. However, this usually happens only to a small number of high-class prostitutes and not to innumerable women and girls tricked, forced, intimated, or sold by their families into prostitution to pay for debts or to escape poverty.
Largely due to colonialism, trafficking and prostitution in Southeast Asia began a long time ago. Here, we will look at prostitution in the region during the turn of last century, and how precious little has changed today.
In the late 1800s, Southeast Asian prostitution was dominated by the trafficking of Chinese and Japanese women and girls, which was part of the trading activities that linked the region's diverse and distanced islands, groups of people, and colonial governments. Prostitution was a large and profitable business in many colonial societies. Sachiko Sone, in her article on Japanese prostitutes in Southeast Asia or karayuki-san, writes that "Japanese brothel prostitution accumulated more foreign capital than any other business abroad at the turn of the century and held considerable economic influence and sway over Japanese communities overseas."
In Dutch-controlled Indonesia, prostitutes were so numerous that there were prostitutes serving male customers of different ethnic origins, social status, and occupations. Prostitution was, and still is, a business, and the young girls and women who served as prostitutes were the merchandise. In many literature then and today, prostitution is described using economic and trade-related terms such as "bought," "sold," "transactions," etc.
James Warren in his book on Singapore history quotes a European brothel-keeper who testified in 1898 "that there were many companies... which brought women, girls, and babies from China to Singapore for sale every six weeks, and that they were sold 'like goods.'" There were even so-called "baby farms", places where infants and young girls were brought up and housed in preparation for a future as prostitutes. Women were not seen nor treated as human beings, but rather as lucrative products.
Women were not only measured in cash, but were also affected by and subjected to the financial constraints of others. In other words, saving money was more important than the women. Japanese women for example, were smuggled illegally to reduce transportation expenses. In the Dutch army of the Netherlands Indies (Indonesia), army officials supported "concubinage" because marriage cost more for the army.
Colonialism and trade opened up the world to the exchange of ideas and goods.
These "goods" or "products" included women and girls trafficked across nations for profit. With the advent of globalization, the dark underbelly of international trade has flourished. The rising number of prostitutes entering Western Europe for example is intimately connected with the tearing down of the Iron Curtain and the quicker transference of goods between European nations. Thai prostitution exploded hand-in-hand with its billion-dollar tourism industry.
Southeast Asia today is a region considered by many as hotbed for the illicit flesh trade, pornography, and sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS. Most prostitutes are now from the Southeast Asian countries, instead of from China and Japan, which, in a touch of historical irony, are where some of the patrons of prostitution are currently from. The colonial governments are also gone, but most problems regarding trafficking and prostitution remain. Girls as young as 12 are still being sold to work in brothels, government officials still do not know how to address the issue, and society still, as one writer says, "allows prostitution and profits from it, but officially refuses to acknowledge it."
Prostitution remains a business that treats prostitutes as merchandise or objects to be controlled, exploited for profit, and silenced. This is a view held not only by those who exploit them, but also by people who should be helping them. Thus like burning illicit drugs or crushing a mountain of pirated CDs, authorities when occasionally raiding prostitution dens, haul and punish the prostitutes while allowing the pimps, traffickers, and owners to slither away into the shadows. This is one reason why prostitution should not be legalized, because such an act would only legitimize the business of selling women and children, whereas what we should do is to recognize the plight of prostitutes, take action to alleviate their situation, and allow them to speak out regarding their condition, experiences and needs. Condemn prostitution. Condemn the business of trafficking. Condemn those who exploit women and children. But, be compassionate to those who are exploited.
(October 9, 2003 issue)
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