Women & Sexual Slavery

Sexual slavery typically includes practices such as forced prostitution, single owner sexual slavery, ritual slavery (associated with some religious practices). This should not be confused with the terms "sex slave" or "consensual sexual slavery" used in bondage and BDSM circles to refer to mutual agreements between sexual partners. My post is about unwilling slavery.

Forced prostitution is one of the most prevalent forms of sexual slavery and is directed at immigrants to the West and certain Asian countries. Sex trafficking and human trafficking means that the "owners"/traffickers of these girls/women will confisicate passports, use threats, physical force and even go as far as force-feeding them drugs in order to make them completely dependent.

In America, the INS constantly raids and searches massage parlors suspected of offering indentured or enslaved women for prostitution. The cities with the highest incidents are: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, New orleans, New York and Atlanta.

Women in several cases have told investigators about being beaten, raped, burned with cigarettes and ordered to have sex with hundreds of men to work off transportation "fees" of up to $60,000.

The smuggling of prostitutes to the US is part of a booming sex industry that is fueled both by women seeking to escape poor or repressive countries and by an insatiable demand for their service.

Millions of women have been sold worldwide since the 70s. Southeast Asia, Latin America and the former Soviet Union are the main sources of women bound for brothels in America, Amsterdam and Japan. Once these women reach the target country, they are typically rotated from city to city to evade law enforcement, keep the women disoriented and give clients fresh faces.

One emancipated woman from Houston's Bangkok Spa said in order to pay off a $15,000 fee, she was told, she would have to have sex with over 500 men at $93 each, for 45 minutes per man and 10 men a day.

It has also become profitable for families to sell their women and girls. Some women are falsely told they are bound for legitimate jobs in restaurants, garment shops or homes but end up in brothels under inhuman conditions.

Sexual slavery exists worldwide:

In Africa, there are reports of this practice in Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Northern Uganda, Congo, Niger and Mauritania. In Zimbabwe, the government is believed to train its youth militia - the Border Geziyouth in the use of rape as a tactic. In Ghana, Togo and Benin, a form of religious servitude keeps thousands of girls and women in traditional shrines against their will forcing them to act as "wives of the gods". The shrine priests perform the sexual function in the place of the gods. This is similar to the devadasi system in India. In Nigeria, most of the victims come from Edo State with Benin City as the main source of women trafficked for prostitution.

Iran, Bangladesh, Afghanistan have some reports of trafficking. Israel & Turkey also have a significant sex trade - mostly involving women from Eastern Europe.

This post barely scatches the surface of this issue. For more information, check out any of these organizations:

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women: www.catwinternational.org
Sanlaap Organization: www.sanlaap.org
Coalition To Abolish Slavery & Trafficking: www.castla.org
Polaris: www.polarisproject.org
Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org
Every Child Ministries: www.ecmafrica.org