<![CDATA[ - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[ - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Crazydogggz: Now, now. Let's not go painting all Liberals with that paintbrush. I've known a few conservatives to spout off that moral relativity crap as well. Most liberals, like most human beings regardless of political bent I know, are disgusted by things like what's happening to those girls.

Pithlit

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Thalassa: I think you have a really excellent point here, especially in regards to the kind of stories about the "third world" that get posted on Jezebel. From what I've heard and read, India, in some ways, has a *better* record for women's rights than the US. It would be nice if this site would showcase some of the fantastic work being done by feminists from the global South or from Third World sites, or look at the ways in which women have and use power in place where they are usually presumed to be disenfranchised.

However, I don't think that expressing disgust over *this* story is necessarily a bad thing. Certainly many of the comments smack of "saving the brown woman," but at the same time, we are talking about a 13-year-old girl selling herself into prostitution. It's disturbing and NOT empowering. So...yeah. We definitely need more balance on Jezebel in terms of not being so "look how awesome the west is," but I don't think that means we cannot also decry the continued injustices of the world.

snarkhunting

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Thalassa:

Thanks for saying that. When the story about the teenage girl imprisoned and raped in Brazil broke out, and I'm Brazilian, the reactions were "OMG don't they have separate jails for females?" and no matter how much I said that indeed, we do, and that what happened to that girl was an orchestrated effort to torture her, not a normal thing that happens to everybody here, nobody believed me. Cause of course, it is the Third World, so we obviously have no laws.

Jan74

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Thalassa: Thank you for saying what I couldn't find words for.

KarmaChameleon

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Thalassa: What the fuck dude. There is a huge issue with poverty in India. The issues run deep, including cultural hatred of women (and this happens in MANY third world countries). Women in third world countries have less education, less rights and live often in poverty. I don't care if you are Indian or African. Women need rights and not the kind where their oppression through prostitution is legitimized as some sort of bull shit liberation. Give.me.a.break

goodcheapfun

]]> <![CDATA[]]> It's called poverty. Let's talk about how to solve that problem (education, opportunity, social expectations, etc.).

goodcheapfun

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I am astonished at the condescending, patronising tone of these comments. Also by the fact that nearly every India-specific story that you pick out has a negative aspect to it.

Do you do it to make you feel good about your smug First World selves? To feel relief that your life, no matter how dismal is not condemned to the drudgery of a Third World shithole?

Well I come from that shithole and I would be happy if you take your pity and condescension elsewhere. This is precisely why Indian feminists are so skeptical about Western feminists whose orientalist view of the world comes garbed in ostentatious pity and concern for those "poor brown women" who must be saved.

Do you know how many excellent Indian organizations work among Indian sex workers? How the prostitutes of Calcutta are some of the most HIV-free, organized and aware of their rights prostitutes in the world? And how they absolutely detested the Born Into Brothels film because it presented such a distorted picture of prostitution in India?

No, you don't, because you are ignorant about India (and that applies to every single Jezebel editor), but it doesn't stop you from mouthing off inanities about how you will "save Indian women". Fuck off, we don't need your saving.

Thalassa

]]> <![CDATA[]]> As someone with a cousin whose been in porn and currently prostitutes herself to support a drug habit (Yes, she'll tell you she came from a middle-class background, took ballet etc. but what she doesn't tell you is that she was adopted after being left abandoned in a house and peed her bed until she was 15 because she had PTSD) it really annoys me when people take every horror story and use it as an excuse to propose legalization. (The same is true for MANY people who have exited the trade, have family members in it etc. but the pro-legalization advocates always use any news about the abuses to push that agenda).

Legalization sucks lemons. There, I said it. Women deserve better options.

Legalization does NOT solve the problems. In fact, the Netherlands are finding many more developing and it makes it nearly impossible to fight trafficking since the onus is on the girl to prove she was coerced.
[www.radionetherlands.nl]

What I propose is the Swedish legislation which targets the johns - because without the demand, it wouldn't exist. We often gloss over this when we say "prostitution will always be with us" (use of the passive voice - as if it happens out of thin air). Sweden also helps the women find jobs, help with housing etc. They've had a great deal of success with this. The idea is that the men are not the ones financially disadvantaged in most of these cases, so they have more of the power, and thus they should be held responsible for their choices. We have similar laws against buying kidneys because we realize it'd open the door to exploitation.

