human trafficking
Facts Everyone Should Know About Pornography
written by gkim
So many people out there claim that pornography is pure entertainment. Well, this is obviously a matter of opinion, and quite frankly, to me, it sounds like an addict’s specious justification to get his/her jollies off. But at the same time, I also really understand how difficult it is to break the addiction. We are all human after all. The desires of the flesh have this innate need to be satisfied, and oftentimes, when we are home alone, we let it get the best of us.
I must repudiate this claim that pornography is good old fun with not only what is in the Gospel but also with all of the stories from ex-porn stars who have come out of the industry. There is not one porn star who hasn’t had to lie about how much they love their jobs. The facade they put up, saying they enjoy sex, they love what they do, they desire men–these are all fallacious statements. If they didn’t make these claims, most of them would be out on the streets with no camera work. Many of them are victims of abuse, drugs, rejection, rape, poverty, and mental illnesses. They do not love what they do; they usually do it for the money. And this has been articulated by every ex-porn star out there. It is an ugly business–just like some aspects of Hollywood–except it is so opposite–because unlike Hollywood movies where the actors can go home and be themselves, these porn stars have to go home and deal with the enormity of violations on their bodies that they had to endure throughout the entire day. What keeps them smiling in public, posing for photos, and continuing their work? You would say it is only money–however it is something much more powerful than that–it is the darkness and brokenness that keeps them captive into such oppressive emotional and mental states. It is the enemy that keeps their spirits in bondage.
How is pornography filmed exploitation and violation of women? Well, first let’s take a look at the counterargument. This would be that these women know exactly what they’re doing and they are doing it voluntarily. They are getting paid to do this work, and no one is forcing them to do anything they do not want to do. No one is raping them. No one is physically abusing them. They seemingly enjoy their lives while they have sex on camera. Now to be fair, I’m sure there are some young newbies out there who find their jobs exciting at first–no doubt–just as some hardcore drug addicts may find that first hit of crack cocaine extremely refreshing and tantalizing. However, many girls who have gotten rescued from human trafficking have stated that they were forced to have sex and look as if they enjoyed it on camera. After a while, even though these girls don’t actually want to do it, they are coerced and pressured to continue on. To have men and women desecrate and defile each other’s bodies to fulfill some type of fantasy is abhorrent. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who feel shameful after watching a night of porn, and of course, there are those who may lack any sort of guilt. Almost everyone we know, including ourselves, has watched some type of pornographic scene or movie. This is the sick world we live in today, where everyone is desensitized to atrocity, violence, and injustice.
Koreans are one of the top pornography viewing countries in the world. “According to toptenreviews.com, the countries with the largest revenue from the porn industry (in 2006) include China ($27.40 billion), South Korea ($25.73 billion), Japan ($19.98 billion) and the US ($13.33 billion). The porn industry is a major component of the world economy, generating large scale revenue and employment.”
So, what’s the big deal with pornography? What are the effects? Here are some facts you should know:
- Pornography objectifies women. Men AND women begin to view women as objects. This mentality affects everyone in relationships, marriages, and friendships. Have you ever been in a completely problem-less relationship, and it has ended abruptly without you or the other person knowing why? It could very well be that pornography has affected your mental states in ways that you may not be fully aware of.
- It is not a coincidence that Korea is one of the top pornography watching countries in the world and Korean men are the number one seekers of child sex slaves in Southeast Asia.
- Pornography turns the sacred act of sex between a married couple into an act that is okay for everyone, including children. Child pornography is rampantly growing around the world.
- Pornography affects the way men learn about how to make love to a woman. It destroys sex lives in marriages because expectations become completely abnormal on both sides. Men lose their natural sensibilities to make love to a woman and believe that what they have seen in a porn movie is what women enjoy. Women begin to accept that what they see in pornography as normal and therefore become disparagingly confused when they seem to feel a lack of intimacy or pleasure in their sex lives.
