Trafficking of Women, An account on film
Last year, when I read Lotus’ review of The Road of Lost Innocence, just the review was enough to send shivers down my spine. I doubt I have the stomach for the entire book. The Road of Lost Innocence is a survivor’s account, the memoir of Somaly Mam who survived the brutality of the Cambodian sex industry and lived to help other girls caught in that hell. Closer home, it is common knowledge that many, many Nepali and Bangladeshi (as well as Indian) women find themselves sold into sexual slavery. What kind of world do we live in where girls as young as 10 are viewed as commodities to be used for a man’s pleasure?
Yesterday, I chanced upon a Polish/English movie, ‘Your Name is Justine’ that explores this subject using a focuslight on one young Polish woman’s ordeal as she is betrayed by her boyfriend and sold to a ruthless and brutal pimping gang in Germany. Mariola is held in captivity while her captors tell her that she is now “a piece”, and try to break her resistance through rape, beating and starvation.
I confess I didn’t actually watch the entire movie. I couldn’t. Our Bollywood movies typically present rape scenes almost as a parody of the real act, but here, the physical and mental pain was visible and terrifying. I switched back and forth between channels every two minutes, unable to bear continuous viewing. One can only imagine the unbearable nature of an experience, where even its shadow is so vile.
Mariola is now given a new name, Justine. She can no longer speak her own language but must now negotiate in English and German. The rest of the movie is about the compromises she must make and the desperate attempts to retain her sanity and her sense of self. As if in a dream, she reminds herself that her name is Mariola and that she comes from Poland.
The movie ends unsatisfyingly, without the theatrical revenge or justice that a Hindi movie would have offered; yet, it is probably closer to reality. What was shocking was how many clients refuse to help her, even when they clearly realise that she is not a prostitute of her own volition. I had no idea that such prostitution rings were even present in first world countries. One must credit the film-makers for exploring such a subject and doing it without any gratuitous violence or nudity for the sake of titillation. Anna Ciesiak, a first-time actor gives a fine performance as Mariola - while at times, she appears as if on auto-pilot, the brutality of the experience is one which could numb the senses of the victim - and she succeeds in giving us the impression of a woman whose identity itself is in danger of vanishing.
In the Indian context, clearly everyone is aware of the elephant in the room but the authorities are not willing to do anything about it, or atleast not do enough. While we have enough goons around to ‘keep women in line’ and get us to adhere to their version of Indianness, I wonder why such self-proclaimed defenders of Indian culture do not mind that there are hundreds of such women, being violated body and soul. Would prostitution flourish without the demand for it, fuelled by a culture of tacit acceptance, that ‘boys will be boys’?
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Followed the links provided and read quite a bit, and now I have a queasy feeling.
In India, I believe not many realize the trauma and suffering a woman faces. The cinema does not show anything and many conveniently do not think about it. I think more written materials should be published to beat this illiteracy.
Its not for nothing that its referred to as the oldest “profession”…because in some way or form, it has always existed. I do not claim to know all the historical aspects of this, but the Wikipedia article on Devadasis was very informative. If the question is, is it possible to control the demand more than the (I hate to say supply) “profession”, the answer is very likely to be no, as evidenced by history.
But, to your point, expecting the goons and the moral police to stand up against prostitution is like expecting a pack of stray dogs to come home and wash themselves in the shower.
For whatever reason, in the global context, Indians are the best supporters of Indians. India does not have abuse like they do in America, India does not have paedophiles, Indian men (and women, let it not be said that all abusers are men) are saints in general when you compare them with the “moral free” Western world.This is a common sentiment I have seen here and not just with my mother’s generation but from people of a much younger age. What happens in our own back yard is somehow very easy to ignore, maybe purposefully initially and then out of habit - as long as our own home and hearth are safe, pleading ignorance mught just be a means of justifying our inaction against such atrocities. I recently met with a group of women from Madras and the group consistently refused to acknowledge that 10 year old girls (many even younger) are sold into the sex trade routinely every year and the women kept arguing that this was for child labor, not prostitution as the media likes to portray for making their circulation go up!
Aathira - that is true; cinema is one medium which can reach everybody, but most of our cinema lives in a rose-tinted world of its own; I did see one Tamizh film recently, ‘anjaathey’ which takes on related issues very boldly.
Sri - Whether or not we think it is unlikely to disappear, we have a duty to do something about it, no? I mean, you may remember that cockroaches are the hardiest creatures on earth, but that will not stop you from killing one in your house? Plus, I am not so pessimistic about it. Given the will and resources (and change in attitude) - things can change; this may be a tall order but not everything that was prevalent 2000 years ago still is…
Laksh - that is so true! we have a tendency to congratulate ourselves for our seemingly “ideal” culture. I remember, one of my friends’ daughters came up to her and told her that a driver in the basement had kissed her on the lips - whereupon she scolded the child!
I was watching law n order yesterday where they showed a rape-victim’s case and how the cops n her lawyer prepared her psychologically before the trial, what could she expect in questions etc in such a case. I was left wondering if such support could ever be expected in an Indian scenario where a victim of sexual offenses is made to feel it’s her fault if she was targeted for such an act! It is painful to realize that men-women live on the same planet but have different worlds, specially in our country. What I would never understand(n it could be ‘coz of my poor grasp of history) is how did we develop such a pathetic attitude towards women folk in a society where women were (supposedly) worshiped once. or maybe I’ve taken it quite literally.
Sparsh, I really doubt it. In any case (not just in rape cases), I doubt victim access to lawyer is scrupulously respected, in the first place. As for the last bit, yes women were worshipped, but only “some kind” of women… so I doubt respect extends to everybody.
Hi, Apu
Thanks so much for the topic, the mention and for pointing to the movie “Your Name is Justine”. You mentioned being somewhat surprised that so much trafficking goes on in first world countries? Well, so was I…but apparently this is a billion dollar industry so I guess some dishonest people in the west also want to get in on the money. What has to happen is that immigration officials need to be more vigilant…they have to be more alert to fraudulent documents, bogus offers of employment and the other indicators of suspected trafficking cases. If they continue the way they are doing now this kind of exploitation will continue unabated.
Lotus, you are welcome - your review is one thing which has stayed with me. And yes, while one does not look for perfection in the first world, somehow, the scale of the criminal activity surprised me.
Btw, in case you come back to check here - wanted to let you know - while I read your blog on feed, am unable to log on and comment - my anti-virus system tells me there is malware detected on your blog! Could you perhaps check with other readers or your own system if possible?
Apu, thank you…you’re the second person to tell me about the malware detected on my blog. I am going to have to do something about it soon. Not being savvy when it comes to these things I am unsure where to start!