A majority of johns are married or are in a relationship.
I think we know that to be true from what we know to be true of strip-club goers too.

Statistically, a majority of prostitutes have said they want to get out, or that they'd do other work if they could (prostitutionresearch.com). And almost all will tell you they don't want that life for their daughters. The Scarlet Harlot even admitted 95% of her friends want out.(genderberg.com - FAQ) So why are we clamouring to protect the minute percentage of over-represented,"freely choosing" prostitutes rights to sell their bodies, when a majority need other options but to whom we're just handing some condoms and a room with a rape button in it?

What other jobs require exit programs? People often compare prostituion to "any other degrading job" but do I need a program to exit McDonalds? no? why? If women are being abused in this trade, why do we take it at face value that they chose it? They choose it like a woman chooses to be abused by her husband, I guess. That doesn't erase the need to talk about it on a deeper level. We realize there's a lot of psychological/power complexities to the issue and just ending the discussion with "well she chose it" is irresponsible. Why would anyone "choose" to be abused? Does that claim not make you skeptical? And if they're not being abused, why legalize it and regulate it at all? Seems to be working fine, by those standards.

Let's try something different. [www.womenlobby.org]

katethegreat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @kroliosis: Hear hear. Well-put.

Bindarra

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Trashtastic Is BAAAACK: I hear ya. God, why isn't there a way to reach out to these and other girls across the world?

If a mother is willing to sell her 13 year-old as a prostitute, she would probably be willing to let her be adopted by a Westerner. Right?

Actually probably not as many as we think. The immediate reaction is one of nurture and protection but the reality of raising the child might be different. They would have, for example, limited communication skills until they learned the new language and a possibly screwed-up psyche from years of being raised for that life.

Not to mention the sickening fact that one would be taking away the parent's "retirement fund."

Still, why is it so much easier to buy a child for a night of sex than to offer her a better life?

JaneBadall

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @kroliosis: ZING!

roxanneismyalterego

]]> <![CDATA[]]> And the next Nita and the next and the next ad infinitum?

How about we get money and resources to the people that are working to stop the trade in humans? Instead of buying into the system and thus PARTICIPATING in trafficking or prostitution?

Solzica

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I'd do it myself but I totes don't have even half a grand in checking.

judgingnora

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Hey! What if we all created some sort of Jezebel fund, and then bought "the right" to these girls' virginity ourselves? So that way the family gets the money that they're going to get anyway, but this girl gets to keep her virginity. Can we please do that?

judgingnora

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Crazydogggz: The reason I didn't pursue a degree in anthropology was basically, as my best friend put it "because if you're an anthropologist you don't get to judge people." So, no, fuck it, I'll fucking judge. I'll judge freely BUT I'm not going to condemn the family that feeds itself by the only means available OR blankly state that prostitution at age 14 is worse than toiling under slave conditions in toxic environments, which is the basic "career choice" for the boys in these families.

Poverty sucks. But an understanding of poverty and cultural forces is a necessary thing, in my opinion. I'm not naive enough to think that the United States' view of what constitutes an appropriate age for sex or what constitutes an appropriate age for work of any kind is a view shared worldwide. Poverty sucks and poverty forms these worldviews.

We can sit from our high horses and judge these "heinous" parents because we can afford to do so. I'm in no way condoning these practices, but neither am I going to pretend that they come from some evil and sick society that we have somehow transcended.

nellicat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Crazydogggz: I meant to put his/her words "what's underage in one culture may not be in another culture" in quotes.

Crazydogggz

]]> <![CDATA[]]> ceejeemcbeegee: This is not about some shitbird looking for a marathon lovemaking session with a French contortionist. This is about the shitbird wanting to stick his dick into a female body that has not been 'contaminated' and thus rendered disgusting by previous sexual contact. In India and many other third world countries, a non-virginal unmarried woman is considered too filthy for any self-respecting man's cock.

Crazydogggz

]]> <![CDATA[]]> How is this not a massive human rights violation? It's as bad as anything happening anywhere else.

missdona

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Fucking hell.