- Pornography affects people mentally and emotionally. On a subconscious level, men begin to visualize many different kinds of women they meet or know in sexual ways or positions they have seen in pornography.
- All pornography is filmed sexual abuse. Let me make this clearer. All pornography films the abuse of sex and seeks to exploit the people who are having sex on camera. Although the woman may not always be physically forced into having sex on camera, the act of money is still involved. This is sexual exploitation.
- People may think that all porn stars lead a glamorous and happy life, but if you personally know a porn star, who has been doing it for even more than six months, she will tell you she hates it but it’s the only thing she can do or that there’s nothing majorly wrong with it, but she hates it and would never want her children to do it.
- The problem of physical rape is growing within online porn. Because porn is so easily accessible to millions around the world, traffickers are finding it easier to prey on young girls, rape them, and train them into the industry.
- Many girls who have sex on camera voluntarily for the first time and feel immense regret. But they continue to do it because of that one time. They believe they have given their lives over to the industry after that one time. It only takes ONE time for them to get stuck for a lifetime. In the case of rape, many girls lose all hope for a decent life after they are filmed one time. Even though it may not have been voluntary, they end up succumbing to what they believe is their unfortunate fate. Some victims begin to tell everyone and themselves that they love having sex on camera and love their jobs. It becomes a defense mechanism.
- Lots of extremely famous porn stars, such as Jenna Jameson, are rape victims. Jenna Jameson told her story about being gang-raped when she was in high school after she became famous for her pornographic movies. She initially lied on Howard Stern’s radio talk show about being a victim of sexual abuse, but later admitted it in her autobiography. She stated that she initially lied because she did not want others to think that she was in the sex industry because she was victimized. She wanted everyone to believe that she loved her job.
- Pornography exacerbates mental problems and depression for female and male viewers who may already have major mental issues. Women and men, who have watched pornography on a regular basis, develop a distorted perception of reality.
- It condones sexual violence and harm towards women and children because it portrays violent and atrocious scenes. People begin to believe that it is okay or even playful to act out such things in real life.
- Pornography desensitizes men to the world around them. Nothing is as jovial as the feeling they get when they are masturbating to a naked woman having sex on camera. Nothing is as appalling as when a girl is getting gang-banged or disrespected on camera during a porn scene.
- Pornographic material is highly addictive. It also increasingly diminishes the level of satisfaction as time passes. Hardcore pornography with extremely graphic and explicit material becomes insufficient to satisfy one’s sexual thirst after continuous viewing of porn movies. It is like developing a tolerance for a drug. Once you develop this tolerance, you need a higher dosage for it to be effective.
- Many girls are being trafficked for sex on camera and online sex chats. Although they may be smiling at the viewer and posing as if they are having the time of their lives, they may possibly be in serious bondage, confinement, and could be victims of abduction and kidnapping.
- Supporting pornography is not supporting women’s rights. Women’s rights are being violated as pornography continues to be legal. Women become more objectified as the porn industry continues to grow. Porn stars are not actors. Just as murder is not something that we should be watching live on a video, same goes for sex.
Human beings should not be utilizing cameras to film sex for money. The implications of pornography go beyond exploitation, as it has become the number one cause of human and child trafficking around the world. It condones the behavior of child predators, adulterers, and sociopaths. Furthermore, think about the girls who voluntarily get into the industry wanting to have sex on camera. It’s easy to brush it off or even defend these girls who say they enjoy their lives on camera and love what they do. Just think about it for a good minute. She is your wife, girlfriend, daughter, sister, mother, aunt, cousin, and your friend. No matter how much you defend pornography as art or entertainment, how you think these girls got into the industry, how much they love what they do, how much money they are making…the bottom line is that we need to get them out…and keep them out… and prevent our wives, girlfriends, daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, and friends from ever falling victim to this industry… in the name of JESUS.
If you want to help end human trafficking in our lifetime, start by discontinuing the viewing of pornography.
Facts Everyone Should Know About the History of Korea’s Laws & Regulations on the Sex Industry
written by gkim
- Abolition laws against the sex industry of Korea were all enacted in the 1900’s. Before then, there were no legal restrictions on the industry.
