Cambodi Stealing The Innocence Of Children

Stealing the innocence of children

Child abuse seems like something everyone should be against, and in a perfect world, this would not be an issue. We should all agree children need protection and it should be everyone’s responsibility to protect and defend children around the world. This week I watched a documentary called “Cambodia-The Virginity Trade”. It made me sick to realize how the people that are supposed to protect children are the same ones that create and condone the abuse. The film follows multiple children around Cambodia. In their stories, they reveal how their relatives or family friends sell their virginity, or trick them into losing their virginity to older man. It also interviews the “buyers," and their reasons to buy these child’s virginities. The way children, describe what they go

through is heartbreaking, specially when the way they lose their virginity defines them for the following years.

When we think child prostitution, many of us think of slave children forced to perform sexual favors against their will. While this may be true to some of the children, the reality why children engage in prostitution is different for others. Virginity is perceived as a very valuable thing, and when a girls looses its virginity, can be perceived as shameful to the girl and her family (Watson, 2009 min 1:48). As such, desperate people may see virginity as a commodity, while others see virginity as a way to personal enhancements. Many man in Cambodia believe if they have sex with a virgin girl, it will make them look younger, provide good luck, and even “light skinned” (Watson, 2009 min 16:03). While this assertions are baseless, the ignorance of these men allows for an increase of a demand of virgin

girls. As the demand increases, the age these girls keeps decreasing. Once their virginity is taken, their “value” decreases and are no longer seen as potential wives. This is one of the many ways girls get involved in prostitution (Watson, 2009 min 26:30). These girls are not only robbed of their childhood and innocence, but also placed on a dangerous track where their lives are at risk. Sex with multiple partners in itself has the risk of sexual transmitted diseases (STD); however these girls are at higher risk of getting infected with the most dangerous STD’s; the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and even acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Cambodia has one of the highest rates of HIV among South Asia, estimating that up to 50% of sex workers are HIV positive (Watson, 2009 51:40). These are alarming figures in themselves. Abusers are not only infecting the population, robbing children of their health and lives.
As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine my child in such conditions. This thought alone makes me sick. However, some Cambodian parents seems so desperate they are willing to sell their children and/or children’s virginity for a couple of dollars. Whether is from baseless beliefs of young looks or pure lust, we should not place a child in harms way. As adults it should be our job to protect the younger generations from these dangers, specially if their own family members are the ones that are placing them in threatening ways. Overall, this film was a real revelation children are not always safe, and we should encourage their safety, regardless where they are, and their financial situation.