SBJ

]]> <![CDATA[]]> nellicat: "Underage sex" is a social construct - what is "underage" in one culture may not be in another culture. The age of consent in India is 16. Now I don't know if you're condoning this bullshit like many liberals who believe it is wrong to judge the practices of another culture, period. No matter how heinous those practices might be. Anyway I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Crazydogggz

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I wish there were a practical way to punish the real criminals here - the bastards who would buy a teenager's virginity.

syneblue

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Well, fuck.

amy1971

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: Sex with a virgin means that they don't have to bother with a condom cos there is no risk of contracting an STD such as syphilis or hiv. It is a sign of their status that they can afford a virgin. I don't think they are looking for sophisticated sex play - I think they are after a quiet subservient little women who is going to make them feel like a God. Then he can go back to his nice comfy middle class life, satisfied, smug and disease free.

Curlygurl

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @thisgirlangie: agreed

nothanks

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Whenever I read an article like this, I wish there were links at the end saying "click here to donate money to these survivors" or "click here to sign a petition" -- you know, action items so now that we all properly moved by this human tragedy, we can act promptly on it.

thisgirlangie

]]> <![CDATA[]]> This literally makes me want to cry.

Bekanator

]]> <![CDATA[]]> CorreLola: Thank you! I always feel so helpless when I'm shown a problem without any idea of how to help.

murielmercurial

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Our Lady of the Massacre

]]> <![CDATA[]]> the red lips upset me so much ... ive been to india and i went to this amazing childrens charity which was like an after school club/clinic/babysitting service where most of the kids were children of prostitutes/drug addicts. I heard some horrible stories from the people that were in charge about HIV positive parents/children etc etc -

the thing that stayed with me most however were how happy and playfull the children were, all i wanted to do was cry for them and here they were laughing and playing like regular kids, made me ever grateful for the small problems in my life

The thought of any of those little girls being subjected to something like this makes soooo angry

nothanks

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @stoprobbers: " Using the example of The Netherlands (which does so many things better than us), prositution is an industry which is entered into only by adults, completely voluntarily"

That isn't entirely true. Women are still trafficked from other countries and forced into the trade. Especially the streetwalkers.

goldenmonkey

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @dayglo: i don't know. 18 isn't a magic number, and nita's reality is very specific to her and her situation.

its frustrating, mind-numbing and overwhelming when faced with the presence of people with so little self-agency that what is to us abhorrent behavior is their only option. i think the best course of action is somewhere between the blind idealism of "let's raise some money" and the cynical "i've seen the documentary and even if you put them in school they'll still go back to the sex trade because its all they know" ... but where that catalytic position exists is hard to pinpoint.

slickhop

]]> <![CDATA[]]> gingerkhan: "But still, so many girls and women fall through the cracks." Yes, but India does not have cracks. It has chasms that neither the Indians nor American investors want anyone to see, and that American New Agey liberals don't want to acknowledge.

Crazydogggz

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Maybe celebs should consider adopting 13 year olds being sold as sex slaves instead of cute little babies.

kroliosis

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Artful Slinger: And that attitude makes my conservative ass ask why must we compare different versions of Hell? One person's intense suffering does not negate another's.

Crazydogggz

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I know I don't understand the ideas or the culture behind this lifestyle... but regardless, it still hurts my heart.

KitKatC

]]> <![CDATA[]]> It is her own "choice", because, she giggled, "I won't have to do any housework."

~sigh~

What can you say?

Sounds like lots of teenage girls in the U.S. talking about sex-related jobs - stripping, pornography...

Young people are not old enough to make these decisions. They do not have the capacity to understand the long term consequences of their actions. That is why we make them wait until they are 18 'round here.

dayglo

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @JennaW: Yes. Kristof has been in touch with numerous organizations working to end child prostitution and includes information about them in many of his columns, although I think he's mostly written about this issue in South East Asian countries.

CorreLola

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @murielmercurial: There are a number of organizations:

[www.ecpat.net]

[www.rescuefoundation.net]

[www.catwinternational.org]

CorreLola

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @zivah: Most of those women are trafficked as you said. They come from Eastern Europe generally, which has the largest rate of trafficked women in the world, and they are basically forced into prostitution. Teens are very valuable in that industry.