- In the 1920’s, juvenile sexual services were made illegal.
- In the 1940’s, sexual services of the elderly/seniors were made illegal.
- In the 1960’s the “Yula” law was enacted. This law had a moral connotation. It stated that the sellers, buyers, and mediators of sex were all corrupt. This “yula” law was enacted in 1961. Before this law, there was no law which criminalized prostitution.
- Back when Korea was taken over by Japanese Imperialism, the Korean government was promoting prostitution. The government became the pimps. Additionally, when the US soldiers came to the aid of South Korea during the Korean War, although the national promotion of prostitution was abolished, they began to promote it around the US army camp bases. Subsequently, the Korean government started generating a tremendous amount of profit from the sex industry.
- In the 1970’s, simply all forms of prostitution were made illegal.
- After the 1970’s sex tourism packages were marketed with Korean geishas. This became very popular, especially with the Japanese on Jeju Island. Because of the high demand and serious profits, the government prohibited it yet promoted it at the same time.
- In the 1980’s, sex trafficking became a serious issue in Korea. The sex industry was being highly promoted through sex tourism. Pimps began kidnapping girls from residential areas and forcing them into brothels. Despite such activity, the government did nothing to convict the buyers of sex, although once in a while, the traffickers would be criminalized.
- In the early 2000’s, there was a huge change in the famous brothel and red light district areas such as Goonsan, Chungryangri, Jullahdo Goonsan, DaeMyongDong, and GaepoDong. The change happened when there was arson in two of these brothels. In 2000, 5 girls died, and in 2002, 14 girls died. When the police went inside to investigate after the fires were put out, they found that the girls had died because they were locked and chained inside. There was no escape as all the windows were sealed as well. After this, more awareness spread on human trafficking and exploitation. Before these fires, prostitution was widely accepted regardless of the laws in place.
- Consequently, due to the grisly discoveries which were made after the fire incidents, a newly revised, special legislation was passed on prostitution in 2004. This law is the anti-prostitution law (Special Law on Sex Trade 2004) prohibiting the buying and selling of sex. The revisions in this law are widely recognized as being ineffective today. One of these new clauses punishes the procurers or mediators of prostitution or sex trafficking. This clause specifically strengthened punishments, which includes seizing all profits generated through sexual services. The other clause criminalizes trafficking–where girls are subjected to threats, violence, and involuntary sex. Another special clause states that the girls would be recognized as victims, not violators of the law. It is a protection and prevention law. This law also has the purpose of educating the people of the effects of buying and selling sex. Johns can be prosecuted as well as pimps. Previously, the government released pimps if they paid a simple fine. A lot of buyers of sex are still unaware of the revisions and new law. They continue to believe that buying sex is legal.
- Because of the lack of awareness in the Korean society, first time offenders who buy girls for sex are not convicted. They are sent to “john” schools instead. John schools were first founded in 1995 in the US. Korea implemented the John school programs in the 2000’s.
- Once the new anti-prostitution law was enacted in 2004, the largest group of protesters against this law was the group of prostitutes. Many did not understand why they would be criminalized for selling sex when they were voluntarily doing it. They believed that the government was taking away their only source of income. They argue that they are providing services of their own will. Most girls who have been convicted and fined for selling sex have had to return to selling sex illegally in order to pay these fines.
- Currently, the Korean government is discussing the possibility of revising this anti-prostitution law. They are questioning whether or not this law violates human rights. Korea is a nation of liberal democracy. So if someone’s freedom does not harm others, how could they view this as wrong? This is their debate against the other side who says that although these girls are not free to sell sex, if they were free to sell sex, this would harm society as a whole. There is social harm in prostitution. These two parties who argue against each other have come to no conclusion.
- Ironically, although sex is illegally sold and is against the law, there is also a law that protects people who have sexually transmitted diseases that were spread via sexual services.
