Prostitution: A Modern Form of Slavery
Prostitution: A Modern Form of Slavery
A Study on Marina Lewycka’s “Business Philosophy” and Ric Esther Bienstock’s “Sex Slaves”
By:
Ali Tabatabaeinia
GS32970
November 2012
Introduction
Prostitution, in the vast majority of cases, represents the ownership of women and children by pimps, brothel owners, and sometimes even customers for the purpose of financial gain, sexual gratification, and/or power and domination. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration states clearly “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Yet in our time slavery is thriving. An offering by Marina Lewycka titled “Business Philosophy” portrays a slimy peddler in human flesh. “Look at it from my point of view—it’s not easy trying to make an honest living in these parts, but my business philosophy is to give my customers what they want. And what they want is girls. Nice, willing, pretty girls.” Sometimes a young female is not so pliant. A male employee administers discipline: “Like I said, no one sets out to hurt the girlies deliberately, but Branko’s a big lad and I sometimes think he doesn’t know his own strength, so she ended up with a couple of fractured ribs and a few broken bones in her feet, nothing that wouldn’t mend with a bit of rest.” The pimp expresses fury over one young woman’s escape to the safety of a women’s refuge.
Literature Review/Background
The stories and movies used in this paper are chosen among contemporary works. The short story “Business Philosophy” by Marina Lewycka was published in 2009 in a book called “Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and concentrates on sex trafficking from the point of view of a brothel owner who is telling the story of one of the girls who tries to escape to a Women’s Refugee.
There’s one movie in particular that this paper is focusing on called “Sex Slaves” which is a 2005 documentary
A Study on Marina Lewycka’s “Business Philosophy” and Ric Esther Bienstock’s “Sex Slaves”
By:
Ali Tabatabaeinia
GS32970
November 2012
Introduction
Prostitution, in the vast majority of cases, represents the ownership of women and children by pimps, brothel owners, and sometimes even customers for the purpose of financial gain, sexual gratification, and/or power and domination. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration states clearly “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Yet in our time slavery is thriving. An offering by Marina Lewycka titled “Business Philosophy” portrays a slimy peddler in human flesh. “Look at it from my point of view—it’s not easy trying to make an honest living in these parts, but my business philosophy is to give my customers what they want. And what they want is girls. Nice, willing, pretty girls.” Sometimes a young female is not so pliant. A male employee administers discipline: “Like I said, no one sets out to hurt the girlies deliberately, but Branko’s a big lad and I sometimes think he doesn’t know his own strength, so she ended up with a couple of fractured ribs and a few broken bones in her feet, nothing that wouldn’t mend with a bit of rest.” The pimp expresses fury over one young woman’s escape to the safety of a women’s refuge.
Literature Review/Background
The stories and movies used in this paper are chosen among contemporary works. The short story “Business Philosophy” by Marina Lewycka was published in 2009 in a book called “Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and concentrates on sex trafficking from the point of view of a brothel owner who is telling the story of one of the girls who tries to escape to a Women’s Refugee.
There’s one movie in particular that this paper is focusing on called “Sex Slaves” which is a 2005 documentary
References: Hershman, Tania. The Short Review. 2009. 5 2012. . IMDB. IMDB. n.d. 5 2012. . Leidhold, Dorchen A. Making the Harm Visible. 2 1999. 11 2012. . Sex Slaves. Dir. Ric Esther Bienstock. 2005. Various-Writers. Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York: Amnesty International, 2009.