This is so sad and I really don't know what to say. To see women choosing this sort profession over housework and really getting nothing for it. It is interesting that the older sisters in the story are the financial backbone of the family and yet still want something different for their daughters. The culture gap between the western world and them is surprising but I still think that buying children's virginity to be a sick practice.

dummyfakeroller

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Nicholas Kristof of the NYT has done a lot of work on this subject, including at one point doing what one commenter above suggests and buying out the contracts of a couple of girls.

It didn't work out the way one would hope. I recommend his columns on this subject to anyone wanting more insight on the subject.

JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Please, please watch Born Into Brothels before you say foolish things about how you want to adopt the children and take them away so you can protect them.

I know these things are said with the purest of intentions, but the families aof these children love them very, very much. It's heartbreaking to watch the film, how hard the filmmaker works to give the children of prostitutes a chance to avoid that life. It isn't simple at all.

Dear Blond Diary

]]> <![CDATA[]]> This makes me really hate men. If there were no customers for evil such as this, it would stop.

PantyWaist

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @JudyBolton: Stop harshing on the virgins! @ceejeemcbeegee: I don't disagree with the second half of your comment, but ugh. If sex with a virgin is a waste of time, how is a woman ever going to lose it? (I mean a woman. Not a little girl like this one.)

snarkhunting

]]> <![CDATA[]]> murielmercurial

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Ugh I want to grab her, wipe that lipstick off and bring her home with me!

kaylinda

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ceejeemcbeegee: Rape is a legal concept - apparently it is not rape because it is a consensual business transaction: money for sex. The idea of consent being age-based is also a social and legal construct. The age of consent is whatevever a society says it is.

"Underage sex" is a social construct - what is "underage" in one culture may not be in another culture.

nellicat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @stoprobbers: You said, "the women in Holland who work as prostitutes seem, generally, to be happy and healthy, raising real families and having husbands and kids and wide social circles."

I strongly disagree. The large majority of women in the Netherlands who work in prostitution are foreigners, mostly without papers. There is a huge problem of trafficking. I'm not necessarily opposed to prostitution entirely, but I would be wary of painting legalization as a solution that produces happy whores. It just isn't that simple.

zivah

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Tick tock humanity you really have put yourself up for extinction with this crap.

sugarbear11

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Most (sane) men I know say sex with a virgin is just a waste of time. So this is about power (to "take" something) and control. How is this not rape? Because there is money involved?

ceejeemcbeegee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @JudyBolton: Are you trying to be funny? It didn't work.

nellicat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @stacyinbean: Thanks for this, I just ordered it from the library.

missbheave (is not convinced)

]]> <![CDATA[]]> (The link to Salon is a good interview with a journalist who just wrote a book on modern slaves)

Solzica

]]> <![CDATA[]]> While I understand the impulse to want to "buy" her so she can be safe from the trade...please don't support the organizations that buy people in order to "save" them. Not only does it actually fuel the trade in women (leading to an increase of trafficking), but buying someone out of prostitution or slavery, rarely means that they get to have a good life in the end. Most end up right back where they started.

[www.salon.com]

Solzica

]]> <![CDATA[]]> What is the obsession with virgins? Virgins suck!

JudyBolton

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @mocena: I think the bride's family has to pay the dowry to the husband--so marriage actually costs money.

missbheave (is not convinced)

]]> <![CDATA[]]> How can her mother let this happen?

@BlondeGrlz: that is such a great idea. However I am sure her asshat "father" would just pocket the money and put her right back out there.

missbheave (is not convinced)

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @NefariousNewt: @BlondeGrlz: Count me in. The first thing that went through my head when I read this is where can I place my bid. I'd happily donate the money so this poor girl could keep her virginity until it's her decision to give it up.

marin79

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @jemandtheholograms: I haven't seen this one, but there was a PBS doc on similar situations in China. Where fathers and mothers were selling their 9 year old daughters into prostitution for refrigerators and other things they couldn't afford for the family. It was heartbreaking to watch a girl ripped away from her family and sold to monsters, who then prostituted her to European businessmen (A LOT OF MEN!)and to watch her decline. This is why I always look at the sweatshop issue with a grain of salt. While torturing underage kids is terrible, I think if having to chose from sewing through their hands with knitting needles or selling their 9 year old bodies to strange men, I would prefer the knitting needles. All together, I would prefer these kids could just be kids - but thats not the situation in many other countries.

