Blog post #11

The next 100 pages of my book focused a lot of the route of the abuse women receive. In many countries, women are viewed as inherently inferior. They are not considered professionals, and are labeled as incapable of achieving anything past  having children and taking care of the household. Any woman who practices otherwise is subject to physical punishment and harassment. A women is taught to obey EVERYTHING a man says, no matter  how obscene or unreasonable. She belongs to her father, or her husband. She shares an equivalent status as a slave. Even the slightest bit of hesitation to obey a mans command leads to excessive beatings. If a woman's performance is less than satisfactory in any field she receives the same punishment. So, if a woman does not behave accordingly, she faces a life of hell, or sometimes, no life at all. In rare cases, like women who run brothels, a women can adopts a man roll. Even though she knows how it feels to be abused, she abuses her fellow women. They are expected to treat her as they would treat a man. In our culture, if an adult asks something of us, it is not necessarily viewed as the largest sign of disrespect possible to not immediately do what is asked of us. If my parents wanted something of me that I found unreasonable, I might try to negotiate and compromise with them. Such behavior is equivalent to near murder is other countries. As a woman, you do what you are told. So, when a woman is kidnapped and forced into prostitution, and there are multiple adults telling her to please a client, sometimes she sees no alternative to complying. It is how she is raised. She has never, ever questioned an adult before. It simply is not an option. It is in her nature to do what they request of  her. She knows the consequences of disobeying. Just as a man sees her as inferior, she sees herself as this way. In brothels, women are treated like complete garbage, and are constantly regarded as nothing more than such. She begins to feel this way. This is how many, many women end up stuck in brothels their entire life. They don't know how not to follow orders they are given. They believe they aren't good for anything else but pleasing clients. It is a deadly, unbreakable cycle that the gender norms of society has created and continues to breed.

Blog Post #10

The next 100 pages in Half the Sky really shaped my senior paper. At first, I was unsure what I was going to write about. I had a lot to say about the issue, but I needed structure, and a thesis. After reading the next section of the book, I got that. The book continued to follow a similar format as the first part; a personal story about a woman the author, Nick encounters on his journey basically across the world, followed by a certain issue associated with sex trafficking explained, and then a potential solution presented. In this section, the author focused a lot on the governments of the countries he visited. He explained in great detail how they work, why they work that way, the fatal flaws that result from them. He even went as far as to confront some government officials in person. Every government in the countries he traveled to was different in some ways from the next, but in general, they were very, very similar. They were all run by a corrupt dictator who only had his own interest in mind. Past the dictator, everything in the government was corrupt, even down to the police officers. It is an endless cycle that centers on somebody bribing somebody else. Brothel owners pay police officers who in tern pay a higher power and so on and so on to keep the brothels safe. Everybody is profiting by the actual girls involved, and nobody cares about them. I definitely want to write about this in my paper. Like Nick did, I want to address and identify the issues in the governments where sex trafficking is the worst. I want to share some of the worst stories I have read about trafficking. I then want to present solutions and possible interventions the western world could stage, because as of now, not much is being done at all. 

Bibliography

I chose to read two books. The first book I read was The Road to Lost Innocence. It told the story of Solmay Mam, a Cambodian girl who was kidnapped and sold into prostitution at an extremely young age. She then went on to escape from her oppressors, and begin a very successful foundation to help girls who were in similar situations to herself. It opened my eyes immensely to the world of sex trafficking and its severity. Prior to reading this book, I knew very little about the industry. After reading this, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of the general problems and endless cycles associated with sex trafficking.

The second book I am reading is Half the Sky. It is about a man who travels to various countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and India to experience sex trafficking first hand. He meets dozens of women who are involved in the industry, and shares their inspirational stories. A large portion of his book is also disecting and explaining in great detail why human sex trafficking happens, why it isn't stopped, and what can be done to stop it. He also talks a lot about the governments in such countries, who prove to be the root of the problem. This is the exact topic I want to write my paper on, so the book could not be more perfect.

For my other two sources, I am choosing to watch two movies. The first is a documentary film called The Day My God Died and "puts a human face on this most inhuman of contemporary issues." It takes the viewer into a handful of countries, "into the shadowy, multi-billion dollar world of sex trafficking." I think it will be very, very educational for me. I have only read about the horrors, but have not seen any images or videos of them. I don't know what the brothels look like, or the exact conditions the girls are kept in. I feel like it will definitely give the issue more meaning to me when I can see actual girls and brothels, instead of just imagining them in my mind. The next movie I am watching is entitled Red Light. It "focuses on the personal stories of young Cambodian victims and two remarkable advocates for change: grass-roots activist Somaly Mam and politician Mu Sochua. REDLIGHT follows the plight of several current and former child sex slaves." Watching this movie will also help bring personal meaning to the cause for me. I read Somaly Mam's story, and I think watching her talk about her experiences will really bring the story full circle for me. I think seeing these powerful women will have a profound effect on me and my view of the issue. Things always touch me more deeply when they unfold in front of my eyes.