It's gloomy today. Rained awhile.. Feel like typing a long blog post but no inspiration O: So, here you go. An essay I wrote for English homework :/

The Causes and Effects of Child Prostitution

Child prostitution has long been a concern of child advocates. While the children's rights movement is not very prominent in Malaysia, the people of the United States continues to advocate for children's rights. Today, child prostitution continues to be a problem of significance importance globally, especially in the United States, with an increased number of teens falling into prostitution. One cannot mistaken that child prostitution only involves the girls as studies have shown that the number of males under age 16 that are involved in prostitution are equally as many as girls. Therefore, it is important for the society to tackle this global issue by finding its root causes and looking into them to find solutions.

Juveniles who enter prostitution are often from similar backgrounds. Most, if not all are from dysfunctional family system. Statistics have shown that 70 percent of juvenile prostitutes were raised by one parent. Poor relationships with parents and other family members can affect the self-development of a child. The lack of social skills in a child can be a hindrance from building self-confidence thus leading the child to feel worthless and useless. Consequently, they are easily victimized and exploited by pimps, who praise their worth as sex objects. The children who suffered from neglect also felt compelled to leave their homes, as they want to seek for attention elsewhere then eventually got themselves involved in prostitution. Pimps, who often speaks with a forked tongue, took advantaged of these children and manipulates them. Therefore, it is important for families to foster care among each other to avoid making children feel vulnerable and worthless.

Other than the dysfunctional family systems, money is also a primary factor that made children involved in prostitution. Most girls that are involved in prostitution have poor self-concept and seek money as compensation. Although some parents may be the ones that force their children to be involved in prostitution due to financial problems, it is usually the children themselves that start prostituting in order to survive as they have described their earnings as "easy money". The culture of society can also very much affect how child prostitution becomes a norm to the society as it is seen as a normal means to earn a living in the shortest time being. This however, does not justify the actions of prostituting because two wrongs don't make a wrong. Hence, it is important to address this issue in the right manner where the society embrace the right culture that is edifying to one another.

The two main factors - dysfunctional family and money - that 'encourages'  juvenile into prostitution can lead to many more problems. The children that are in prostitution are often abused sexually by pedophiles. The sexual abuse will have a lasting traumatic effect on them for the rest of their lives as they struggle to set free from what they have gotten themselves into. The sexual abuse can also result in children being blackmailed and pornographic materials are created out of them. Although boys are often able to exit from prostitution and lead relatively normal lives, girls are more likely to continue by going into adult prostitution as a means of survival. Then, when they have their own children, their children will also get involved in the cycle. This results in child prostitution generation after generations and there must be a stop to this.

The other problems include having multiple sex partners is accepted as a norm in life. Individuals no longer feel violated or manipulated as they grew up in the environment that accepts prostitution. The victims of child prostitution may have suffered severe emotional and physical abuse but may not learnt how to deal with it but rather, they accept it as part of their life. The offenders will also no longer be punished or held responsible for what they have done but they will continue to manipulate and take advantage of other children. Many more children will be victims in prostitution if they aren't aware of the dangers of being a child prostitute. Therefore, right now, it is time to raise the awareness level of the public about child prostitution.

Children are supposed to be nurtured, cared and protected but many people had took advantage of their innocence in lief. The efforts of the children right movement alone is never enough but with the help of the society, the effort will grow by leaps and bounds which will result in seeing children across the world achieve their own dreams as they grow to become an adult. With the help and support from every party to migitate child prostitution, the world can be a better place for each and every child, including those who were victims and were affected by prostitution. However, until the society understands the dangers of child prostitution, it will be difficult to provide children with the protection they need and deserve.


:) Taadaa. Finish. Salute if you read each and every line :P Please correct me if I made grammatical mistakes and such. Thanks!