ArtfulSlingerBARACKED THE VOTE

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @November: word. it's not enough to express disgust and criticize the parents. we need to target the social and economic conditions which make the sale of women seem like a necessity.

kshenkshen

]]> <![CDATA[]]> i just want to take that beautiful young girl with me, and give her a good life here, let her keep her virginity as long as she wants and send her to school. she deserves so much more than a life like that. heartbreaking...

pinkyBella

]]> <![CDATA[]]> jeez, it's like pretty baby right to the letter o.O

astralgravy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ArmCandy: How can her parents let this happen? When you have NO money and NO chance of making money for a better life, you have to do what you can. It happens in America too. Maybe not in this form, but hustling to survive isn't unique to rural India.

Also, even if these families fell into money, they are of a lower caste and would never be accepted in India society.

November

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Nita is the name I may give my first daughter, so this makes me especially said.

Lymed

]]> <![CDATA[]]> One of the most depressing things to me about this article is that these men are willing to sleep with girls...emphasis on the fact that they are girls...who are so young. The article makes it appear to be middle class businessmen who are the main clients. I would normally consider this to be pedophilia...

SedateMe

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @NefariousNewt: I would totally support that

This is just heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. How can these monstrous men even bid on a 13-year old? How is that acceptable? How can their brothers go off and marry happily knowing that their sisters sold their bodies repeatedly day after day for less then $5 a pop for the privilege of them getting married? How can they live with that?? It's disgusting.

HoneyLush

]]> <![CDATA[]]> This could bother me more. It bothers me, but they seem to be oddly at peace with it (to a certain extent).

I get the feeling we're not hearing all of the story though for some reason...

winnie the pooh

]]> <![CDATA[]]> ...Running the risk of repeating myself, I still say:

Proof that there is no God.

MissAnthropy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @BlondeGrlz: i totally agree. the horrible depressing part is that prostitution is the best way for these girls to support their (huge, extended) families. they need better job opportunities!

kshenkshen

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @tragicallyunhip: "But in the villages around Bharatpur there is a shortage of girls to marry, and the custom is for the boy's family to pay the girl's family a large lump sum before the wedding can take place."
Which makes this whole thing seem even weirder.

Also, one of the older sisters of this girl has a daughter and says she will not let her go into the trade because it's not a good life- which is great- but she's still happy to let her 13 y.o. sister do it? :(

vegemitekid

]]> <![CDATA[]]> This is exactly like Pretty Baby, only not a movie and ONE MILLION TIMES WORSE.

aubonpam

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @roxanneismyalterego: three cheers for dr. yunus!
the grameen bank/micro-finance is such a great system...i really hope good people keep running those institutions.

alloutofnice

]]> <![CDATA[]]> the odd thing about the story is the mixed feelings of the older prostitutes - some are proud of how they are able to take care of their family and others don't want their children to lead this kind of life.

even sadder is that these kids are born into these families and born into this circumstance with no real choice in the matter.

the posters of the women in those rooms are beyond creepy - bollywood stars and the like.

rednrowdy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @lms11: Bullshit.

CorreLola

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I've been to that town. It's incredibly poor. All of India is incredibly poor. There is no other solution...

lms11

]]> <![CDATA[]]> 12000 Rupees not dollars, right? So it actually comes out to like $300.

katieb: in charge of the war on the poor.

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I know this stuff should make me very upset (and it does), but after working with an international women's rights organization for a year, I grew far too used to this kind of story. Even watching a documentary last night about how women in Algeria aren't allowed to leave their homes to go grocery shopping and grow up used to being "disciplined" by their brothers and fathers for bringing potential dishonor to their parents, I wasn't shocked. I'm still outraged, though. The patriarchy blows.

CorreLola

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I'm actually pretty sure I've seen this place. Last year I went to India. Our group was traveling from Jaipur to Agraby bus and about an hour before we entered Agra our guide told us we should look to the left because there was a big attraction to be seen. He then laughed and said there were prostitutes here.

