Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief
Last Modified: 02:52 AM EDT, 10 January 2010
The booming “Sex Tourism” industry is no longer a threat to women and children in remote, impoverished countries; it is a plague that is infecting all countries. If fortunes and circumstances placed us in countries where this type of human rights abuse is not only tolerated but tacitly promoted we could just as easily be victims instead of voyeurs.
Sexual exploitation of women and children is a topic that I am passionate about because the victims are most likely to suffer in silence and least likely to seek or receive justice. When given the opportunity to view sex crimes through the lens of talented photojournalists and the investigative programs that feature their work, it is important for us to remember that as females but for circumstance, these women could be our sisters, our daughters, our mothers, ourselves.
The men and women who abuse and use other human beings for their own sexual gratification or financial aggrandizement do not live in isolation. They could be and probably are someone to whom you are married and sleep with, or with whom you work or attend religious functions, or who educates your children. We must be more vigilant in trying to stem the tide of this worldwide crisis.
An extremely talented photojournalist named Mimi Chakarova spent four years chronicling the lives of women forced into sexual slavery. One output of her outstanding work was a Frontline World PBS documentary titled “Dubai: Night Secrets.” An excerpt of the entire program can be viewed below.
I highly recommend that you also visit Ms. Chakarova’s website where she explores through words and photography concerns and issues of the people of Kashmir, India, South Africa, Cuba, Jamaica, Ghana, Moldova and Dubai. Visit Mimi Chakarova’s website here.
“The Price of Sex: Women Speak” is an interactive website that provides maps and journals, links and resources, as well as the ability to watch any of Ms. Chakarova’s stories in streaming video. View the slideshow and watch videos here.
Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_reportEditor: @ayannanahmias
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![Rehtaeh Parsons, a teen from Nova Scotia, was a gorgeous, kind, straight-A student with her whole life ahead of her. On Thursday, she hung herself in her bathroom. On Sunday night, her family took her off life-support. Approximately a year and a half earlier, in November 2011, when Rehtaeh was 15 years old, she was reportedly gang-raped by four boys, classmates of hers. The trauma did not end there. One of the boys reportedly took a photo of the act and circulated it among Rehtaeh’s school and community where, as noted, by Rehtaeh’s mother, “it quickly went viral.” Authorities reportedly investigated the sexual assault but claimed there was insufficient evidence to make formal charges. Rehtaeh’s mother recalls the investigation: They didn’t even interview the boys until much, much later. To me, I’d think you’d get the boys right away, separate them…. Nothing was done about [the photos] because they couldn’t prove who had pressed the photo button on the phone. [She was told that the distribution of the photos is] not really a criminal issue, it’s more of a community issue. Even though she was 15 at the time, which is child pornography…. The whole case was full of things like that. We didn’t have a rape kit done because we didn’t even know (anything had happened) until several days later when she had a breakdown in my kitchen. She was trying to keep it to herself. Tormented and bullied, Rehtaeh was forced to leave her school and tried to start fresh in a new community. Despite efforts, she continued to struggle, at one point checking into a hospital to cope with suicidal thoughts, anger, and depression. In an extensive post on a Facebook memorial page, her mother Leah Parsons described how the straight-A high school student became depressed and suicidal after the incident. “The person Rehtaeh once was all changed one dreaded night in November 2011. She went with a friend to another’s home. In that home she was raped by four young boys . . . one of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh’s school and community where it quickly went viral,” Leah Parsons wrote. “Because the boys already had a ‘slut’ story, the victim of the rape Rehtaeh was considered a slut. “This day changed the lives of our family forever.” Rehtaeh, who was a 15-year-old high school student in Cole Harbour at the time, was repeatedly bullied at school and “suddenly shunned by almost everyone she knew.” “She was never left alone. She had to leave the community. Her friends turned against her. People harassed her. Boys she didn’t know started texting her and Facebooking her asking her to have sex with them. It just never stopped,” her mother told CBC.](http://ayannanahmias.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rehtaeh-parsons-17-canadian-rape-victim-commits-suicide-3.jpg?w=45&h=45&crop=1){kind=small}
19/02/2012 at 12:11
Thanks for sharing! This is an important issue that not alot of people are aware of.