Artist: Michaela Thelenová (Ústí nad Labem / Czech Republic)
Presented work: „untitled” (2008)
Text by Petra Kutálková, La Strada, Czech Republic, o.p.s.
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Human rights documents including the Declaration of the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe emphasize the right of people to life, freedom, and safety. Based on these rights, nobody can be forced to provide sexual services unwillingly, or to pursue this activity under conditions they do not agree with.
However, in discussions the terms "prostitution", "forced prostitution", and "trafficking in women" are often confused. While in trafficking in women or in forced prostitution, rights of the exploited people are severely violated, prostitution itself should be (and in some countries it even legally is) understood as a legitimate source of subsistence.
However, according to the ILO (International Labour Organization), at least 1,390,000 people a year are forced to provide sexual services unwillingly or under threat of punishment nowadays. Women forced to prostitution face the consequences, which negatively affect their minds, health, and both economic and social spheres of life. Therefore, campaigns of non-government and international organizations are trying to make the broad public as well as customers of paid sexual services aware of the fact that not all women who work as prostitutes do this job voluntarily.
Women who have been forced to prostitution and became victims of the crime of human trafficking, or other crimes related to forced prostitution, often and repeatedly blame themselves for what they have experienced. "How could I be so naive to believe that offer?" "I should not have looked for a job abroad, it's my own fault. I hate myself!" "I blame myself for not trying to escape once again. It always returns to me. Nobody can understand how much I was in fear of my life then. I feel so dirty." "I was doing it only for the kids' sake. He threatened that if I did not bring home money they would have nothing to eat in the evening. They are so little..."
To overcome thoughts of one's own guilt is more than difficult. Especially when women hear blames from their own vicinity. They can after all expect to hear them. Remarks like they were naive, too provocative, they knew what they were going to do, they could run away, it is just their fault..., are quite frequent. The society views them, as well as victims of rape or domestic violence, as accomplices. Women who agreed to provide sexual services think in a similar way. However, they did not anticipate they would be forced to unprotected sex, raped, beaten, and kept without the money they have made. Unfortunately, the fact that in all circumstances it is always the offender who is at fault for the violence is not anchored as firmly in our minds as the stereotypes which make women believe that they have their share of the guilt for the situation they experience.
Petra Kutálková
La Strada, Czech Republic
I wasn’t even permitted to sleep. I could eat, but very fast, just a few minutes. I had no right to sleep. If I decided to go to bed, he would beat me, and throw me on the street.