What I saw were girls wearing lots of make-up, standing on the side of the road. I only catched a glimps, because the bus was moving fast, but I could see that some of the girls couldn't have been older than 14. The guide thought he had been very funny, but the image of those girls didn't leave my mind.

Interesting to read the story behind this place. I'm sad for the girls, but knowing some of the poverty in this area I can say they have know other option.

Mariette

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @kshenkshen: I think the article presents it as a career choice, like these women chose to be dentists or teachers. In reality, it was probably a lack of choice that led them to prostitution. Good for them for making it work and supporting their families, but really, who can put a price on a 13 year old's virginity?

BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Makes my IRS issues seem minimal...

angryblackgurl

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @I.Can. Haz.Black.Editors?: @tragicallyunhip: I think the saddest part was how the mother felt so useless (and was treated that way too) because she was no longer wanted or able to prostitute herself, and had to send the daughters out to do it. It's amazing what they went through.

stacyinbean

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Prostitution is depressing. Child prostitution is depressing. But seriously? WEEKS? Some pervent can keep her for WEEKS. This is human bondage to a T.

zivah

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @stoprobbers:

The problem is, even in countries where the sex trade is highly regulated, you will have an underground, illegal trade.

PetiteGal

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Oh microfinance, you have the power to save us all! Praise Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank!

[en.wikipedia.org]

roxanneismyalterego

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @effeteaesthete: According to the article, the $1,200 is spent on a huge party, because it it considered unlucky to keep the money from your first time.

BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!

]]> <![CDATA[]]> stacyinbean: I was just going to recommend that book! The author did a great job of getting at the personal lives and reasons for decisions. I still think about a few of the people mentioned (especially the youngest daughter).

AnnoyingFemaleLeadVoiceover

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @tragicallyunhip: Thanks. :) I felt like I was probably missing something rather large.

mocena

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @stacyinbean: you beat me to it!
i took that down to the beach last summer...not exactly beach reading, but a great book none-the-less

alloutofnice

]]> <![CDATA[]]> not condoning child prostitution by any means, but this part of the article was really really interesting:

"Two of her sisters, Ritu, 35, and Manju, 25, have built one of the few stone houses in their village, for which they paid the equivalent of £14,600, and are proud of their success. "There was a lot of poverty, we had nothing to eat," said Manju. "What you see now has come with hard work." They support 50 family members - 35 children and 15 adults."

kshenkshen

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @stoprobbers: oh, that documentary is heartbreaking. first, the documentary maker is able to get most of the boys and girls into schools, and then, most of them decide to leave. whether they left on their volition, or if their families forced them to go, it's equally tragic.

libertine17

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Trashtastic Is BAAAACK: @BlondeGrlz: That's it. I want to start a foundation, with the goal of rescuing these girls. No young girl should ever have to live like this. We'd make an honest attempt to buy the family out and keep the girl(s) safe, and if that didn't work, we'd go paramilitary on their asses.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Officially the most depressing morning ever!

LeggoMyEggo

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @mocena:they don't marry because they are from a lower class family and cannot afford it, the family has blown it's wad on the first daughter's marriage, the family needs money NOW, or any other number of equally depressing options.

[www.amazon.com]
that's a great book about the trade of women in pakistan/indian

alloutofnice

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I am not sure that marriage is so much better than prostitution for these girls, considering that wives can be virtually enslaved by their husband's family. It's sad all around. At least take the $1200 and go to school! I don't have a problem with informed adults prostituting themselves, but education opens up so many more options. Ugh.

effeteaesthete

]]> <![CDATA[]]> meg9

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Why do I want to go all "Lorena Bobbit" on the ass(es) of the men who perpetuate this barbarism? I'd also like to make the parents take a long walk off a short pier!

langtry

]]> <![CDATA[]]> katastic

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Oh honey, I will adopt you. This is so wrong and sad.

Trashtastic is proud to be an American!!!!

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Ugh. And the AIDS rate in India. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

scbelle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @jemandtheholograms: Happy, or resigned to the fact she has little choice. It also probably looks like a game to her young eyes, but her prettiness value will be quickly worn away.

