12岁那年,我妈妈卖出了我的童贞(双语)
My mom sold my virginity when I was 12: Teenager's firsthand experience reveals the horrors of the sex trade in Cambodia A Cambodian teenager whose virginity was sold to a man when she was a child has opened up about the horrors of the sex trade in her home country. Dara Keo, now 17, told Marie Claire that she was just 12 when her mother Rotana sold her to a 'rich, powerful man' because she was desperate to pay off her late husband's gambling debt. 'His creditors threatened violence when I couldn't pay,' explains 62-year-old Rotana, who was earning just $1 a day at the time. 'Fear and worry about the debts made me ill. Finally, I gave in.'
What ensued was unspeakable but by no means uncommon in Cambodia, where ancient belief derived from Taoist culture dictates that sex with virgins can prolong lifespan. Keo was first taken to a corrupt doctor who examined her to make sure her hymen was still intact - a veritable worry for the man who purchased her, since many sex traffickers surgically heal girls' hymens to resell them multiple times. 'Then I was taken to the man who bought me,' recalls Keo. 'I had to stay with him for one week while he raped me many times without a condom.' The man who purchased Keo was a prominent Cambodian politician, although she and her mother refuse to make his name public. He kept her in a hotel room for a week and would visit her twice or even three times a day for sex. 'He was very forceful,' she says, recalling the pain as 'excruciating.' After the week was up, Keo was left with tearing and bruises and she found it 'agonizing' to walk or urinate for two weeks.
While her case may seem dire, Keo is just one of thousands of Cambodian girls whose virginity is sold each year - mostly to prominent politicians and policeman, the only men rich enough to afford it. Indeed, destitute families typically receive around $1,500 to sell a daughter's virginity, which is equivalent to four years' salary. Rotana was so desperate, however, she accepted just $500. Vannith Uy, 41, worked for years as a cook at a beer garden, where young hostesses in revealing clothes attract men looking for virgins to sleep with. Desperate for money, she sold her own daughter Chamnan Sok's virginity when the girl was just 18, and she witnessed at least 50 young females working at the beer garden succumb to the same fate. Despite the trauma these girls undoubtedly underwent, they don't show any outward resentment towards her mothers. Indeed, Keo says only that she feels 'sad' about what happened to her. Her loyalty to Rotana is likely because of the attitude in Cambodia that 'children exist for their parents' benefit, not the other way around,' says Nget Thy, executive director of the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's Rights. 'Children have a strong duty to pay back their parents for raising them,' he adds. 'The concept of child rights is very weak.' But there are some organizations endeavoring to put an end to the vicious circle - like Riverkids, an NGO that teaches young girls skills like hairdressing and computers and encourages them to get jobs. Rattana Chey, now 21, has Riverkids to thank for helping her escape trafficking after she discovered her mother wanted to sell her virginity when she was 15.
'Riverkids offered my family rice in exchange for not selling me,' she explained, adding that the organization also taught her how to sew and helped her mother set up her own food cart. But in an impoverished country ruled by corrupted officials, many of whom are the ones perpetuating the virgin trade, it's nearly impossible to eradicate it completely. 'There is an endless number of destitute families for the trade to prey on,' explained Dr Chhiv Kek Pung, the president of human rights organization Licadho. 'And the rule of law is very weak.' Still, now that she's the breadwinner in the family and has helped her two younger sisters avoid a tragic fate, Rattana has resolved to alter attitudes in Cambodia, one step at a time. 'Thanks to my earning ability, I am the most powerful person in our family now,' she states. 'I am determined to break the pattern.' |