Many people are under the assumption that the fight for women’s rights is over. Readers are forced to confront the truth in Patricia McCormick’s book, Sold, wherein a young girl named Lakshmi is sold into the realm of sex slavery. The suffering and horrors faced by the girls in the brothels act as a rather unsavory eye opener to readers. In the brothel, women’s rights and equality exist solely as a dream. Basic human rights are not afforded to the women and girls. Poor treatment of the women in the brothel assists in making a point about how women are objectified and treated as less valuable than men. Children learn from a young age that men are more valuable than their female counterparts. Women are taught subservience and suffering
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For a man to have sex with one of the girls in the brothel, The Happiness House, they pay 30 rupees. Thirty rupees converts to a meager 46 cents in American dollars (themoneyconverter.com). When Lakshmi learns of this, she thinks, ¨That is the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola … That is what he paid for me.¨ (146). Men who visit the brothel believe the women are good for little more than sex and have no qualms about the girls being drugged. These men can be regarded as rapists as the women do not generally consent to having sex. Virginal girls garner a higher price than the 30 rupees previously stated. Pushpa, one of the women in the brothel, has a daughter, Jeena. When Pushpa’s health declines and she finds herself unable to work, Mumtaz, the woman who runs the brothel, wants her daughter. Mumtaz claims that, “In a few years, when she is old enough, I can make a lot of money with her.” (195). It is with a steady influx of young and seemingly virginal girls that Mumtaz makes profit. Cops and other bystanders have become desensitized to the mistreatment of women. Regarding sex slavery as simply another industry speaks of the state of the …show more content…
Zerlina Maxwell explains this phenomenon in her Time article, ‘Rape Culture is Real’. Having been a survivor of rape herself, Zerlina uses her and other survivors’ opinions and experiences in her article. The most memorable of which was, “Rape culture is when people say, ‘she was asking for it.’” (Zerlina). In this quote, people shift the blame for somehow making the man believe she wanted to have sex with him even if she does not onto the woman. Maybe she wears a skirt above the knee or just does not say ‘No’ loud enough. Either way, the fault falls not with the rapist, but with the survivor. Zerlina argues in her article that rape culture is a societal norm. A study done by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control found that 20% of the women in America have suffered rape or a rape attempt in their life which Zelina uses in the question, ¨Is 1 in 5 American women surviving rape or attempted rape considered a cultural norm?¨ (Zerlina). Many victims of rape are too afraid to accuse their rapists; they’re too afraid of how others will shame them. Lakshmi and the other girls experience rape every day the spend in the brother. They are unwilling
For a man to have sex with one of the girls in the brothel, The Happiness House, they pay 30 rupees. Thirty rupees converts to a meager 46 cents in American dollars (themoneyconverter.com). When Lakshmi learns of this, she thinks, ¨That is the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola … That is what he paid for me.¨ (146). Men who visit the brothel believe the women are good for little more than sex and have no qualms about the girls being drugged. These men can be regarded as rapists as the women do not generally consent to having sex. Virginal girls garner a higher price than the 30 rupees previously stated. Pushpa, one of the women in the brothel, has a daughter, Jeena. When Pushpa’s health declines and she finds herself unable to work, Mumtaz, the woman who runs the brothel, wants her daughter. Mumtaz claims that, “In a few years, when she is old enough, I can make a lot of money with her.” (195). It is with a steady influx of young and seemingly virginal girls that Mumtaz makes profit. Cops and other bystanders have become desensitized to the mistreatment of women. Regarding sex slavery as simply another industry speaks of the state of the …show more content…
Zerlina Maxwell explains this phenomenon in her Time article, ‘Rape Culture is Real’. Having been a survivor of rape herself, Zerlina uses her and other survivors’ opinions and experiences in her article. The most memorable of which was, “Rape culture is when people say, ‘she was asking for it.’” (Zerlina). In this quote, people shift the blame for somehow making the man believe she wanted to have sex with him even if she does not onto the woman. Maybe she wears a skirt above the knee or just does not say ‘No’ loud enough. Either way, the fault falls not with the rapist, but with the survivor. Zerlina argues in her article that rape culture is a societal norm. A study done by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control found that 20% of the women in America have suffered rape or a rape attempt in their life which Zelina uses in the question, ¨Is 1 in 5 American women surviving rape or attempted rape considered a cultural norm?¨ (Zerlina). Many victims of rape are too afraid to accuse their rapists; they’re too afraid of how others will shame them. Lakshmi and the other girls experience rape every day the spend in the brother. They are unwilling