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Caught Between the Tiger and the Crocodile

Latoya

SD from the Foreign Affairs blog (a blog which tagline reads: Rantings on Cambodia, politics, human rights, corruption, feminism, the environment and other topics that provoke, interspersed with posts on life, the universe and everything) posted this interesting video on the issues impacting sex workers in Cambodia:

SD writes:

The popular opinion is that the the 2008 law to outlaw sex work was an election game and a strategic international move to curry favour. Whether this is the case or not, the police are using the law to imprison sex workers in “rehabilitation” centres. Money must change hands to secure a release.

The police strategy is to lock up women who carry condoms, assuming they are sex workers. Putting aside the issue of how messed up that notion is, it clashes with the 100% condom use campaign to reduce HIV transmission. The 100% condom use was working although there are issues of secondary sex workers and police harassment. The HIV infection rate is declining in Cambodia.

To me, this video symbolizes all of the issues faced in trying to solve a problem without the input of those directly impacted. In this case, sex workers. The campaign to end HIV/AIDS transmission has been warped into another way to incarcerate women. Closing down brothels has put many women in worse positions, unable to make money and forced into paying bribes to escape from “rehabilitation.” Women caught on the street carrying condoms could potentially be imprisoned – because condoms, instead of being proof of responsible sexual practices, have come to symbolize something else. And the worst thing of all is that sex workers are now more vulnerable to violence coming from police officers and armed services.

Related Links:

Sex Workers Present – Videos made by sex workers all over the world
Juliana Rincón Parra – Global Voices Author, where SD found the video

Posted in Sex

10 thoughts on Caught Between the Tiger and the Crocodile

  4. Weird, I think I’m on your wavelength too, since I’ve been mentally composing a post about sex tourism in Cambodia after seeing a good deal of it there a couple days ago. Thanks for this. My post probably won’t be up for at least another week or two, but I’ll definitely be tracking back…

  5. Unfortunately, until the overall status of women improves, this kind of thing will just continue. Despite the hard work that women do to support their families and themselves, their entrepreneurial spirit and constant sacrifices, the menfolk come back home from a day of lazing and gambling to tell them that they’re worthless because they’re only women? (I’m overgeneralizing here, obviously, but the acceptability of this dynamic was even expressed by my upper-middle class, business-school educated, multinational corporation assistant-to-the-CEO housemate.) I remember going to a Phnom Penh police station with her one time. The junior officer took one look at us, smirked, and went back to watching TV. Even the idea of tripling his monthly salary for signing a few forms wasn’t worth the indignity.

    Of course, when we brought her father, the head of the station himself came out, as courteous and respectful as could be, and invited him into his office for negotiations.

    And if a businesswoman and a university lecturer were treated like that, you can just /imagine/ what it’s like for a sex worker.

  6. I appreciate the inclusion of Asia on this blog, but how did you come up with the title? To me, it sounds like “all those Asian people live in the jungle”, but I’m probably oversensative about these things.

  7. Thanks for linking to me Latoya. It is a very important issue especially as I see the results of the policies very day. There is so much to say on the issue of sex work in Cambodia but I’m rushing out the door so I’ll expand on it later

    @peri9

    The title was chosen by the sex workers themselves. Cambodians use a lot of natural imagery partly because the vast majority are rural and partly because it is a cultural phenomenon.

  10. Being a Cambodian woman is soo hard. It’s hard, I hear so many stories about Cambodian women that just give up on life and become husks of their former selves or kill themselves due to scandal or shame.

    There’s a Cambodian expression that “White Cotton doesn’t come clean ever again.” My brother is a misogynist and he actually showed me an article to show me “my place” within Cambodian Society. That’s the situation Cambodian Women are dealing with, and it’s BS. Feminism should be working for Cambodian women, but these are the many cases that they fail women of colour.

    My sister-in-law is from an aristocratic family, and I can see the corruption, racism and classicism within her. In fact, she’s afraid of all Black people with the exception of my co-conspirator, Davita Cuttita. I asked her if there was any poverty in Cambodia and she told me she didn’t see anything. People continue to turn a blind eye on the poor and disadvantaged everywhere in the world.

    Thank you for continuing to bring up issues for Women of Colour, I like Feminism but there are so many exceptions that exempt women of colour that I cannot condone the way Feminism runs now.

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