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Saturday, July 19, 2008

Oops!

Rachel-"You conniving bitch. How could you do this? You were supposed to be my friend. When all along you were just using me to get to him! Behind my back" There was tears falling furiously down my cheeks now. I was so upset I really didn't understand. Jasmine and Will: it was like Marmite and Peanut Butter Jelly. It just didn’t go together. No matter in how many perspectives you looked at it. Will was a bastard for hitting on a girl who was a year younger than him and she was a slut for seducing a boy a year older than her. I had decided this as soon as I caught them saliva swapping in my bedroom. I hated the both of them. I didn't care whose fault it was I just hated them so much."Rachel calm down""Don't tell me to calm down. I don't want to hear it" I did a 180 degree turn and ran out the room the down the stairs and out the door. I didn't where I was going I just knew that I was not staying there. I had my bankcard on me so would be fine - until the money ran out.

Jasmine-I feel like shit. I don't believe what just happened it feels like a huge nightmare. I hazily pinch myself just to check it's real. I don't want it to be. Because if it is, it means that I just lost a friend. I feel a cold hand squash over my heart, my lips tingle from where Will kissed me, my eyes burn, and my fingers are clutched like a vice over Will's sweaty palms. My senses are fuzzy and things only start to clear as I notice Will's heavy breathing. I want to say something but I can't. I want to cry but I can't. I want to show some form of emotion but I just can't. I feel so guilty mostly because deep in my heart if I had a chance to do everything again I would still have kissed Will. I can't explain why. I can't explain the feeling deep in my heart that I felt when our lips merged. Eventually Will unclasps my fingers from their vice grip and wraps his arms around me. I feel confused for a brief moment till I realized tears are falling rapidly from my eyes. A deep hollow feeling which settled over me is now filled and I suddenly wish he hadn't hugged me the hollow feeling was better than the pain I feel right now. I started crying with my whole being, my shoulders shook and my vision fogged."Don't cry she is just in shock. She'll come round" I give myself a mental shake and drag myself from his embrace. I attempt to compose myself (you know wipe my tears ECT.)"What are we going to do" I say shakily"Wait for her" he said slowly and calmly. I wanted to slap him. Rachel had just run away and he was saying we should wait for her to come back as if she had just popped to the corner shop! I breathed deeply knowing that loosing my temper wasn't going to solve anything."I'm going home" I said not wanting to go but knowing that if I stayed any longer I would become infatuated with Will. I had to keep my distance."Yeah I think that will be best""Bye" I said, turning and walking through Rachel's doorway. I had never felt so depressed and sad in my life.

Will-…………Was that a cock up and half. I have never ever seen Raych(Rachel as she is called by me) so angry in my life. And I can’t say that she is over-reacting as it’s not everyday your first real best friend shacks up with your brother in the 2nd week of your friendship. I have no idea what to do. I am definitely going to look for her. I just had to get rid of Jasmine first so IF! (And that is a big if)I find her I would be able to talk to her and maybe convince her to come home. She has never run away from home before and there are a lot of things that could happen to a girl of her age at this time of the day. It was almost 6:00pm. I am scared shitless. First I have to look for her bankcard. If I can’t find it I will be calm because then at least I know she will be able to book herself into a hotel or something for the night. I look everywhere for her card but I can’t find it neither can I find her bus pass. I heave a sigh of relief. While standing in her room I replay all the events of this afternoon. I realize things with Jasmine will cause some turbulence to me and Raych’s relationship but to be honest I don’t think I am going to be able to give up Jasmine. To put it frankly: Jasmine is hot! I know she is a year younger than me but age has never bothered me before so why should it now. I know Rachel is upset but she has to see it from my point of view: Jasmine is hot!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Status of Women in Indian Society

Abstract: The worth of a civilization can be judged by the place given to women in the society. One of several factors that justify the greatness of India's ancient culture is the honorable place granted to women. The Muslim influence on India caused considerable deterioration in the status of women. They were deprived of their rights of equality with men. Raja Ram Mohan Roy started a movement against this inequality and subjugation. The contact of Indian culture with that of the British also brought improvement in the status of women. The third factor in the revival of women's position was the influence of Mahatma Gandhi who induced women to participate in the Freedom Movement. As a result of this retrieval of freedom, women in Indian have distinguished themselves as teachers, nurses, air-hostesses, booking clerks, receptionists, and doctors. They are also participating in politics and administration. But in spite of this amelioration in the status of women, the evils of illiteracy, dowry, ignorance, and economic slavery would have to be fully removed in order to give them their rightful place in Indian society.


