Violence and sex

There is a fundamental lack of understanding in Cambodia as to what rape is. Rape in Cambodia depends on your profession, marital status and public standing. Having talked to underage sex workers, they do not understand the concept of rape. They have no power to say no or escape their fate.

Only 13 percent of young men and women surveyed by the group recognized forced sex with a prostitute as a crime, while women perceived as having broken from Cambodia's conservative social norms are also targeted, Licadho said.

"Gang rape ... is perpetuated by common attitudes and beliefs among young men that promote the myth that any girl who is not considered 'good' is available for sexual intercourse without her consent," the group said.

The trend towards increasing violence is not restricted to sex crimes, according to Licadho.

Despite the passage of domestic violence legislation in 2005, the laws have yet to be widely enforced, and reported crimes like beatings and abandonment have gone up since then.

"Beliefs about the inferiority of Cambodian women make if difficult for domestic violence to be recognized as a serious problem that families, friends and authorities should intervene in," Licadho said. (Source)

The madonna/whore complex is captured perfectly in Licadho's report. Be a good girl or a bad girl; there is no in between. Unfortunately this mentality is ostracising many. The flip side is that it is completely acceptable for men to visit prostitutes. These men make the point that the prostitutes are not Cambodian because no Cambodian girl would so sex work. Of course, such an assertion is far from logical, and the women pay the price.

Poor girls from the countryside are sold to brothels in the city that sell their virginity to the highest bidder. Because of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the mistaken belief that having sex with a virgin will cure HIV/AIDS, virginity is highly prized. Of course, after the girls lose their virginity they can never get married. They will be vulnerable to violence for the rest of their lives. Not that marriage is a safe haven...

Women are treated appallingly here. Last year I gave a presentation on sexual harassment to a mixed group of national and international staff. I explained what harassment is and that it is not acceptable. After I opened the floor to questions, a Cambodian man stood up and said that no Cambodian woman would ever report a man harassing her. None of the women in the room contradicted her.

Another story I heard was a man working in women's rights, telling his wife who was suffering from post-natal depression that if she wouldn't have sex with him, he was going to visit prostitutes. How can progress be made if that is the attitude of women's rights activists?

The human rights of women in Cambodia must be protected. More political representation might be a start. One of the major problems, however, is the anger that boils in the country after the KR and the Vietnamese occupation. This anger is coming out as violence, gender based violence and child abuse. Until that is resolved the crimes will continue to increase.