CNN posted a video feature today about the
prostitution in South Africa.
I think it is
both heartbreaking and and empowering to see
a video like this being broadcasted across the globe. On the one hand, it hurts to see the images of young children selling their bodies and
hearing them speak so casually of what they do to earn a couple bucks (
apparently the going rate for sex on the streets of Johannesburg are equivalent to seven US dollars). On the other, it is always good to see that these stories are being reported, raising awareness among groups and individuals that might not have necessarily known this is going away.
This particular video, however, outraged me--because it frames the prostitution problem in South Africa within the context of next year's World Cup. The reporter presses the question, will prostitution rise next year when the city is swarmed with soccer-frenzied tourists?
Dear CNN reporter, please recognize that this problem is significant and unacceptable, regardless of its impact on "the game." Prostitution is not just the "ugly side" of soccer, as you so aptly put it, but REAL LIFE for children in South Africa. Children have been manipulated, exploited, and abused in South Africa long before the World Cup location was ever announced, and they will continue to be mistreated long after the tourists have gone.
That is, unless we, along with GCNW and other sexual/child violence activists, have anything to say about it.