The worth of a civilization can be judged from the position that it gives to women. Of the several factors that justify the greatness of India's ancient culture, one of the greatest is the honoured place ascribed to women. Manu, the great law-giver, said long ago, 'where women are honoured there reside the gods'. According to ancient Hindu scriptures no religious rite can be performed with perfection by a man without the participation of his wife. Wife's participation is essential to any religious rite. Married men along with their wives are allowed to perform sacred rites on the occasion of various important festivals. Wives are thus befittingly called 'Ardhangani' (betterhalf). They are given not only important but equal position with men.
But in the later period the position of women went on deteriorating due to Muslim influence. During the Muslim period of history they were deprived of their rights of equality with men. They were compelled to keep themselves within the four walls of their houses with a long veil on their faces. This was definitely due to Islamic influence. Even today in some Islamic countries women are not allowed to go out freely. The conservative regimes of Iran and Pakistan, for example, have withdrawn the liberties given to women folk by the previous liberal governments. Even in India the Muslim women are far more backward than their Hindu, Christian and Sikh counterparts. The sight of Muslim women walking with long 'Burkas' (veils) on their person is not very rare. The women are, as a matter of fact, regarded as captive and saleable commodities in Muslim families. One man is allowed to have so many wives with the easiest provision of divorce. The husband can divorce a wife just by saying 'I divorce you' under the provision of Muslim laws. This is what the emperors did hundred years back and the men are doing it even now in almost all Islamic countries. Even in this last phase of the twentieth century rich and prosperous men of Islamic countries keep scores of wives in their harems. It was natural outcome of the Muslim subjugation of India that woman was relegated to a plaything of man, an ornament to decorate the drawing room. Serving, knitting, painting and music were her pastimes and cooking and cleaning her business.
In the wake of Raja Ram Mohan Roy's movement against women's subjugation to men and British influence on Indian culture and civilization the position of women had once again undergone a change. However, it was only under the enlightened leadership of Mahatma Gandhi that they re-asserted their equality with men. In response to the call of Gandhi they discarded their veil and came out of the four walls of their houses to fight the battle of freedom shoulder to shoulder with their brothers. The result is that the Indian Constitution today has given to women the equal status with men. There is no discrimination between men and women. All professions are open to both of them with merit as the only criterion of selection.
As a result of their newly gained freedom Indian woman have distinguished themselves in various spheres of life as politicians, orators, lawyers, doctors, administrators and diplomats. They are not only entrusted with work of responsibility but also they perform their duties very honestly and sincerely. There is hardly any sphere of life in which Indian women have not taken part and shown their worth. Women exercise their right to vote, contest for Parliament and Assembly, seek appointment in public office and compete in other spheres of life with men. This shows that women in India enjoy today more liberty and equality than before. They have acquired more liberty to participate in the affairs of the country. They have been given equality with men in shaping their future and sharing responsibilities for themselves, their family and their country.
It is a fact that women are intelligent, hard-working and efficient in work. They put heart and soul together in whatever they undertake. As typists and clerks they are now competing successfully with men. There are many women working in the Central Secretariat. They are striving very hard to reach highest efficiency and perfection in the administrative work. Their integrity of character is probably better than men. Generally it was found that women are less susceptible to corruption in form of bribery and favouritism. They are not only sweet tongued but also honest, efficient and punctual in their jobs as receptionists, air-hostesses and booking clerks at railway reservation counters. As a matter of fact they are gradually monopolising the jobs of receptionists and air-hostesses.
Another job in which Indian women are doing so well is that of teachers. In country like India where millions are groping in the darkness of illiteracy and ignorance efficient teaching to the children is most urgently needed. By virtue of their love and affection for the children the women have proved the best teachers in the primary and kindergarten schools. They can better understand the psychology of a child than the male teachers. Small children in the kindergarten schools get motherly affection from the lady teachers. It is probably significant that the Montessori system of education is being conducted mostly by the women in this country.
Women have been serving India admirably as doctors and nurses. Lady doctors have been found to perform efficient surgery by virtue of their soft and accurate fingers. They have monopolised as nurses in the hospitals and nursing homes. Very few men have been able to compete with them in this sphere because the women have natural tendency to serve and clean. It is thus natural tendency found in women which motivated Florence Nightingale to make nursing popular among the women of the upper classes in England and in Europe. She showed the way to women kind how nobly they can serve humanity in the hours of sufferings and agonies.
