Virgin for sale, welcome to India in 2008

edwardseco

I found such a community travelling through villages in Maharashtra. Stayed a night in their village..

snowcrab

Women's sexuality is a commodity everywhere and men are in many different cultures the brokers. A lot of those crack addict girls in the sex trade in the developed world also have pimps. The "first time" custom is very similar to the selling of a Geisha's "first time" in the Japanese tradition. It's just sort of sad that these women are not allowed to get married and have a stable home life after their days of being a sexual commodity are finished.

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ani rch

@ snowcrab
no the saddest part is that they have no choice,if somebody wanted to sell something of his or her own including body willingly then its fine but the choice should not be for the reason that no other alternative is availbale to her or him.it should be by her free will.and how they will live their life afterwords should also be determined by themselvs.

desertrose

Maybe you would like to see this also http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/341/index.html and please do not forget to watch the video, it is very interesting.

ranjan154

Child marriage is something to be protested and rebuffed at any cost. It is something as nipping in the bud for the concerned bride.

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Rakesh Ranjan
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/travinfoindia/

Gardener972

If the mother or even grandmother has no self-respect, I suppose it would be difficult to teach their daughter to love and respect themself. Sad how the love of money takes over, isn't it?

sundowner

I can't remeber which European country it was but I read reports of girls as young as 13 providing sexual favours for Bacardi Breezers.
I agree with Captain Majan, the sums involved are not to be sniffed at, whatever we may think of the morality of it all. I've been looking for the perfect world all my life, so far............

On the bigger issue of men and work. I feel an upbringing that taught men responsibilty, would be a step in the right direction. All over India I see men who think life is about smoking bidis, whilst women do all sorts of terrible things to bring home the bacon.

Nick-H

Yes, there are plenty of men sitting at home and drinking their wives' paypackets, just as there are all over the world. It is really to much of a generalisation to say that Indian men are any worse than men the world over in this way.

If I was going to generalise, I'd say that Indian men have a greater sense of self-respect associated with working and supporting their families, and an awareness of the fact that they may starve if they do not work.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

brishti

free will is something, an amazing tiny percentage of the populace of this world is able to exercise.
its a luxury.

appreciate it - dont take it for granted - all ye who has it



:brishti

Nick-H

Yes, that is true.

We who come from richer countries or backgrounds talk a lot about stuff like childhood, for instance, as if it were an absolute right, whereas many millions hardly experience what we recognise as childhood

ani rch

@ brishti
thats right. it is really a luxary.it is a real idealistic situation i agree, as free will also be influenced by the environment , society and up bringing.but even if it is ideal situation the aim should be to reach ideal so that we could try to reachsomething closer to it.

ani rch

@ Nick
yes most of the children of our country dont have their childhood.specially most of the poor girls performed as her mothers proxy and statred to look after her bro and sis in a age of 5 while her mother is away from home. it is not only poverty and lack of education but also the higher birth rate and social pressure ending up their childhood. actually what i feel the most prominent problem of our country is increasing population rate. we must take some action to decrease the rate.otherwise the higher growth rate of GDP will not increase the humanitarian index.

brishti

i kinda empathise with what you say ani...
but the fact is - 'undoing' 'unlearning' is an arduous process - which takes several generations...
wee wee unnoticeable steps are being taken -
besides - where there is a ying, can yang be far behind.

a 15 year old dalit girl was beaten to death because of a love affair... oh well.
its complicated, its complex, its riddled with generations of beliefs, conviction and custom.

but like i said - baby steps are being taken -
too late for those already gone... but - always hope for tomorrow, i guess.


:brishti

ani rch

true very true.adoption process is very slow some times fastrating but we should believe in better tomorrow.and i know it will come. many things has changed. and other will change too. but some issues like population control and global warming can not be left on the normal process of awarness creation.if we wait to solve them slowly by baby step then end will be much faster than what we can imagine.so along with awarness creation we should take some deffinite anf fast action like carrot and stick method.

machadinha

However, that, and a lot of what's been said here, seems to suggest it's an issue of the commodification of, in this case, sexuality, as a result of the confrontation with modernity.

If you read that article in post #53 though ("Prostitution as a tradition among Bedia tribe of North India," and note also how the title suggests a very different slant than that of the article reported in post #1; it originates at http://adivasi.wordpress.com/2008/03...f-north-india/ ), the issue in this specific case seems to be the exact opposite: That of a tribal people with a complex and unique social and economic system that seems diametrically opposed to our own moral perceptions of the same. I don't think it can be understood by projecting our own notions of morality on it, hence the conflict. My feeling (or so far, in any case) is it becomes immoral precisely because of its confrontation with modernity, not the other way around. It remains to be seen if those tribals perceive it to be immoral, or have traditionally perceived it to be so.* It's like trying to pass judgement on some cannibalistic Papuan tribe or so (reports of which have traditionally tended to be highly exaggerated, or at least highly colored by the observers' perceptions, in any case).

I also think that for the same reasons it isn't directly related to the issue of child brides as such. Again, not everything we perceive as deviating from the norm can be heaped together if we are to understand it or do something about it, if something must be done at all.

* (They may or may not have; interestingly, the article suggests those tribals themselves are unsure as to the origins or history of the tradition. This article itself presents more of a study as such in any case, and lays down no judgement or even a conclusion in itself.)

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Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links