SOCI 370 – In-class Exam 3

Simon Mark’s Newsweek article, Somaly Mam: The Holy Saint (and Sinner) of Sex
Trafficking sheds light on Somaly Mam, a woman who rose to fame with her story of being a
sex-trafficking victim, and how her struggle inspired her to fight for the many victims of this
cause. However, Mark harshly criticizes Mam and accuses her of fabricating her stories as a
means of becoming famous and earning money. The larger issue being discussed here is that
the ‘victimization’ is often exploited as means of gaining media attention but is one that
resonates with masses effectively. This further highlights the issue that women in general are
tending to be portrayed as ‘victimized,’ which often helps them gain sympathy; this has been a
method of dealing with several issues such as violence against women, in this particular case,
sex-trafficking. This essay aims to argue the numerous issues with the victimization of women,
especially in the third world and how international movements against violence against women
tend to largely ignore contexts and intersectional nature of the issue, simply using “rescuing” as
an ineffective way to solve the problem.

Despite, Mam having fabricated her stories and the stories of many of her other victims,
she was still able to rise to fame, simply because her victimization of women was effective and
one that gained immense sympathy from the international community. It is a common idea that
women in the third world are portrayed as victims as it allows for more importance to be given
to their issues. Kapur states “Indeed, that look of starvation, helplessness, and victimization is
remarkably familiar to our imaginations, irrespective of the reality. The victim subject is a
transnational phenomenon” (p.2). This suggests that the victim discourse is effective because it
raises sympathy and some sort of action is taken to deal with the issue, even if it is simply
rescuing and taking care of victims. Not only that but it has unifying effects, as it brings women
together, around a common cause. However, this victimization is immensely problematic and
fails to deal with the issue effectively. It is important to however note, that one of the biggest
reasons why Mam was able to succeed with her agenda is because, now more so than ever,
women are being depicted as vulnerable and in need of empowerment, and this is image that
has been shaped post the neoliberal era. Economic globalization has emerged as a powerful
force in structuring transnational systems of power as it simultaneously effects shifts in the
locations and operations of power between genders, within families, in the workplace, and
between the West and the Rest (Kapur, p35). It can’t be denied that globalization has played an
influential role in the way issues surrounding women have been portrayed. In the article, Mark
interviews former employees of Mam, and they state “it’s all about image, getting to the big
shot who has a lot of money and who feel sorry for this kind of story. They’re very successful,
and they have been very successful in an incredible way because they connect with the right
people…” This clearly highlights Mam’s success – she reached out to the right kind of people,
wealthy individuals who offered sympathy and money; her presence in the media also was
effective, documentaries on her NGO work in Cambodia, as well as her book that shared her
own personal story, all spoke immensely to the audience in the West. Furthermore, Mark states
how numerous organization “get sucked into using children to raise funds: making them talk
about the abuse they survived in front of a camera, having their picture in a pitiful situation
published for everyone to see. In worst cases, the truth is distorted, or the stories invented to
attract more compassion and money. The impact on the lives of these children is terrible: If
they come from an abusive situation, such a process re-traumatizes them and in any case it
stigmatizes them forever.” Mam’s organisation is one no different According to Benstein, issues
such as sex-trafficking, allow activists like Somaly Mam to rescue third-world women, gain
sympathy and money for their work and feel good about themselves. And once again, the
imperial attitude played a role in the women in the West wanting to help the “poor” women in
the East and rescue them from the torturous violence is what gives women like Mam the
incentive to do abuse the victim image. It is gravely shocking that women are using one another
for selfish gains.

