A Change of Guard

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Saturday 9 October 2010

Chasing johns, not just pedophiles [in Cambodia]

Youngbee Kim

Local NGO and the government authorities surprised when hearing the discovery of the new research study by ECPAT-Cambodia. The research survey on former child sex workers and johns in Cambodia showed that pedophilia is no longer the problem with Western tourists alone nor a matter of sexual exploitation of children alone. In fact, the former child sex workers answered that vast majority of johns had been local Cambodian men as well as johns, not pedophiles, visiting brothels. However, though the study is focus on the capital city of Cambodia, recent cases show that such trends are becoming a cross-cultural hurdle that advocates need to fight to abolish sex trafficking around the world.

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN CAMBODIA

http://www.ecpatcambodia.org/documents/Research_on_Local_Demand_for_Comm... " The study points out a few environmental causes that promote commercial child sexual exploitation by local Cambodian men. The first factor is the inequality of men and women deeply ingrained in Cambodian culture. Though the government authority showed much effort into improving the lower status of women, many Cambodians continues to believe the adage that "men are gold and women are cloth." Therefore, culturally, it is natural for men to have multiple partners and visit prostitutes when women, upon losing their virginity, become "spoiled goods." [1] Second, sex with a virgin is believed to "be having a rejuvenating and purifying effect." Furthermore, Cambodian men believe that sex with a young teenage girl gives them more power. Hence, many wealthy and powerful Cambodian men involve in virginity trade. Third, because sex is such a tabooed subject in the culture, Cambodian schools provide no sex education. Even a married couple often avoid discussing their sexual relationship because sex is such a sensitive topic in the culture. Therefore, increasing number of young Cambodians rather rely on pornography to learn about sexual relations with their partners, which objectifies women and even promote violence against them.

CHASE JOHNS, NOT JUST PEDOPHILES

The research also indicates that johns who commercially sexually exploit children are not limited to pedophiles alone. Because many johns prefer younger women to older ones, they, incidentally, end up prostituting and exploiting children. But, such trend is cross-cultural. Take Lawrence Taylor case for example. Taylor looked for a young pretty woman to sleep with, not a 16 year old per se. Yet, whether he knew of the victim's age or not, he ended up sexually exploiting a child. And pimps knows that younger the prostituted child is, better the sex sells. Hence, the Taylor case shows that unless police does not crackdown all johns, pedophilia as well as sexual abuse of women will not end anywhere around the world.

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