Impact of Globalization on Child Prostitution in Many Countries

Impact of Globalization on the Child Prostitution Industry
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Impact of Globalization on the Child Prostitution Industry
Introduction
Child prostitution refers to the use of children (below the adult age depending on country) for sexual activities in exchange for money or any other form of retribution. The children are strategically placed in streets, brothels, night clubs, massage parlors or hotels where clients can easily find them. Child prostitution occurs among both boys and girls. There are many driving factors which influence children into prostitution including poverty, and cultural beliefs. For example, in some Asian countries, there is a myth that having sex with a young girl prevents one from contracting HIV/AIDS besides curing those already infected. Globalization has also had its part to play in child prostitution.
Globalization is one of the most prevalent trends in the contemporary business world. Through globalization, a certain trade develops international business networks and channels in an attempt to capture a larger customer-base across the globe (Beneria, Berik & Floro, 2015). Despite its many advantages, globalization does not always occur positively. This is because globalization can encourage illegal businesses such as child prostitution and human trafficking. Globalization of such illegal activities makes it very difficult to stop them because of a variety of reasons such as culture, law, as well as the complicated channels that enable these businesses to go on unpunished. With regards, to child prostitution, globalization has been integral in ensuring the illegal business continues despite being a banned practice in most countries. Globalization can occur in many aspects, i.e., globalization of economics, cultural practices, and many more (Beneria, Berik, & Floro, 2015). This paper assesses how and why globalization increased the statistics for child prostitution in the modern world by looking at the two major aspects of globalization that influence child prostitution, globalization of economics and globalization of cultures.
History of Child Prostitution
Child prostitution has been around since the antiquity days when prepubescent boys were employed as prostitutes in brothels in ancient Greece and Rome (National Geographic, 2016). During the ancient times, the most beautiful Egyptian maidens were forced into prostitution until their first menstruation. In China and India, children were sold by their parents into prostitution. Some Indian parents voluntarily dedicated their children to prostitution through a system called the devadasi system. Child prostitution in Europe thrived up until the latter part of the 17th century. Child prostitutes accounted for about 50% of the total prostitutes in Paris in the late 1800s (Kamruzzaman & Hakim, 2016). In the 19th century, a scandal in England forced the government to increase the age of consent from 13 to 16. The scandal was that of a 13-year old girl who had been sold for 5 British pounds and was taken to a midwife to verify her virginity. It was during this time when the term white slavery was coined to describe child prostitution; the term became widely used throughout Europe and the US. In China and India, children were sold by their parents into prostitution. Some Indian parents voluntarily dedicated their children to prostitution through a system called the devadasi system.
Current Status of Child Prostitution
Child prostitution is one of the epidemics of the contemporary world. Child prostitution occurs across both genders, i.e. male and female. Female child prostitution is the most prevalent form of child prostitution. The various ways in which children find themselves in prostitution include child trafficking (Beneria, Berik, & Floro, 2015), trickery, the slave trade, abduction, etc. The United Nations have banned child prostitution under International law, and different organizations and campaigns have formed in protest of its existence. The problem of child prostitution is severest in South America and Asia. However, child prostitution exists everywhere around the world. According to UNICEF (2016), the child prostitution industry employs more than 1 million children in Asia, approximately 2 million children in India, over 100,000 children in the US and more than half a million children in Latin America. The global estimate for children involved in prostitution currently stands at over 10 million (UNICEF, 2016). One of the reasons the child prostitution industry is thriving so well despite being banned by relatively all relevant bodies and governments around the world is the globalization of economics (Robinson, 1997). Economics plays a key role in attracting new players in this illegal trade as the business is a financially rewarding one. Also, the globalization of culture plays a central role in promoting this business as in most cases it is the child’s culture that compels them to be exploited sexually.
Comparative Viewpoints
Different viewpoints have been presented in regards to the causes of child prostitution. The two major factors that foster child prostitution are the globalization of economics and the child’s native/adopted culture (Beneria, Berik, & Floro, 2015). In this section, we shall assess and elucidate how and why these two factors encourage child prostitution in many countries.
The Forces of Globalization of Economics
Since child prostitution is a multi-billion-dollar sector, the financial rewards outweigh the child’s best interests for most players in this industry. Under the globalization of economics, four major forces encourage child prostitution: sex tourism, supply and demand, poverty in underdeveloped countries, and the female child. Sex tourism is among the most lucrative businesses in the world, generating upwards of a billion dollars every year. The profitability of sex tourism can be traced back to the Vietnamese war during which sex between American soldiers and young Asian girl was well organized and facilitated (Johanson, 2018). After the war had ended and the American troops had returned home, brothels were left with no revenue and prostitutes were left with no clients. To compensate for the lost revenue, Asian governments attempted to boost their economies by encouraging sex tourism (Montgomery 2015). To date, Asian countries continue to have high populations in the child prostitution industry. The major clients are still, American, European, Australian and Japanese. The popularity of sex tourism stems from the fact that patrons can engage in illegal sexual activities without punishment making it worth the money in the eyes of most patrons (Kamruzzaman & Hakim, 2016). Sex tourism is among the most lucrative businesses in the world, generating upwards of a billion dollars every year. The profitability of sex tourism can be traced back to the Vietnamese war during which sex between American soldiers and young Asian girl was well organized and facilitated.
Forces of Supply and demand
Competition in the child prostitution industry is very high among procurers and countries because of the high demand and low supply of child prostitutes. The low supply of child prostitutes in Asia necessitates traffickers to cross borders in search for more young victims to recruit into the business (Johanson, 2018). Thus, cross-border child trafficking takes place. For example, in Thailand, significant numbers of victims have been reported abducted and trafficked to China, India and other Asian countries (Johansson, 2018). The result of such occurrences is a global ripple effect of child prostitution.
In developing countries, the most notable reason for child prostitution is poverty. In impoverished environments where families can barely afford the basic needs for their young ones, sex procurement age...