- The current Korean laws are morally grounded. Criminal laws should not have a moral connotation to them. Also the law interprets trafficking and force in a limited sense, apart from what international laws deemed by the UN state. The Korean law states that force is only done physically and with abduction, violence, abuse, or confinement. There is no mental or emotional threat aspect to to it.
- In 2010 and 2013, national surveys were conducted in Korea. The purpose was to find out how the girls got into the industry and how did girls who got out of the industry fare. The findings were rather typical and common, and there was nothing outstanding or surprising. Many of the girls had experienced sexual abuse growing up, came from broken families, ran away from home at a young age, or were abandoned and orphaned.
- Although the selling of sex is illegal, the red light districts, room salons, hostess bars, massage parlors, and in-call services continue to operate in clear view of everyone. Red light districts have signs that warn children from entering. These areas have police stations adjacent to the alleyways. However nothing is done by law enforcement to help or rescue the women, stop the illegal activities, or arrest pimps and johns.
Facts Everyone Should Know About Human Trafficking
written by gkim
Global Human Trafficking Facts
- Human trafficking or modern day slavery describes the act of victims being subjected to involuntary servitude, forcing victims into prostitution/sexual slavery/the sex industry, and/or compelling, urging, exploiting, supporting victims to commit sexual acts for the purpose of creating pornography, online sex chats, or stripping—all through abduction, threat, deception, peonage, coercion, debt bondage, abuse of power, forced drug usage, or violence. Human trafficking not only involves sex and labor, but people are also trafficked for organ harvesting.
Photo Credit: ccasa.org - According to the US Department of Justice, there are approximately 27 million to 30 million slaves today, and approximately 79% are exploited sexually, with 18% being categorized as labor trafficking.
- According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of the world such as the African or Southeast Asian regions, children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa or the Mekong Region—Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Southern China, Cambodia).
Photo Credit: ungift.org - The continent of Asia is the largest supply of human trafficking industry. According to the International Labor Organization, the human trafficking industry generates about 32 billion dollars yearly. Asia contributes 9.7 billion, and 15.5 billion come from other industrialized countries.
- According to the UN Global Compact Organization, 98% of trafficked victims who are sexually exploited are women and girls. 56% of trafficked victims who are in forced labor/economic exploitation are women and girls.
- Human Trafficking is the fastest-growing business of organized crime and the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world, set to surpass drugs and arms trafficking within the next five years.
- Globally, the average cost of one slave is $90 USD.
- According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year.
- Punishment for trafficking humans is lower than for trafficking drugs, and profits for trafficking humans are higher than for trafficking drugs.
- According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking.
- Global warming and severe natural disasters have left millions homeless and impoverished, which has created desperate people easily exploited by human traffickers.
- The average age of a trafficked victim can range from 12 to 24 years old. However there are children as young as 6 years old being trafficked.
Photo Credit: cnmnewz.com - Prostitution is illegal in 109 countries, legal in 77 countries, and restricted (selling sex is legal but organized brothels are illegal) in 11 countries. Five countries do not have any laws for prostitution. Prostitution is illegal in almost all Asian countries where human trafficking is the most significant, but laws aren’t enforced properly. Countries that have legalized prostitution in the past have seen an influx in sex trafficking. i.e. Germany, Colombia
- According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the majority of sex trafficking is international, with victims taken from such places as South and Southeast Asia, the former Soviet Union, Central and South America, and other less developed areas and moved to more developed ones, including Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America.
- According to the World Health Organization and US Department of State, sex trafficking plays a major role in the spreading of AIDS. HIV/AIDS represents both a cause and consequence of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Women and children may be more vulnerable to being trafficked if their family members have contracted HIV or have died from AIDS. Women and children who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation are at greater risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS. Once trafficked, women and girls who have been infected with HIV often do not have access to health care services and are deprived of any support as they are often shunned and stigmatized by their communities.
- Nine out of ten women who escape from North Korea end up being trafficked for sex. It is a destination for trafficking of children, men, and women for sex and labor.
