Beck,M., Davies, A., McKenzie, N. & Reilly,T.
(10/10/2013). Legal brothels linked to international sex trafficking rings, The
Sydney Morning Herald.
This article discusses the issue of human trafficking to Australia for
people to be forced to work in the sex trade, in legal brothels. The syndicate
that organises the trafficking lies to Asian women, telling them they will come
to Australia to study and instead being put into a brothel and forced to work
as sex slaves. The article says that “state and local authorities responsible
for approving legal brothels have taken no action, despite court documents in
August detailing federal police allegations of the brothels' - or their
managers' - involvement in organised crime.” Sex trafficking is a problem all
around the world and is one of the cruellest things one person can do to
another. These women (and sometimes children) are placed in a position they can
never get out of, a sort of limbo on Earth; their basic human rights are
stripped from them. “In witness statements to a Melbourne court hearing in
August, two Chinese women alleged they were forced to engage in unsafe sex
practices in these legal brothels and work up to seven days a week, servicing dozens
of men. Every dollar they earned was allegedly returned to the syndicate that
sent them from Asia to Australia."I did not know how much money I made or
how much money I had paid off my debt. My mind was blank. I was just counting
down the days," one alleges.”
This article has been published in a major
newspaper website and I’m sure everyone that reads it says ‘oh that’s awful!’
but then goes on the look at Facebook or make a cup of tea. When we see
pictures of asylum seeker boats crushed to pieces and are informed of the many
deaths at sea why do we not feel more? Is this a clear cut case of racism? “[...] to be considered ‘racist’, it must be provable that the victim
was passive, and did not possess any attribute not be open to any ascribed
difference beyond a dark(er) skin color.” (Lentin, Titley & Younge, 2011:52)
Do we simply not care
about these people as much because they are not Australian? I feel that if our
Government knew about a sex trafficking ring of Australian women operating in
Iran it would be in major headlines and we would do everything in our power to
stop the trade.
Lentin, A., Titley, G., & Younge, G. (2011). The
crises of multiculturalism: Racism in a neoliberal age. London: Zed Books.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI personally went and analysed the newspaper article, and was distressed, disgusted and ashamed that individuals had to take such measures only to be granted a position on Australian territory. These women are not just exposing their physical selves, their emotional and psychological wellbeing is at large detriment, which will continue to affect them for much of their lives. Indeed, they enter the country vying for educational attainment, employment opportunities and a greater standard of living. However, their wellbeing deteriorates setting them a few years backwards. This looks to me as a case of Racism, as the organisers of the illegal brothels perceive Asian women, and children as weak, degenerate and irrational. I couldn’t agree more, with relation to the geographic context of sex trafficking, as if such a matter occurred in Iran or other Middle Eastern countries, initiatives would’ve projected much earlier with global attention.