Ginette: From Miami to Mysore

  

              On June 1st, we had a powerful lecture on HIV, human trafficking, and sex work: Hidden Health Hazards, continuing social stigma and a growing public health challenge by Mr. Stanley, and Mr. Parshu.  In their presentation, these men were able to engage their audience with their lectures and personal experiences working at Odandai which is a social organization is Mysore India which works against human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children and even houses and counsels these women. The Odandai organization has saved over six thousand girls.

               

               The beginning of the lecture started out with some harsh realities. For example, Human Trafficking is the most lucrative crime in the world and it a 150-billion-dollar industry.  According to Jaffer Latief Najar of the Yata Institute of Social Sciences “[At any time there are] nearly 2.5 million people in forced labour including sexual exploitation. An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year” (Najar, 2014).  Thankfully Odandai is doing their part to fight human trafficking and has saved over 6,000 girls and counting.  The lecture looked at Human Trafficking from five key points related to health: Human Rights Issues, Social Issues, Economical Issues, Health Issues, and Public Health Issues.  More specifically the lecture looked at male chauvinism which is the belief that males are superior.  This belief makes it easier for males to put their sexual desires over the victims. The lecture also touched on the topic of sex education in schools and their beliefs on what education school children need.  They believe that children need sex education starting in preschool. Stanley sees a need for sex education in schools but also thinks that the way sex education is presented it very important. He believes that if sex education is presented in a wrong way it will make children more likely to want to experiment with sex.  During the lecture misconceptions about sex workers are addressed like them getting paid and becoming rich off their earning. This belief was easily refuted, the lecturer explained that pimps use that as a way to get girls into that life style but most of and in some cases, all of their earnings go back to the pimp.  Finally, they looked at demand for different types of girls in human trafficking and how trafficking victims can form emotional and even sexual bonds.  Mr. Stanley explained that the men can request different looking girls like tall, short, fair skin, dark skin, black, white, and everything in between and that people will go out and find girls that fit that description for the man.  There is also a large demand for girls that do not speak the language so they cannot communicate with the men.  Some girls in these difficult situations look for companionship in other girls and form an emotional bond which sometimes leads to sexual bonds.  What interested me in this lecture was the topic Human Trafficking.  This topic is very tough to listen to but it was also very rewarding in the end knowing that so many people’s lives were changed by Odandai. Also, the passion of Mr. Stanley and Mr. Parshu during their lecture made the lecture easy to listen to because it was clear that this topic was something they were both passionate about. Their passion was also seen when they told us how they got their start in human trafficking. After going to a city as a journalist to write a story for a paper they noticed a strange woman on the street corner the men they were trying to interview just called her a prostitute and told them to not pay attention to her. The women heard this told them it was true and that she can give them a story better than the men they were interviewing can, hers will end up on the front cover.  Mr. Stanley and Mr. Parshu listened to her story felt bad for her and her son and gave her a days earning and promising to give her money in the future, hoping that will turn her life around.  Mr. Stanley and Mr. Parshu were surprised when they went back to the town and she was still selling her body. She apologized and explained that they sent her money but no support to help her out. Through this experience, they decided to be the support for many women and started Odandai.

               

                In this lecture, the mental health of the victims of human trafficking needs to be cared for more. This is shown when the women Mr. Stanley and Mr. Parshu gave money to but nothing else. Even though she had the money to get herself out of her tough situation, she did not have anyone to talk to or any therapy to show her that she is worth more than what those men lead her to believe.  The current research agrees with this view because it shows that a breakdown of a community support system is a cause of sex trafficking in India (Najar, 2014).

 

 

                   In Indian society, the belief that men are superior, the small ratio of women, and not talking about sex influence the sexual exploitation of women. The belief that men are superior leads to men being able to view women as objects useful for their sexual desires and not humans. In Indian culture, it is preferable to have a male child so much so people were having abortions as soon as they found out it was a girl. Although this practice is now illegal it did impact the male to female ratio which made it hard for many men to find wives. Per Najar’s research, the small ratio of women leads to bride buying in India (Najar, 2014).  Lack of sex education leads men to try to find out about sex through engaging in sexual activity which keeps a demand for sex workers. These factors are big influencers in sexual exploitation of women in Indian society. It is important to understand these beliefs in Indian society because having an understanding is vital to help an individual find a solution to the problem.

                 

                The issues discussed in this lecture were very useful to my field experience because I was able to go to one of Odandai home for women so it gave me a better understanding of what those girls went through before they were in that home. When Mr. Stanley spoke about male chauvinism opened my eyes about how females are viewed in this culture. Hearing about male chauvinism reminded me of my time in the Deriya village and how women are only allowed to eat if there is anything else left after everyone else in the village eats.  A week after this lecture I went to a local coffee shop called the Barista where I had some coffee with some of my classmates.  There I got to see in how men and women interact. There I saw a couple and the female did something to upset her partner and he grabbed in an extremely aggressive manner and no one other than me and my classmates thought this behavior was unusual. Everyone else went along like it was just a normal day at Barista. This instance showed me just how little women mean in this culture.

 

 

When it comes to ending human trafficking, there are many ways individuals like myself can help.  As stated earlier male chauvinism a big reason for human trafficking. A lot of men view women as something only useful to fulfill their desires as soon as these men change their views they will not be able to treat other humans so inhumane. These ideologies are learned so by raising a new generation of men who are taught all humans should be treated the same that will help in ending human trafficking.  According to Mr. Stanley sex education in schools would help teach children about sex which would keep students from searching for a better understanding about sex through brothels.  So, people can push for better sex education in their communities. Another way individuals like myself can help is by donating to organizations like Odandai that get women out of human trafficking but also support them when they come out.  In Mr. Stanley’s and Mr. Parshu’s life they say firsthand how not having a support system can lead someone back into human trafficking and according to the research conducted by Jaffer Latief Najar “a lack of community support” (Najar, 2014) can lead people to human trafficking.

 

References

 

Najar, J, L.(2014).  Human Trafficking in India.