Photo Credit: thatlinkproject.com - A human trafficker can earn 20 times what he or she paid for a girl. Provided the girl was not physically brutalized to the point of ruining her beauty, the pimp could sell her again for a greater price because he had trained her and broken her spirit, which saves future buyers the hassle. A 2003 study in the Netherlands found that, on average, a single sex slave earned her pimp at least $250,000 a year.
- Amnesty International has reported that NATO soldiers, UN police, and Western aid workers “operated with near impunity in exploiting the victims of the sex traffickers.”
- Usually, if a sex slave is arrested, she is imprisoned while her trafficker is able to buy his way out of trouble.
- According to a congressional research service report on child sex trafficking, “It is more profitable for a trafficker to prostitute a child than to commit other crimes such as dealing in drugs.” This is because “the commodity (child) is reusable” and “technological innovation has allowed traffickers to reach a wider client base and connect more quickly with buyers.”
- Forms of labor trafficking can include domestic servitude, agricultural labor, sweatshop factory labor, janitorial, food, and service industry labor, or begging.
- Labor trafficking is happening in sugar cane fields, coffee bean plantations, cacao bean harvesting for chocolate, cotton plantations, mica mines, raw iron and metal production, garment factories, brick factories, cell phone manufacturing, and coal mining.
- According to the World Health Organization, over 10,000 organs are sold ever year, translating to one organ sold every hour.
- An illegal market has capitalized on these individuals’ desperation, and the prospects of large profits are creating unfortunate incentives, with patients willing to pay up to $200,000 for a kidney. According to the WHO report, 76 percent of organs sold were kidneys, reflecting the growing demand secondary to complications of high blood pressure and diabetes.
- Doctors and other health-care practitioners, ambulance drivers and mortuary workers are often involved in organ trafficking in addition to those involved in other human trafficking networks. The organs commonly transplanted include kidney, liver, heart, lung and pancreas.
- In countries like Pakistan, China or India, a person can sell a kidney for $5,000, while those handling the transaction make a substantial profit.
- The profit for an organ trafficker is 15 times the buying price.
- According to the UN, the impact of the illegal organ trade is 75 million dollars yearly.
(Few Facts on Sex Trafficking in Korea)
- According to South Korea’s Ministry for Gender Equality and the Korean Feminist Association, there are anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million victims who are in South Korea’s sex industry today.
- According to the Korean Institute of Criminology, one-fifth of Korean men buy sex at least four times a month, and Korean men make up the largest ethnic group to seek child prostitutes in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
- Most trafficked victims in Korea range anywhere from seven to thirty years in age. There is a decline thereafter due to the lack of demand for older women in the sex industry.
Photo Credit: sfgate.com - One majority are child runaways who have been lured into the sex industry through the internet. Most child runaways have either been sexually/physically abused or confined under intense academic pressures. The other majority are native and foreign workers who have been lured with false advertisements of decent jobs over the internet or in local newspapers. Over 90% of child trafficking in South Korea occurs over the internet. Some are voluntary workers who consider the sex industry as a decent way to earn a living.
- Different reports suggest that the sex industry accounts for anywhere from 1.4% to 3% of the annual GDP in South Korea which is roughly 14 to 30 trillion Korean won (13 to 25 billion USD) a year.
- Red light districts, massage parlors, juicy bars, image bars, room salons/roombangs (hostess bars), in-call massages, out-call massages, call girl businesses, kissing rooms, lovetels (motels used for sex), karaoke bars, and night clubs are some of the venues and types of trafficking.
- South Korea prohibits trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, including debt bondage, through its 2004 “Act on the Punishment of Intermediating in the Sex Trade and Associated Acts.” Although this law is in place, it has not been enforced properly.
- The Ministry of Justice runs 29 “John schools,” set up to educate male “clients” of prostitution, which are one-day seminars—in lieu of criminal punishment. NGOs report that there is only one counseling center and two shelters in the country dedicated to foreign victims of sex trafficking.
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