Prostitution Stifles Progress Russia

Essay by connortistCollege, UndergraduateA+, March 2009

download word file, 6 pages 4.3

Downloaded 2235 times

In Lyubertsy, Russia Olga, a young 13-year-old tomboy worked last year as a prostitute. It started shortly after she quit school to try and feed her starving family and began to hang out with girls in this gang-ridden industrial suburb of Moscow, where she was recruited. First, a young woman befriended her and brought presents, to win her over. She lured Olga into an apartment for vodka and sex with a couple of men. The group told her she owed them money for the presents they had given her and she was trapped. Soon they were delivering her to clients, and she performed what sexual services they demanded of her. She was stripped of her dignity and forced to live a life of sickness and shame. Olga's tragic story is one on an increasingly common theme in Russia. In the upheaval of societies suddenly pushed into a money culture that demands inventive mindsets and skills, many families are confused, impoverished or destroyed.

The biggest tumor of this society is that of prostitution.

Russia has its share of struggles since 1989 when their longtime socialist regime fell. This sent the then USSR back in time and it recently start to adapt to modern global world. The shift from a Socialist regime to an independent capitalist country was not an easy one for Russia. It still bears some of the scars from the harsh transfer of power that took place. Russia will soon become a place of turmoil and waste if its current polices, such as prostitution and child pornography, are not changed.

Russia truly does have prosperity and the economic potential to be a world power. It has blossomed in a world contender had has finally become active in trade and its newly found oil wells have boosted it GDP up to seventh globally. Its populace is quite talented in the engineering, space, and science departments. It has invested in the future with more and more science programs and is using their natural wealth as capital to boost these programs. Its unemployment is the same of that of the United State, at about 6%. Its economy has grown virtually uninterrupted for the last seven years. Russia has produced fiscal surpluses for the last 8 years. It has rich natural resources. It recently became one the world’s major oil supplier and has led the foresting industry as well as some mining for years.

Even with all the advantages the Russian quantity and quality of life is sharply diminishing. Russia is one of the few developed countries with negative birthrate. Its population has decreased by a quarter of million since 1989. Deaths exceed birth by an alarming rate of 2:1. Life expectancy is also declining. In parts of Russia their life expectancy is on par with developing African villages. 10 million Russians are sterile because of batched abortions and 45% of newborn babies are born with a congenital birth defect. Clearly something is wrong. The real atrocity is that all these preventable problems occurring in a modern state. Russia differs from Africa, in than it has the means to prevent and fix these problems with its society. It simply chooses not to.

Russians have lost all faith in their current government and have hence turned to self-outlet for survival. For the innocents, the women and children, this means prostitution. This hideous business is the ditch effort to try to survive and live a better life. Criminal groups make an estimated seven billion dollars annually from the illegal trafficking of women. These women are forced into prostitution, weather for food or as a slave. Every act of sexual intercourse they commit should be considered rape. Women can be bought as property to be used as tools for making money. Women can go for 10,000-15,000 United States dollars, depending on their varying attributes. This is absolutely sickening.

Prostitution is undermining the ethical standards of today’s society not only in Russia but it is affecting everyone in today’s global network. In the modern age of the Internet pictures and videos can be streamed to anyone, anywhere, containing anything. This could be pictures your son’s softball game or your son masturbating on the Internet for the pleasure of the sick perverts all over the world. The Internet is an enhancer. It is a tool that can be used for great good and great evil. The United States has become a great importer and just as the way China has come to dominate the textile industry, Russian has come to own the pornographic and prostitution industries. It is wrong and sick but that is the way life is. There is no way to stop child porn because there is no way to police the Internet and other countries.

