Modern Babylon

by Montgomery, Heather

• ISBN13: 9781571818294
• ISBN10: 1571818294
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

Child prostitution became one of the key concerns of the international community in the 1990s. World congresses were held, international and national laws were changed and concern over "cemmercially sexually exploited children" rose dramatically. Rarely, however, were the children who worked as prostitutes consulted of questioned in this process, and the voices of these children brought into focus. This book is the first to address the children directly, to examine their daily lives, their motivations and their perceptions of what they do. Based on 15 months of fieldwork in a Thai tourist community that survived through child prostitution, this book draws on anthropological theories on childhood and kinship to contextualize the experiences of this group of Thai child prostitutes and to contrast these with the stereotypes held of them by those outside their community. Heather Montgomeryis a member of the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group and a British Academy Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford. She has recently been appointed Lecturer in Child Studies at the Open University.

Author Biography

Heather Montgomery is a member of the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group and a British Academy Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford. She has recently been appointed Lecturer in Child Studies at the Open University

Table of Contents

List of Tables	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Introduction
A Personal View	1	(13)
Child Prostitution and Anthropology	14	(7)
History and Context
Myths and Stereotypes	21	(8)
NGOs and the Discovery of Child Prostitution	29	(4)
The Extent of the Problem	33	(7)
History and Myth	40	(13)
Cultural Constructions of Childhood
A History of Childhood in the West	53	(4)
Childhood in Thailand	57	(5)
What Constitutes a Good Childhood?	62	(4)
Childhood and State Intervention	66	(3)
The Child Prostitutes of Baan Nua
Data Collection	69	(7)
Child Prostitution in Baan Nua	76	(6)
Kinship and Reciprocity	82	(4)
Reciprocity, Friends and Clients	86	(3)
Struggles and Contradictions
Children as Social Agents	89	(6)
Prostitution and its Alternatives	95	(7)
The Life-Cycle of Prostitution	102	(5)
Identity and its Difficulties
Status	107	(4)
Sexuality and Identity	111	(12)
Gender, Prostitution and Identity	123	(5)
Social Identity	128	(5)
Protecting Innocence
Innocence and Freedom	133	(6)
Buying Innocence	139	(5)
Maintaining Innocence	144	(11)
Conclusion	155	(20)
Bibliography	175	(14)
Index	189