Trapped By Tradition : CNN Special

“Often, young girls are pushed into the sex business by their own fathers and brothers. The men see nothing wrong with it.”

There is a special that will be airing on CNN entitles “Trapped by Tradition” that is talking about the prostitution industry in India. A crew of CNN reporters went to India with Slumdog Millionaire actor Anil Kapoor and will be looking at the lives of

young Indian girls who are forced into prostitution right after they start puberty.



This stems from a tradition that is ancient. The original reason was because they said it was a religious act. The reasoning for it now is money.



Plan India is aiding in the process of eliminating child prostitution in the country. Their model on their website is “Promoting child rights to end child poverty”.



CNN’s website says that this special will air on CNN Int’l (not sure if theyre saying it wont come on their regular channel or not).

Bea, Lisa WIlliams and Living Water for Girls

One problem with America is that it likes to focus only on the problems that affect certain people and sweep the rest under the rug. Until something extremely horrible happens, you wont hear about abused, minority children or how the prison system is really a fail and needs to be redesigned.

            But every once in a while, you will hear a story on the news, or read about it in the paper, about a normal person trying to make a difference, first in their own community, and then for the world.

            This story follows two women: one, a neglected child, kicked out of the house for missing curfew and forced into the child prostitution industry at age 12, and a woman who is determined to help this girl and girls like her out of the horrible lifestyle they are use to.

            Bea, the young girl who fell into this lifestyle, met Lisa Williams, the founder of Living Water for Girls, when she was 22. Living Water helps girls who are similar to Bea by offering to pay for their college education if they sign a contract with the organization and allow them to help the girls get off the street and get accustomed to a better, safer life.

            According to the article, found on CNN’s website, “Johns” or pimps, however you want to look at it, are not the people we are use to seeing in the movies. Definitely not Katt Williams character in Friday after Next or Pinky, or Bishop Don Juan. They do not have jheri curls, pimp canes, outrageously, colorful suits and an old school Cadillac. They are the average looking guy, and you might even work with one. \

            Often, being a John is a secret life, and double identity. They work, have a families, go to church, all the things that pimps aren’t suppose to do. And surprisingly, in the words of Jay-Z, “ladies is pimps too”.

            “A study done by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation shows that the majority of johns are college-educated, have wives or girlfriends, and earn more than $40,000 a year.” The article explains.   

            Bea explained in the article that, like anyone in the sex industry, she had to make her mind go blank just to get it over with. The amount of men she would sleep with in a month would be determined by how much the bills were and other financial factors, but the average was 250 men.

            The article also says that most girls that enter the lifestyle at such a young age, on average, 13, live about 7 more years. 

            These are the kind of issues that we need to be concerned about. Helping those that really cant help themselves. Being an advocate. Giving someone a shoulder to lean on.

Check out the entire article here. And make sure you pass it on.

Living Water for Girls