Women's contributions in politics and social services have also been quite significant. We cannot fail to mention the name of Indira Gandhi who shone so brilliantly and radiantly in the firmament of India's politics. She ruled this country for more than a decade and took India victorious out of Pakistan-war which resulted in the historic creation of a new country, Bangladesh. In the field of social service Indian women have also done some excellent jobs. They have not only served the cause of the suffering humanity but have also brought highest laurels for the country. The name of Mother Teressa cannot but be mentioned. She brought the Nobel Prize for India by her selfless services to the poor, destitute and suffering people of our country in particular and the needy and handicapped people of the world in general. Today, we need the services of the educated women who can tour throughout the country and help in removing human sufferings. The Government is alarmed at the rapid growth of population in the rural areas in particular. Women volunteers can more easily take up the task of canvassing the advantages of family planning among the rural womenfolk. They can, more easily than men, carry on propaganda against hazards of unhygienic conditions under which the villagers live. In urban areas they can efficiently take up the task of visiting and teaching the orphans and the helpless widows in the orphanages and the widow welfare centres. They can train them in sewing, knitting, embroidery and nursing in which women by nature excel. They can also train them in the art of music and dancing.
But all this should not lead us to conclude that the women should look down upon domestic life. The main sphere of action for them who have not taken up jobs outside should be essentially a happy home which is their real kingdom and where their sweet manners and mature advices as wife, mother, sister and daughter make tremendous effects on the male members of the family. The progress of a nation depends upon the care and skill with which mothers rear up their children. The first and foremost duty of Indian women should, therefore, be to bring forth noble generations of patriots, warriors, scholars and statesmen. Since child's education starts even in the womb and the impressions are formed in the mind of a child while in mothers arms women have to play a role of vital importance. They have to feel and realise at every step of their life that they are builders of the fate of our nation since children grow mainly in mothers arms. They should also discourage their husbands and sons from indulging in bribery and other corrupt practices. This they can do only when they learn the art of simple living by discarding their natural desires for ornaments and a living of pomp and show. In many cases families have been running in deficit due to the extravagance of the housewives in maintaining a high standard of living. The result is that the earning male members of the family are forced to fill up the gap in the budget by corrupt practices. Corruption has been so far the greatest impediment in way to India's progress. Minus corruption India would have been one of the most developed nations of the world.
There is no denying the fact that women in India have made a considerable progress in the last fifty years but yet they have to struggle against many handicaps and social evils in the male dominated society. The Hindu Code Bill has given the daughter and the son equal share of the property. The Marriage Act no longer regards woman as the property of man. Marriage is now considered to be a personal affair and if a partner feels dissatisfied she or he has the right of divorce. But passing of law is one thing and its absorption in the collective thinking of society is quite a different matter. In order to prove themselves equal to the dignity and status given to them in the Indian Constitution they have to shake off the shackles of slavery and superstitions. They should help the government and the society in eradicating the evils of dowry, illiteracy and ignorance among the eves. The dowry problem has assumed a dangerous form in this country. The parents of the girls have to pay thousands and lacs to the bridegrooms and their greedy fathers and mothers. If promised articles are not given by the parents of brides, the cruel and greedy members of the bridegrooms' family take recourse to afflicting tortures on the married women. Some women are murdered in such cases. The dowry deaths are really heinous and barbarous crimes committed by the cruel and inhumane persons. The young girls should be bold enough in not marrying the boys who demand dowry through their parents. The boys should also refuse to marry if their parents demand dowry. But unfortunately the number of such bold and conscientious boys is very few. Even the doctors, engineers, teachers and the administrative officers do not hesitate in allowing themselves to be sold to the wealthy fathers of shy and timid girls. Such persons have really brought disgrace to their cadres in particular and society in general. The government should enact stringent laws to afflict rigorous punishment on dowry seekers, women's murderers and rapers.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Prostitution & Sex Tourism

