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opinion:
our view
Slavery report
troubling
A presentation on
campus last week delivered the news that sexual slavery is still
a major problem throughout the world, affecting not just women,
but also boys and girls.
This news, presented
by the nonprofit organization Captive Daughters, would be
shocking were it not for the fact that, deep down, we all
know horrible things happen around the world - we just choose
to turn a blind eye.
But this is also
a problem in America, where all are created equal, and not
just limited to societies where women are usually delegated
to second-place status.
Sex has always
been used as a commodity. There is a reason that prostitution
is referred to as the world's oldest profession.
But the real world
of prostitution is not the one represented by Julia Roberts
in "Pretty Woman." This was a fairy tale created
by Hollywood.
Young girls do
not dream of the glamorous world of prostitution when they
look to their future. Often, it is a last resort when every
avenue has been extinguished.
The world of the
sex slave is not exactly like that of the prostitute. Their
world is akin to that of a prisoner, but at least a prisoner
has a future release date and a chance to return to a semi-normal
life.
The life of a sex
slave is filled with danger, fear and the imminent possibility
of death. No citizen of the world should be considered the
property of another.
Abraham Lincoln
ostensibly abolished slavery in the United States with the
signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but that
only concerned slavery based on race. Obviously, sexual slavery
was not a problem in Lincoln's day, but we should not shy
away from using the term to refer to the current situation.
Organizations like
Amnesty International work tirelessly for the rights of the
oppressed around the world. We need more organizations like
Captive Daughters to work for the rights of those trapped
in the world of sexual slavery.
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