However, the larger issue that must be challenged is the victimization narrative of
women, especially in third world countries. This narrative is not only derogative, but its
interventions are largely ignorant and ineffective. The focus on rescuing and saving women is
unjustified because “curing” the issue does not help avoid or prevent it in any way, which is
what should be the focus of international organisations and the judicial system in the first
place. Mark in his article mentions how experts in sex trafficking say that while it is a serious
problem, the scale and dynamics of the situation are often misunderstood, in part because of
lurid, sensationalistic stories such as those told by Mam and her “girls”(p,8). The highly
sensational depiction of stories of violence against women is the major problem as well.
International women’s rights movements reinforce the idea that women are victims and need
saving but this discourse is problematic because it ignores intersectional differences in women’s
lives and becomes a victim itself to demonizing certain cultures, blaming the culture as the
cause of violence; in reality it is the gender relations between men and women, which are
universal, that produce such forms of inequalities. Kapur argues that, sexual exploitation and
sexual violence are experiences that women share in common, and these commonalities are more
important than their differences. In her view, all women experience oppression at the hands of
patriarchal power, and she argues that power is invariably male. She additionally states that even
the law is a male-dominated system, and perhaps we could question as to whether such factors
perhaps forced to play the victim card as means of shedding attention to their plight. The anti-
trafficking campaign is one that focuses greatly on violence and victimization and hence, the
violence against women’s campaign has not translated into a complex understanding of the
way in which women’s lives and experiences are mediated by race, religion, class and gender.
The oversimplification of the issue extracts the severity of it as well, preventing effective
solutions from being drawn (Kapur, 9). Gender essentialism may be being used with a strategic
purpose, but it is having reactionary effects in the international women’s human rights arena.
Additionally, cultural essentialism neither fully explain, nor challenge the problem of violence
against women. According to Kapur, it in fact deflects attention from the many other reasons
why women are beaten, abused or killed (p17). In the case of sex-trafficking, it is often shown
as third-world women being sexually constrained, and traditional, as well as illiterate and poor.
Hence, prostitution is deemed as violence against women as it reduces her to sex and the
selling of her body, even if it is with consent. And so, these proposals of international justice
organizations, fail to draw a distinction between consent and lack of consent when it comes to
trafficking. This approach has implications for all women, whether they are forcefully trafficked
or migrate voluntarily, even if primarily for economic need, and has specific implications for
women in the Third World (Kapur, 20). It can be ascertained that hegemonic understandings of
culture and gender are reproduced at the international and domestic levels, which lead to the
victim discourse.

Looking at another case similar to the one of Somaly Mam’s is Suhana’s story, an Indian
girl who was a victim of sex-trafficking, rescued by the Christian faith-based organization that
combats sex-trafficking in third world countries. In a video documentary it is told that Suhana
was one of the over 1 million children in India are coerced into sex trade. She was 13 when she
was trafficked and treated like an object, going through a traumatic experience. The story
aimed to show that the poor are the first to be victimized because nobody defends them, and
they have no resources to fight back. Suhana's case, like Mam’s is a part of this pattern of the
victim discourse. International organizations like IJM act and involve the police to arrest
perpetuators. They then bring victims to after care treatment, where girls are often taught
vocational skills or given an education. However, it is to be questioned as to whether such
interventions are effective and whether they provide these girls who do become forceful
victims an opportunity to escape and have a better life. In Bernstein’s article, he suggests that
such interventions are problematic because they further encourage the criminalization and
policing, which only aggravates the issue further.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the victim narrative focus on post-violence

remedies and responses from states has little to do with promoting women's rights; the
portrayal of women as victims in in a form a disempowerment. Somaly Mam’s story signifies a
problematic approach and indeed highlights a broader issue that plagues transnational
movements against gender-based violence, especially violence against women. The
interventions from international national organizations, whether it is the United Nations or
independent organizations like IJM need to divert focus away from interventions on rescue and
post-violence care and instead focus on prevention of the violence. While prevention requires a
comprehensive and holistic understanding of the intersectional nature of the issue, focus has to
be given to challenging factors such as race, culture, socio-economic background, instead of
simply providing victims with resources and sympathy. It is also important to understand that
economic globalization has emerged as a powerful force in structuring transnational systems of
power as it simultaneously effects shifts in the locations and operations of power between
genders, within families, in the workplace, and between the West and the Rest (Kapur, 35).
Moreover, in their (international organizations) depictions of the sex industry, all of the
representatives deploy the new anti-trafficking buzzwords such as “victim,” “predator,”
“perpetrator,” “exploiter”, along with anecdotes of innocent women having their papers
confiscated, being forced to sell their bodies, and being trapped and tricked. The narratives of
women’s victimization are coupled with an insistence upon the need to “focus on demand” and
to pursue aggressively the perpetrators of sexual violence (Bernstein). The rescue mission is
one that needs to be abolished; in a time where we are fighting for “empowerment” as the
means of having the power to make a choice – women should have the power to choose for
themselves, whether they want to sell their bodies or not. The fight, juridically should be to
protect those who are vulnerable and who can be become victims, and not make non-victims
appear as victims so as to exploit and gain resources for survival.