What are Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
Prostitution and sex tourism fall under a more general category of sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation happens when one person (or persons) receives sex or money through abusing another person's sexuality. For an example of prostitution, a man may receive sex and a pimp may receive money by using a woman as a prostitute. In sex tourism, an American man may pay a sex travel agency for a trip to Thailand which includes airfare, hotel, food, and women for sex. Prostitution can include traditional forms of prostitution (through a brothel, the military, or on the streets), and also sex tourism, sex trafficking, and mail order bride selling.
. Who is affected by Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
It is difficult to estimate how many people are working in prostitution because so many women working as waitresses, hotel maids, salesclerks, bar girls, and golf caddies are forced into prostitution as part of their work. In Thailand, it has been estimated that at least 200,000 women and children work in prostitution. At least one-third of Thai prostitutes are under the age of 18, and most adult prostitutes started when they were only children. Children as young as six years old work in prostitution. Prostitutes are primarily women and girls, although some men and boys also work in prostitution.
Many of the children who work in prostitution come from extremely poor families -- the child's work as a prostitute may feed her entire family.Women and children may also be illegal trafficked from one country to another under the belief that they will find work in another country. Their traffickers force them to pay a high price, and to work in prostitution on their arrivals in order to pay for their travel.
How do Prostitution & Sex Tourism affect health?
Physical Health
The sexual health of women and children in prostitution is severely harmed in many ways:
Increased risk of HIV/AIDS
Risk of sexually transmitted infections
Risk of unwanted pregnancy
Vaginal tearing
Violence
Rape
Physical abuse
Confinement
Mental Health
Prostitution is a violation of women's human rights, and treats women as objects. The pain of being treated so poorly can lead to depression and resignation. The state of girls' mental health is best illustrated by Poppy, quoted in The Child and the Tourist by Ron O'Grady:
"I found myself dancing at a club at the age of 11... I have had different kinds of customers, foreigners and Filipinos. I tried suicide but it didn't work so I turned to drugs. I want to die before my next birthday." Prostitution teaches men to view women as objects. Thus not only are women and children who are prostitutes harmed, but all women are harmed by prostitution.
Why do Prostitution & Sex Tourism affect Third World Women more than others?
Prostitution has become an industry in Thailand with the major help of the United States military and the World Bank. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Department of Defense had a contract with the Thai government to provide "Recreation & Relaxation" for U.S. soldiers. With money from the U.S. government, local Thai prostitution organized and expanded into a major industry. In 1975, the World Bank built an economic plan for Thailand around the sex tourism industry, which helped turn sex tourism into the country's number one export. Prostitution has now become such an important industry, that work to end prostitution must also support the growth of new industries.
How are people working to solve the problem of Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
Criminalizing prostitution
Although prostitution is illegal in Thailand, it is often protected by law enforcement agencies. When prostitution is illegal, it often means that it is illegal for a woman to be a prostitute, but not illegal for a man to pay a prostitute. This continues to harm the woman who is in prostitution, instead of helping her find ways out of prostitution. It also gives men free license to continue to find other women to exploit. When making prostitution illegal, the roles should be switched; men should be arrested for purchasing a prostitute, while women should not be thrown in jail for being a prostitute.
Promoting policies that address prostitution
Governments have a role in prosecuting companies that sell sex tourist packages. For example, in New York, prostitution laws state that: "a person is guilty of promoting prostitution in the third degree when he knowingly advances or profits from prostitution by managing, supervising, controlling or owning...a prostitution business or enterprise involving prostitution activity by two or more prostitutes...." Sex tourism agencies originating in New York could be prosecuted under this law.
The World Bank has a role in addressing prostitution when it is loaning $1.9 billion US dollars to Thailand for projects. Its of supporting sex tourism in Thailand makes it unlikely that current policy critically considers the effects of sex tourism on women in children. In fact, the Thailand do not even mention the sex tourism industry or prostitution. Projects to improve the lives of women and children in Thailand cannot work if the role of sex tourism is not addressed.
Increasing opportunities in education and employment
Women and children are not freely choosing the work in prostitution; it is a "choice" based purely on the economics of food and shelter. Girls who work as prostitutes in Thailand can provide for their entire family, while most other jobs cannot. It will take economic change to help women and children seriously considering leaving the sex tourism industry. Jobs must be available that can provide for families, and people must be trained to do them. New industry must replace the current sex industry to enact real change for women and children in prostitution.
What is being done right now about Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
Ms. Magazine recently compiled a list of resources to stop sex trafficking, many of which appear here (or lead to resources that appear here).
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women "works internationally to oppose all forms of sexual exploitation." Actions include support for Coalition Against Prostitution, Child Abuse & Trafficking. Gives Thai-based organizations space to document their work on poverty, prostitution, and child labor, in order to compel people to take action. Based in Thailand .The Center for the Protection of Children's Rights: Advocates for abused children, and works to stop trafficking. Based in Thailand directed at United States officials to prosecute sex tourism companies. Based in the United States.

