Continuing research on 'Sordid Lives'

I would like to share with you some of the powerful sites and articles that I am finding as I continue my research into this appalling travesty of Human Rights.

The Devastating Effects of “Sex Tourism” on Cultures

'One of the greatest destroyers of cultures today is so called “Sex Tourism” – the exploitation of sex as a tourist commodity. “Sex Tourism” targets women, children, and adolescents (boys and girls) in direct relation to the degree of poverty of the victims. Its impact is psychological, emotional, moral, and causes physical damage to the victims, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, loss of childhood, and often victims are ostracized by their families and communities.

Sex tourists come from the United States, Canada, Germany, and other European countries. They are people, mostly men, who go on vacation in order to have repeated sexual contact with the local population. They go to a place where they are unknown and can behave in a way that friends and neighbors back home would find unacceptable. They even convince themselves that they are helping the victims because they give them money.'

Read more at this website.

The following video clip is from a PBS broadcast of a one-hour special entitled ' Child Brides, Stolen Lives'.It was shown last Friday 12th October 2007.

The section on Guatemala vividly illustrates the self esteem issues that the women here face.

As Marta Julia Ruiz, the Guatemalan spokeswoman for The Population Council puts it- "I can't choose something if I have no options to choose from."





This excerpt is from an article that appeared in The Washington Post

"The sexual exploitation of girls and boys, largely by American men, has reached alarming proportions in Central America, according to children's rights advocates who say the region is now a priority in their struggle against child prostitution and pornography.

A major reason for growth in the Central American child sex business, child rights advocates say, is that traditional destinations such as Thailand and the Philippines have cut into the sex tourism trade over the last two years by enacting public awareness campaigns, stricter laws and enforcement measures."

There are NO excuses for commoditising women, for taking advantage of their lack of choices, for their poverty.