by Naomi Blackman

Created on: January 14, 2009

Mudan, a girl barely five years old, dreams of the day her mother will come back. She dreams of what is beyond the boarded windows in the real world. She dreams about running into the arms of her nearly forgotten family. Most of all, she dreams that the men will stop coming through that door to touch her. The older girls know better; they tell her, "we don't have the luxury to dreamwe're all whores" (Powell 2004). This story of Mudan, a young girl stolen from her home and sold into the sex trade in Cambodia, is vividly illustrated in the docudrama, Fields of Mudan (ibid). Despite its fictional category, the most unrealistic aspect of the film is the clean condition of the brothel, not the fact that girls as young as five are being sexually exploited by rich men. The sex trade has existed in Southeast Asia for decades. Due to the economic success in Southeastern countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, several more Asian countries have taken to sex trafficking in order to stimulate economic development (Flowers 2001:150). Recently, Cambodia has become a major hub for sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of young females. Both local Cambodian men and foreign pedophiles visit Cambodian brothels in search of young, virginal sex workers. Media coverage has shown us that Americans encompass the largest group of sex tourists (Cherry 2008), but what appears to be neglected is Canada's participation. There are Canadian men who are equally as involved as Americans, but the unfortunate difference is that Canadians get away with it. Despite Canadian laws citing the illegality of engaging in sexual relations through foreign sex trafficking brothels, there has been little success in the prosecution of child sexploitation by Canadians in Cambodia. By not prosecuting and convicting Canadian sex offenders who are actively participating in the foreign sex trade, Canada is inadvertently promoting sex trafficking as a major contribution to Cambodia's economy. Fortunately, sex trafficking elimination organizations are emerging to help combat the problem.

Trafficking women and children for sex is a method used to expand the prostitution industry. This type of sex work differs from voluntary prostitution, although it can be argued that no sex work is voluntary since most voluntary' prostitutes feel forced to enter the trade due to poverty (Leviseda 2003:7). The children who trade sex for money in Cambodia do not choose sex work, especially not those aged five to fifteen.

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