'50,000 Iraqi refugees' forced into prostitution

Women and girls, many alarmingly young, who fled the chaos at home are being further betrayed after reaching 'safety' in Syria
It's Monday night in a dingy club on the outskirts of the Syrian capital. Two dozen girls are moving half-heartedly on the dance floor, lit up by flashing disco lights.
They are dessed in tight jeans, low-cut tops and knee-high boots, but the girls' make-up can't disguise the fact that most are in their mid-teens. It's a strange sight in a conservative Muslim country, but this is the sex business, and it's booming as a result of the war in Iraq.
Backstage, the manager sits in his leather chair, doing business. A Saudi client is quoted $500 for one of the girls. Eventually he beats it down to $300. Next door, in a dimly lit room, the next shift of girls arrives, taking off the black all-covering abayasthey wear outside and putting on lipstick and mascara.
To judge from the cars parked outside, the clients come from all over the Gulf region - many are young Saudi men escaping from an even more conservative moral climate. But the Syrian friend who has brought me here tells me that 95 per cent of the girls are Iraqi.
Most are unwilling to talk, but Zahra, an attractive girl with a bare midriff and tattoos, tells me she's 16. She has been working in this club since fleeing to Syria from Baghdad after the war. She doesn't like it, she says, "but what can we do? I hope things get better in Iraq, because I miss it. I want to go back, but I have to look after my sister". Zahra points to a thin, pubescent girl with long black hair, who seems to be dancing quite happily. Aged 13, Nadia started in the club two months ago.
As the girls dance suggestively, allowing their breasts to brush against each other, one winks at a customer. But these girls are not just providing the floor show - they have paid to be here, and they need to pick up a client, or they'll lose money. If successful, they'll earn about $60, equivalent to a month's wages in a factory.
There are more than a million Iraqi refugees in Syria, many are women whose husbands or fathers have been killed. Banned from working legally, they have few options outside the sex trade. No one knows how many end up as prostitutes, but Hana Ibrahim, founder of the Iraqi women's group Women's Will, puts the figure at 50,000.
I met Fatima in a block of flats operating informally as a brothel in Saida Zainab, a run-down area with a large Iraqi population. Millions of Shias go there every year, because of the shrine of the prophet Mohamed's granddaughter. "I came to Syria after my husband was killed, leaving me with two children," Fatima tells me. "My aunt asked me to join her here, and my brothers pressured me to go." She didn't realise the work her aunt did, and she would be forced to take up, until she arrived.
Fatima is in her mid-20s, but campaigners say the number of Iraqi children working as prostitutes is high. Bassam al-Kadi of Syrian Women Observatory says: "Some have been sexually abused in Iraq, but others are being prostituted by fathers and uncles who bring them here under the pretext of protecting them. They are virgins, and they are brought here like an investment and exploited in a very ugly way."