Leiakat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @BlondeGrlz: That would be "one." What of the others? The ones who aren't featured in an international story?

nellicat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I recently read a really good book about something quite similar, I believe it was called "The Dancing Girls of Lahore." They often send their daughters off to richer countries like UAE or Kuwait to lose their virginity to princes for a few thousand dollars. It's heartbreaking.

[www.amazon.com]

stacyinbean

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Can we raise the $1,200? Seriously, I have a check with her name on it if it means she can keep her virginity as long as she wants.

BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Poverty sucks. Poverty makes people sell their children into slavery of all kinds, including sexual slavery. I am not sure that sexual slavery is necessarily better or worse than other kinds of slavery. Is the girl who is forced to have sex with strangers better or worse off than the boy who is forced to work back-breaking hours amid toxins? Poverty sucks.

nellicat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Ack. That article was really disheartening. I'd go hide in my bed if I could, but I'm at work.

cate3710

]]> <![CDATA[]]> caste-based prostitution? Come on India, get it together.

katieb: in charge of the war on the poor.

]]> <![CDATA[]]> You know, I wasn't going to comment further, but something occured to me and I think it's worth saying:

I don't actually have a problem with prostitution. Prostitution is among the oldest industries in human history, and it has the potential to be both a humane (at least) and profitable trade. Using the example of The Netherlands (which does so many things better than us), prositution is an industry which is entered into only by adults, completely voluntarily, and which comes with the same kind of benefits package as a more traditional job -- health and dental insurance, state-covered regular STD testing and gynocological appointments, income taxes and tax refunds, etc. etc. The women in Holland who work as prostitutes seem, generally, to be happy and healthy, raising real families and having husbands and kids and wide social circles.

Things like that make me adamant that if countries were more accepting of their sex trades, great strides could be made in the treatment and lives of the women who are the core of the industry.

Of course, that kind of argument has no application here. These are young girls, with no other options, essentially being sold into a sex trade that they have little to no choice but to participate in. It's appalling. I have no idea how to solve a problem like this, other than to say that if we can just stop denying the prevalence of the sex trade around the world, perhaps we can begin to improve it.

That said, India is a rough, rough place to be young and poor.

stoprobbers

]]> <![CDATA[]]> In reading the article, I don't understand why these girls go into prostitution instead of marrying. It would seem that marrying would also get a large lump sum of money. Am I missing something? Help!

mocena

]]> <![CDATA[]]> :::cries:::

bitchyolympian

]]> <![CDATA[]]> AnnoyingFemaleLeadVoiceover

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Captain_Morgan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> i find it more disturbing that this is considered a good choice and she's "happy" about it.

@ArmCandy: i love mall madness

jemandtheholograms

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Has anyone seen this documentary about this subject?

ExtensionOfBob

]]> <![CDATA[]]> It is depressing. But honestly, things are getting better in India - more women working at offices, getting paid the same as men, waiting to get married, and more sex education. But still, so many girls and women fall through the cracks.

gingerkhan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> 13 is to young to sell yourself. It's too young to be having sex period.

Erinjb

]]> <![CDATA[]]> thank you, i was feeling crappy becuase my apt sucks and my bathtub isn't running....how pitiful my problems seems.

tokenblackgirl

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Oh, it gets worse. They make less than $5 for anytime after the first. And its considered unlucky to keep the big bucks from the first time, so they spend it on a party? oh, oh, oh.

scbelle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> A heart weeps... a soul cries... another flower dies.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[]]> ...and once again I can count on Jezebel for the pre-noon stomach punch to my soul.

telecomic the thoughtful red panda

]]> <![CDATA[]]> How is this legal? How can her parents let this happen? How can the journalist refrain from adopting her, taking her home and playing Mall Madness?

ArmCandy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Damn and I was working on not being bitter today.

Philthyist

]]> <![CDATA[]]> This is a different p.o.v. (and an earlier one (as in, an earlier part of their lives)) of the community addressed in "Born Into Brothels." If you haven't seen it, you should -- it's an excellent documentary.

stoprobbers

]]> <![CDATA[]]> These are the stories that make my liberal ass say "Sweat shops aren't so bad, are they?"

ArtfulSlingerBARACKED THE VOTE

]]> <![CDATA[]]> horrible.

kgibbs

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Oh, my heart aches.

scbelle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Why is it 2008 and this still happens?

dontbogartthewine

]]>