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Sex Tourism In Third World Countries

Sexual Abuse

Sex Tourism

Sex tourism means that an individual travels to a country to engage in a sexual act that they pay for. Usually this sex involves children.  Many of the participants are victims of sex trafficking or sexual slavery.  Surprisingly, this type of tourism is fairly common, especially in third world countries. Even though it’s illegal in many places it doesn’t stop many individuals from accepting payment for sex. Here are a couple of reasons why someone might risk breaking the law in order to receive money for performing sexual acts on a tourist.

CNN reported that 4000+ sex offenders get US passports each year. It sound absurd but this is just another example of a system that doesn’t quite work. Unless it can be proved that the person is engaging in sex tourism, there is nothing to prevent them from getting a passport. It’s sort of like finding out that past sex offenders can work at children’s camps in Connecticut as long as they aren’t the director or assistant director. There needs to be more open communication between agencies to plug the gaps in how our society deals with sex offenders.

Extreme Poverty and Sex Tourism

Those that live in third world countries often experience extreme poverty. They don’t have a proper education and they have a difficult time gaining employment. Because of this, they will often take any job that they can get even if it means becoming involved in sex tourism. Their extreme poverty will influence them to do almost anything to earn money so that they can feed their family, even if it involves sexual acts. Those who participate in sex tourism know how dire their situation is and are willing to do just about anything in order to make money.

Lack Of Proper Education About The Consequences

Sex tourism is a dangerous business. Those who participate in it often don’t realize the legal ramifications that could come about if they get caught. Even though they may understand that it’s frowned upon, they don’t fully grasp that they could face a fine or even go to jail if they get caught. Also, they don’t realize that there could be health consequences as well. Unfortunately, in many third world countries there isn’t a lot of information about sexually transmitted diseases. For an individual that participates in sex tourism, they don’t always fully understand that they are at risk of getting an STD.

Not Enough Enforcement

It’s no surprise that in third world countries there tends to be a lot of crime. Because of this, something like stopping sex tourism is simply not a priority. If there are laws against it, they often aren’t enforcement. Law enforcement officials tend to have more pressing issues to deal with. As long as no other more serious crimes are committed, like rape or battery, sex tourism tends to be overlooked. Something like sex stopping sex tourism just isn’t seen as a priority.

Victims Don’t Speak Out

It’s not uncommon for those who are receiving money for sex tourism to feel forced to do so. They don’t know that they can speak out against it. Unfortunately, the money that they bring it from it greatly helps to benefit their families. Without it, these individuals wouldn’t be able to feed their children, brothers or sisters or parents. Even if they wanted to speak out, they have no idea where to turn to in order to get help.

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Let us know if we can help you dealing with your family’s sexual abuse situation. For ideas to get started please check out our book on what to do during the early days after disclosure.