Language 02 project

For the language 2 project we have to look at two social groups exploring the topic of 'Emergency in the suburbia'. I chose 'voyeurs' and 'human trafficking'.

So far the most interesting facts found and general information:

Human trafficking:

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery. Trafficking is a lucrative industry. It has been identified as the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. It is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry in the world.However, it is argued that many of these statistics are grossly inflated to aid advocacy of anti-trafficking NGOs and the anti-trafficking policies of governments. Due to the definition of trafficking being a process (not a singly defined act) and the fact that it is a dynamic phenomenon with constantly shifting patterns relating to economic circumstances, much of the statistical evaluation is flawed.

 While smuggling requires travel, trafficking does not. Much of the confusion rests with the term itself. The word "trafficking" includes the word "traffic," which means transportation or travel. However, while the words look and sound alike, they do not hold the same meaning.

Victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination. They are held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation. The arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the victim not being permitted or able to pay off the debt.

Types of human trafficking: bonded labour, forced labour, child labour, sex trafficking.

Fake job offers are a common way to obtain women in Asia, the Former Soviet Block Nations and Latin America.

Sex trafficking is still a big problem in the Eastern Europe, including Lithuania. Even though it's a bit less than a few years back, there still are stories reported about various accidents when young girls are taken to Russia or Scandinavian countries to work as sex slaves. A good movie about that is 'Lilya 4-ever', directed by a Swedish movie director. It tells a story about one of the girls taken Sweden to work as a prostitute, about her unfulfilled dreams, the situation at home and how for some of those unlucky girls there is almost nobody to care and ask for help from.

The main motive of a woman (in some cases, an underage girl) to accept an offer from a trafficker is better financial opportunities for herself or her family. In many cases, traffickers initially offer ‘legitimate’ work or the promise of an opportunity to study. The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs, modeling contracts, or au pair work. Traffickers sometimes use offers of marriage, threats, intimidation and kidnapping as means of obtaining victims. In the majority of cases, the women end up in prostitution. Also some (migrating) prostitutes become victims of human trafficking. Some women know they will be working as prostitutes, but they have an inaccurate view of the circumstances and the conditions of the work in their country of destination. 

Shame is a club that beats enslaved women at practically every turn. It starts when young girls from impoverished families are blamed for the destitution of their parents. “Good” daughters manage the health and welfare of their mother and father. Their suffering translates into her shame, so she is willing to make any sacrifice to change their condition.

The community’s perception of sexual purity also plays a major role in a young girl’s shame. Once an unmarried girl has lost her virginity, she is considered despoiled. It does not matter if a family member sexually abused her or a stranger raped her. Purity is all or nothing–either you have it or you don’t. Her family will treat her as blight to its honor, and no ‘respectable’ man will want to marry her. The girl might as well be sold into a life of prostitution, for she has lost her innocence. So strikes the club of shame.

Traffickers and brothel owners alike also use this cultural value to manipulate girls. If a new recruit resists the idea of having sex with a paying customer, the slaveholder might rape her himself and say, “Now you are used goods; you might as well give it up for other men.” Tragically, the girl is apt to understand the logic of this brutal indoctrination and resign herself to life in the brothel. She has lost everything–her family will reject her and her neighbors will treat her as a pariah. And each day she stays, the possibility of rejoining respectable community life diminishes. She lives in exile.

Voyeurism:

Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature.

The principal characteristic of voyeurism is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the subject of his/her interest, who is often unaware of being observed. Voyeurism may involve the making of a secret photograph or video of the subject during an intimate activity. When the interest in a particular subject is obsessive, the behavior may be described as stalking.

However, in today's society the concept of voyeurism has evolved, especially in popular culture. Non-pornographic reality television programs such as Survivor and The Real World, are prime examples of voyeurism, where viewers (the voyeur) are granted an intimate interaction with a subject group or individual. Although not necessarily "voyeurism" in its original definition, as individuals in these given situations are aware of their audience, the concept behind "reality TV" is to allow unscripted social interaction with limited outside interference or influence. As such, the term still maintains its sexual connotations.

The term comes from the French voyeur, "one who looks". A male voyeur is commonly labeled "Peeping Tom", a term which originates from the Lady Godiva legend. However, that term is usually applied to a male who observes somebody through their window, and not in a public place.

In the United States, video voyeurism is an offense in nine states and may require the convicted person to register as a sex offender. The original case that led to the criminalization of voyeurism has been made into a television movie called Video Voyeur and documents the criminalization of secret photography. Criminal voyeurism statutes are related to invasion of privacy laws but are specific to unlawful surreptitious surveillance without consent and unlawful recordings including the broadcast, dissemination, publication, or selling of recordings involving places and times when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a reasonable supposition they are not being photographed or filmed by "any mechanical, digital or electronic viewing device, camera or any other instrument capable of recording, storing or transmitting visual images that can be utilized to observe a person." 

Saudi Arabia banned the sale of camera phones nationwide in April 2004, but reversed the ban in December 2004. Some countries, such as South Korea and Japan, require all camera phones sold in their country to make a clearly audible sound whenever a picture is being taken. Secret photography by law enforcement authorities is called surveillance and is not considered to be voyeurism, though it may be unlawful or regulated in some countries.

Photography

Some fine art photographers such as Richard Kern have displayed a fascination with the forms of secret voyeuristic photography.

The idea of the voyeuristic behaviour being also the reality shows really interests me. I tried looking at different types of hidden cameras and devices. There are examples of hidden cameras in toothbrushes, tissue boxes, shoes, cigarette packages, belt, necktie cameras...