Prostitution also sets an awful precedent for others to follow. In poor areas of Russia prostitution is not just seen as deeming job that some women do. Rather it is viewed as something to aspire to and dream about. Young girls in Russia are not dreaming about being independent thinkers rather they are being brought up to aspire to be a prostitute. Helen Womack says, “street life –I’m a prostitute. I have no other choice so I lose no self-respect.” Thousands of once respected women are turning to a life of crime and embarrassment. Women earn 70% of men’s wages for the same job and women make up 70% of the unemployed. Teachers, students, single mothers and nurses have all been forced to quit their fruitless jobs and take up a life of shame and drudgery. It has had the role model affect as well. Why should young girls aspire to be prostitutes when they can start right now? One twelve year old girl found in the street was asked why she was selling herself, she responded to buy a Barbie doll.

Another horrible side affect of the widespread prostitution epidemic is the alarming rate at which STD’s are being spread. Governor Leonid Gorbenko is major advocate for legalized prostitution because he believes that this will help cut down the spread of HIV. I have no idea how Governor Gorbenko thinks that his country can about doing this but it obviously cannot work. The absurdity of his stance only helps illustrate by point that this growing problem is being swept under the rug and it is going to come back and handicap Russian in the global scene. Over 90% of all Russians brought in for prostitution or a drug charge were found positive for HIV.

Prostitution and pornography cast women in the role of sex objects and from their they can go nowhere and it is hurting Russia. Pornography is becoming an increased addiction in our world today and its setting back the role of females hundreds of years, and Russia is no exception. Russia is devaluing and degrading half of their populace and poising the minds of the other half. No wonder Russia has become stagnant the past few years. All of Russia’s moral flaws have finally got up with it. It has become a barren host to sin and corruption. The mafia is widespread and shown to be more formidable than the government itself.

The government of Russia has aired the side of apathy. Many Russians seen prostitution and pornography as growing problem, yet feel powerless to do anything about it. Worse others see the growing trends of evil and civil unrest and decide to embrace the plague and unrest this evil has brought them. St. Petersburg, Kalingrad and Saratov are all considering legalizing prostitution. They agree that is growing problem so instead of fixing it, ignore it. This kind of thinking only make problems worse, not better. What’s worse is that Russians in these cities are powerless to stop these atrocities from occurring. Their votes have essentially been silenced. President Putin has abolished the elections for regional governor and is thinking about abolishing elections for mayor as well. Russia is slipping into their old way of dictatorship and socialism and evil markets such as the sex slave trade and prostitution are only helping them get their faster.

The solution for this problem is very difficult. My good friends adopted a boy and a girl from Russia saving them from a life of turmoil, drugs, and prostitution. However, this solution is drying up. Due to Russia declining population it is forcing more and more of it young citizens to stay in the country so Russia can survive. The only real solution for this problem is for Russia to wake up and realize that if it continues and this path of moral ineptness, eventually it will catch up with them. In our global society with information being constantly at our fingertips we can Russia will have to stay clear of evil ventures or they will corrupt the social fabric and destroy the delicate balance between politics, economics, and morality.

Work Cited1. Arnold, Chloe. "Russia: Conscript's Prostitution Claims Shed Light on Hazing." Radio Free Europe. 21 Mar. 2007. 3 July 2008 .

2. "Child Prostitution." GVNET. 2007. 3 July 2008 .

3. "Finish Police Bust Massive Russian Prostitution Ring." Xinhua News Agency 18 Oct. 2007. Infotrac. EBSCO. 3 July 2008 .

4. Johnson, David. "THE CRIMINAL ECONOMY: THE STRUCTURE OF PROSTITUTION." Johnson's Russia List. 19 Feb. 2003. 3 July 2008 .

5. "Legalization of Prostitution." Political Base. 2008. 3 July 2008 .

6. "Police: Russian Prostitution Ring Deadly." UPI NewsTrack? 21 June 2007. InfoTrac?. EBSCO. 3 July 2008 .

7. Sporcic, Laura J. "Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation." CATW. 2004. 3 July 2008 .

8. "The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health." The State of World Population 2005. 2005. 3 July 2008 .