Cambodia’s rigorous anti-trafficking campaign saves hundreds of women from selling their bodies every night. The pimps are arrested, and the women, with their children, living in crowded rooms in the back of the "parlor" are rescued and given new careers. Everything is resolved now, right? Not really -- we shouldn’t be too quick to assume. Once in police custody, sex traffickers are given two choices -- accept training by the re-education department for a new career, or remain in custody indefinitely. Susceptible to abuse by corrupt police, most women choose retraining, almost always for Cambodia’s booming garment industry, sewing pieces for brands like H&M, Old Navy, and Benetton. The sad irony about the rescue program is that most of the sex workers were not victims of trafficking. Although authorities claim that they have rescued thousands of women from sex work for what seems like better jobs, many of these women did not want to be rescued in the first place. That says something about the alternative, seemingly innocuous task of sewing. For now, women are choosing prostitution over garment work, and that alone paints a very stark picture at what the reality for Cambodia’s girls and women might be.
4 Comments
Jake
9/18/2016 08:46:07 pm
What a predicament. Women would rather sell their bodies indefinitely than create fashion for our everyday use. Woman are VOLUNTARILY entering the sex scene. Have we not an eye for these problems? I am now even more committed to tracking where my clothes are really coming from, and I will not support brands that indulge in human exploitation.
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Adira Kruayatidee
9/18/2016 09:52:46 pm
It is such bs that this issue is hidden behind things like "oo it's so cute and only $20!" Women should not have to chose between selling their bodies and being "rescued" to work in toiling conditions. But no kidding they would rather become prostitutes over garment workers so that they can afford basic goods should as shelter, food, and medicine. Exploitation of workers must come to an end in order to prevent women from resorting to prostitution.
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Rachel De Guzman
9/30/2016 05:02:13 pm
It's so interesting to see how much pain and struggle are behind the common brands we wear. It reaches such an extent where women are willing to rather sell their bodies than subject themselves to this industry which to us is nothing but a second thought tht we don't consider when we purchase these clothes.
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Robby
10/14/2016 01:40:49 pm
This is a hideous predicament. I remember watching a documentary that pushed back against claims that women work in the prostitution or porn industry by pure self choice--pointing to the social conditions and lack of opportunity that need to be present for someone to "choose" one of these professions. In Cambodia, it seems like a similar scenario, but multiplied by 100. I am guessing that the country decided to crack down on sex trafficking in order to move these women into another form of slavery, one which the government could make more money from.
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