i went off on the deep end pontificating the poignancy of the lyrics of a pop song, namely “bad romance” by lady gaga on my other blog. the song itself has a catchy beat, but i don’t care much for the music video as it romanticizes (unintentionally, i presume/hope) prostitution (the forced kind?).
the reality is that there’s nothing romantic about being trafficked for sexual exploitation; forced prostitution simply is rape for profit. matt snyder, formerly of the marketing team but now leading one of the teams of the first-ever human trafficking focused world race wrote this post:
My friend, Mark, is currently serving on the mission field in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We were chatting online and he sent me a link to a blog that one of his friends from town wrote. It’s about the harsh reality of massage parlors.I’ll spare you the details because I would rather you read it yourself, but he shares the story of a girl being sold for sex right in front of him. Then he goes on to tell about the detrimental effect it had on the other women in the massage parlor…
i went ahead and read all of the mark’s friend’s blog post. this is how it begins:
Not long ago, my back ached, my side was sore (from being pummelled by a kickboxer – but that’s another story) and basically, I needed a massage. However, it was getting late and the reputable massage parlour I frequented was closed. Outside the next parlour a lady sat, calling “Maaaaaaaaasaaaaaaaaaaaaage” to all passersby. Just her strident voice was off-putting, but it was open still and I was desperate.
and so the evening unfolds. he learns a great deal about the masseuse, who later asks him, point blank:
“Why is it ten men talk with me, but only two, three, want to do something with me, eight with her?… the man stop and say they cannot with me. They say I am nice girl. I talk with them. What is wrong with me?”
What a question! So I sat down and tried to come up with something in Thai.“Pi, you are beautiful, too but I think it has something to do with spirit inside the heart.” My Thai was very faltering at the part about spirit because I haven’t really learnt abstract religious words like that, so I’m really not sure she understood. She did catch the part about heart though, “Yes, it hurt my heart when they not go with me, I feel bad.”There is one word that catches this whole feeling in Thai and so I said it, “Noi jai, right?”“Noi jai” literally means “little heart,” or to be made to feel small and worthless.She was so eager in agreement, “Yes, yes, noi jai a lot! Everyday pain…”“Then why don’t you leave and find other work?”“I can earn much money here, I have two daughters to take care of and my boyfriend is dead. Elsewhere I earn 6,500 [baht] in one month, here I can make 8,000 baht in ten days. But I have been working here same time as other girl, one month only and she make so much more money.”
that is unacceptable in so many ways it boggles my mind. this woman’s heart is worth waaaay more than 24,000 baht/month for her dignity and worth to be reduced to nearly nothing. those men have done nothing to deserve “going with” here – and she shouldn’t feel insecure or guilty for that!
here’s what matt said:
The lust of man provokes attacks on women, on their beauty and on their minds… and its effects transcend all cultural boundaries.All women want to feel beautiful. And when we pervert the source of where true beauty comes from, it can confuse and kill the mind of a woman, of a daughter, of a mother, of a sister… of a host of heirs to a kingdom.
i am so glad that these men are fighting valiantly against human trafficking.
we, the world race, want to send people out this fall to engage in the battle for justice. you can join the fight with your words – write letters to bring hope. and if you wanna get out there, on the battlefield, you can do that, too. click here to start your letter and to learn more about the fall 2011 trafficking world race.
let’s get radical – at the root – about valentine’s day.
