THE WOMEN
“I don`t understand why I keep visiting counseling and therapy, and then tell them that I cannot sleep and always have a nightmare. But they neglect the fact that I’m a prostitute. My body was black and blue, they beat my backbone with a board. My fingers and my feet have broken by the pimp. I have been raped more than 30 times. Why don`t they care about that?” ( taken from Farley and Barman 1998 page 46 )
Prostitution has been happening for centuries along with the developing of human civilization. The prostitution exists as one of the dark side of human civilization which is never lost from any part of the world.
The bible told a story about a repent and forswear prostitute, Maria Magdalena. The ancient Egypt literature has described sexuality, it told about a young prostitute; and discussed about the legalization of prostitution (Androutsons & Marketos, 1994)
The government has designed razia, ordinance, and regulation to fix the problem of prostitution but it still exists, and has considered as a problem to the society. Prostitute is often considered as a trash, a disease for the society. Most of prostitutes isolate them self from society. It is not only because of the exhortation by the pimps but also caused by the unconfident feeling as described by Silbert and Pines “ Psychological victimization and inability to take the opportunity to change whisch resulted from the incescapble violence they encountered throughout their lives ( Silbert & Pines, 1982b)”
According to the Misogynist myth, a prostitute is a source of dirty disease, they make “good wife” contaminated by dirty disesase through their husband. Prostitute has been considered as something which must be avoided. And it is caused the morality decrease in society.
In the other hand, they also bring the big impact in the economy income for their environment. They are responsible for their family life, eventhough they don’t have life assurance for the future or the savety of their life. In Cambodia for example, a survey results the report that one of two women suffers from HIV, they feel threatened by violence. They force consumer to use condom, its not only for their savety but also avoiding the spreading of HIV in society. Violence in prostitution is crusial things, 90% of women has been raped, 65% of women experience violence which is done by the consumer and 66% of women experience the violence which is done by the pimps. There are so many organizations giving special attention to this problem but they are failed. It is because they put the prostitute in one side without understanding the other side of them as a human. That’s why they feel that they were exploited.
In fact, some of them enter the prostitution because of the false-hope. Chattapadhay (1994) wrote that 70% of the Indian women interviewed wanted to leave the prostitution but cultural factor which chanelled them into prostitution prevented their escape : a 6% literacy rate, beatings, starvation, rape by family members, and sexual exploitation at their jobs.
According to Sclamber & Sclmaber (1995), research in 5 countries show that the main reasons to women become prostitute are because they don’t have any job, unfair job, and poverty. He also wrote that sexual violence happening in their childhood and among family members as the reasons why someone becomes prostitute ; 62% of women in prostitution reported the history of physical abused when they were children, in other study 90% of them had been physically battered in childhood : 74% of them got sexually abused in their families. And 50% sexually abuse by someone outside the family. ( Giobbe 1991)
It shows that most of women become prostitute or being in the street because they don`t get suitable environment. They have huge mentally traumatic in their social life, it is also influenced by their mindset, that life outside the prostitution is not always better than life inside the prostitution. That’s why the number of violence in prostitution is considered as a normal thing.
The victim is traumatic but they could not find the way out. They were trapped in their position as the main responsible person in their families. They are responsible to the life of the family member. The judgment from the society is very painful, it`s difficult for them to survive among the society with it. When they decide to stop being prostitutes, they must struggle to face the labeling from the society and its not easy to have a normal life.
It`s like a vicious circle, the economy of Indonesia is getting worse and a lot of women are trapped inside. The project is not talking about the judgment and the white or black side of prostitution. We don’t try to put the prostitute as some sub-ordinate. The project is trying to help them to express what they feel. Prostitute is a human as we are, they are humans with feeling and hope. They are women as we are, what they dream are as every woman dream. No matter where ever they are.
“I don`t understand why I keep visiting counseling and therapy, and then tell them that I cannot sleep and always have a nightmare. But they neglect the fact that I’m a prostitute. My body was black and blue, they beat my backbone with a board. My fingers and my feet have broken by the pimp. I have been raped more than 30 times. Why don`t they care about that?” ( taken from Farley and Barman 1998 page 46 )
Prostitution has been happening for centuries along with the developing of human civilization. The prostitution exists as one of the dark side of human civilization which is never lost from any part of the world.
The bible told a story about a repent and forswear prostitute, Maria Magdalena. The ancient Egypt literature has described sexuality, it told about a young prostitute; and discussed about the legalization of prostitution (Androutsons & Marketos, 1994)
The government has designed razia, ordinance, and regulation to fix the problem of prostitution but it still exists, and has considered as a problem to the society. Prostitute is often considered as a trash, a disease for the society. Most of prostitutes isolate them self from society. It is not only because of the exhortation by the pimps but also caused by the unconfident feeling as described by Silbert and Pines “ Psychological victimization and inability to take the opportunity to change whisch resulted from the incescapble violence they encountered throughout their lives ( Silbert & Pines, 1982b)”
According to the Misogynist myth, a prostitute is a source of dirty disease, they make “good wife” contaminated by dirty disesase through their husband. Prostitute has been considered as something which must be avoided. And it is caused the morality decrease in society.
In the other hand, they also bring the big impact in the economy income for their environment. They are responsible for their family life, eventhough they don’t have life assurance for the future or the savety of their life. In Cambodia for example, a survey results the report that one of two women suffers from HIV, they feel threatened by violence. They force consumer to use condom, its not only for their savety but also avoiding the spreading of HIV in society. Violence in prostitution is crusial things, 90% of women has been raped, 65% of women experience violence which is done by the consumer and 66% of women experience the violence which is done by the pimps. There are so many organizations giving special attention to this problem but they are failed. It is because they put the prostitute in one side without understanding the other side of them as a human. That’s why they feel that they were exploited.
In fact, some of them enter the prostitution because of the false-hope. Chattapadhay (1994) wrote that 70% of the Indian women interviewed wanted to leave the prostitution but cultural factor which chanelled them into prostitution prevented their escape : a 6% literacy rate, beatings, starvation, rape by family members, and sexual exploitation at their jobs.
According to Sclamber & Sclmaber (1995), research in 5 countries show that the main reasons to women become prostitute are because they don’t have any job, unfair job, and poverty. He also wrote that sexual violence happening in their childhood and among family members as the reasons why someone becomes prostitute ; 62% of women in prostitution reported the history of physical abused when they were children, in other study 90% of them had been physically battered in childhood : 74% of them got sexually abused in their families. And 50% sexually abuse by someone outside the family. ( Giobbe 1991)
It shows that most of women become prostitute or being in the street because they don`t get suitable environment. They have huge mentally traumatic in their social life, it is also influenced by their mindset, that life outside the prostitution is not always better than life inside the prostitution. That’s why the number of violence in prostitution is considered as a normal thing.
The victim is traumatic but they could not find the way out. They were trapped in their position as the main responsible person in their families. They are responsible to the life of the family member. The judgment from the society is very painful, it`s difficult for them to survive among the society with it. When they decide to stop being prostitutes, they must struggle to face the labeling from the society and its not easy to have a normal life.
It`s like a vicious circle, the economy of Indonesia is getting worse and a lot of women are trapped inside. The project is not talking about the judgment and the white or black side of prostitution. We don’t try to put the prostitute as some sub-ordinate. The project is trying to help them to express what they feel. Prostitute is a human as we are, they are humans with feeling and hope. They are women as we are, what they dream are as every woman dream. No matter where ever they are.