Splintered Lives - Barnardo's

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chapter
4
child prostitution in three of the richest countries in the world discovered that every one
of the young people she spoke to had also been asked at some point to pose for porn
photos or appear in films. A representative of the National Association for Young People
in Care, appearing on a BBC Newsnight feature on child pornography (4.1.90) estimated
that 70-80% of the young people contacting the organisation (many of whom were on
the run from local authority care) had had some involvement in the production of
pornography and/or prostitution.
Whilst there are continuing debates about the scale of commercially produced child
pornography and organised child prostitution (see Ennew, 1986) there is more
agreement about who the children are. The majority of children in the world who are
victims of sexual exploitation come from poor, often but not exclusively Black,
countries. What connects these children with children used from rich western countries
is that they are trying to find ways to ensure their own physical survival. Children and
young people in desperate circumstances, like many women, learn fairly quickly that if
they have nothing else to sell they can sell their bodies - and in more than one way.
The use of Black children from the Third World in commercially produced child
pornography, and as primary targets for sex tourists interested in access to children also
demands further investigation. Is it only that children are easier to procure where
physical survival is a daily struggle, where children have to work from an early age?
Recognising the role of racism, western economic and cultural imperialism, not only in
creating impoverishment, but also in the personal politics and values of western sex
tourism is critically important (O'Connell Davidson, 1995). Both child pornography and
child prostitution are officially prohibited in most western societies; the sexual
exploitation of Black children is probably more acceptable to white supremacist male
producers and consumers. The picture or presence of a white child might induce
momentary guilt in the white western consumer. Often the outrage of white non-
participants in the sex industry turns either on what is being done to 'our' children i.e.
white children, or the shame of 'our' men calculatingly arranging travel to have sex with
'other' children and women. Black children can thus be constructed as not only 'non-
persons' but also 'non-children'. In(the process racist stereotypes of Black people, and
Black women and girls in particular, as 'erotically exotic' are reproduced (see Forna
1993). Destinations in South East Asia, Latin America and increasingly Africa have
become favoured by sex tourists, including those seeking sex with children. Tourism in
general, and sex tourism in particular, are part of economic, political and cultural
international relations. The sexual abuse of these children is the outcome of the
conjunction of sexism, racism, imperialism and children's powerlessness in relation to
adults. Maureen O'Hara (1995) stresses the importance of not separating the use of
children in the sex industry from that of women, since where exploitation of women is
tolerated that of children can thrive, and the issues of inequality apply here too.
The sex industry relies upon and trades in all forms of inequality; children's particular
powerlessness (in that they have more limited legal and practical options than adults),
and in various contexts their individual survival needs, makes them a unique target,