Sex Slaves: The Trafficking of Women in Asia (Paperback)

by Louise Brown (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
'A trawl through the secret world of the eastern sex trade; from the squalor and slums of Burma to the secret lodging houses and expensive hotel rooms of Japan' EVENING HERALD 'This harrowing study of Asia's sex industry explodes popular cultural stereotypes about the continent's strict family values along with the well-maintained lie that the regional sex trade exists solely for the benefit of Western tourists. It exposes the shocking truth of how the sexual double standard is used ruthlessly to exploit those who fall the wrong side of the gender and poverty line. A horrific portrait of a society which systematically betrays and discards its daughters ... Brown is at pains to explore her subject as truthfully and thoroughly as possible, giving an overview of the industry rather than a victim's perspective' REBECCA JOHNSON 'SEX SLAVES highlights, necessarily, the dark side, the hypocrisy and the exploitation- often of children and teenagers- of the trade.' ASIAN VOICE

Product Description

The Asian sex trade is often assumed to cater predominantly to foreigners. Sex Slaves turns that belief on its head to show that while western sex tourists have played a vital part in the growth of the industry, the primary customers of Asia’s indentured sex workers and of its child prostitutes are overwhelmingly Asian men. Here are the voices of some of the world’s most silent and abused women—women who have been forced into prostitution by the men they trust. This is their story, including the journey from home to captivity, the horrors of "seasoning" for prostitution, and the hidden life within the brothel.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Virago UK (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860499031
• ISBN-13: 978-1860499036
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #441,980 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An extreme diservice to the study of trafficking, September 15, 2007

By	Arhtur Burton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The area of human trafficking is fraught with misinformation and sadly, "Sex Slaves" adds to it.

For example:

"Commercial sex is a quiet business in Asia.. you have to be an Asian man to know where to find it." p.3

~Totally false. Asia has entire cities where the ENTIRE economy of the city is built on a very public visible sex industry, catering to foreign men (Pattaya in Thailand, Angeles City in the Philippines). Numerous other cities have very visible red-light districts catering to foreigners (and sometimes locals).

-Asian countries are more prone to trafficking due to devaluing of women p.2

~Ridiculous. Trafficking is a worldwide phenomena, and there is a growing consensus that the #1 and #2 causes of trafficking are poverty and political corruption/graft.


It is obvious that Louise Brown feels very passionately and deeply about trafficking, if only she had channeled that passion towards attention to detail, precision and accuracy, she would have been able to truly serve these woman whom she obviously cares so much about.

As it is, she has mostly further murkied the waters of what is possibly the most hazy, illusive and complicated problem facing humanity today.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Annoyingly redundant, June 5, 2008

By	M. Critchley (Tokyo) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was asked to read and give my opinion of this book by a student who is about to embark on a masters course on this same topic. I therefore dutifully slogged through it, although I would have never finished it otherwise.

The topic of the book is primarily about the condition and circumstances of Asian women who have been trafficked into the sex industry for consumption by Asian men. As a book that brings focus on the abject abuse, imprisonment, slavery and torture of women, it is a welcome contrast to the more exploitive (read: crap) books on the market such as "Private Dancer," which tend to deal with the high end of Thai prostitution with western customers, all based more on fiction than on research. Brown's book is looking at the same coin from the opposite side. OK, that's about it for the positive comments I have to make about the book.

On the minus side, this book is so redundant, you need only read the first chapter, "The Market," to learn all you will about what Brown has to say on this subject. In chapters such as "The Management" and "The Law," Brown just spins a few interviews with Calcutta or Thai sex workers to send the same message of how horrible trafficking is and her disgust at the men who perpetuate it. I think she's spot on with her opinion and I had no idea of the depth of the problem, but more complete research might have given her more to write about each topic, and would have allowed me to read more than 4 pages before going to sleep.

As a case in point, there is a chapter titled, "The Customers." I was expecting to read data and observations based on interviews with the people who use prostitutes. Instead, all you read is more extrapolation of what she thinks men are thinking based on said interviews with the sex workers in Calcutta, the Philippines and so on. Her only published interview of a male seems to be the one young motorcycle taxi driver youth who said he went to brothels because he was "lonely." For this book to have increased substance and power to change and dismantle systems, interviews and insider information from all parties are required. In this same chapter Brown writes, "We should ask what these customers think about prostitution. And why they have to buy sex." Indeed, she should have.

As for her conclusion that prostitution should remain illegal, she ignores all of her evidence that it's precisely because it's illegal that police and other institutionalized corruption completely prevent the dismantling of the system. So which do you want? The unrealistic ideal of ending all prostitution while keeping it illegal at the expense of the continued state of women being kidnapped, cajoled, forced, sold and leveraged into accepting a fate (and by fate, I mean the end of their lives as they know it) of severe mental and physical abuse, confinement, rape and murder? Or do you try to help those suffering the most by legalizing and regulating it as an industry, with the intention of allowing more access of NGOs to inform, educate and help improve general working conditions in non-prostitution industries? This underlying confusion in her argument is really what annoys me the most about this book. I respect her passion for the subject, but she needs to take a reality pill, or at the very least try to draw conclusions that arise from her data.

In summary, as a person who purports to be tackling this as an academic, her research is weak and all of her conclusions seem to be based just on personal opinion and interviews with sex workers. As for her claim that her work is not meant to be sensational, with a title of Sex Slaves in bold red letters, and a cover shot of an Asian woman seemingly about to service some blurry unclothed man, it seems that sex does sell after all.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very informative, February 13, 2006

By	Heather L. Grantham "hg" (louisville, ky USA) - See all my reviews

I worked with trafficked women in the Philippines for one year and this book laid the groundwork for so much of the things I came to know while working with these women.

This book is so amazing and you should read it!