SATURDAY 27 | Fourteen years ago, a senior member of Cambodia’s government was asked why the country seemed indifferent to the sexual exploitation of its children by expats. He replied thus: “Do you not think that Cambodians do these things yourself?”
Contrary to its international reputation as a haven for Western paedophiles, Cambodia has long harboured a secret shame: the majority of child sex offenders that plague its provinces are not from far-off lands, but native Khmers – a phenomenon not readily admitted by the proud descendants of Angkor.
The misconception that sexual depravity is a foreign problem arose following the arrival of the United Nations Transitional Authority on Cambodia in 1991. Such was the sexual appetite of the 22,000 soldiers, police officers and administrators who made up the peacekeeping force that within two years the number of prostitutes in Phnom Penh swelled from 6,000 to more than 20,000.
For the men who offend, the lure is linked inextricably to myths of luck, prosperity, even immortality.
In The Virginity Trade, a documentary by British film-maker Matthew Watson, one such buyer describes the forces that drove him to deflower a child. “Cambodian culture regards virginity as very important. It is most sought after by Cambodian men, so I decided I was ready to pay for the thing men want the most. I was told that if I had sex with a virgin girl, it would increase my powers; enhance my beauty. That is, stay young forever.”
This concept of sexual alchemy can be traced back to Taoism, a web of philosophical and religious traditions that has been shaping Asian beliefs for more than 2,000 years. In Secret Instructions Concerning The Jade Chamber, a fourth-century Taoist text on harmonising male and female energies, the author describes the potential rewards: ‘Now men who wish to obtain great benefits do well in obtaining women who don’t know the Way. They should also initiate virgins [into sex], and their facial colour will come to be like [that of] virgins. However, [man] is only distressed by [a woman] who is not young. If he gets one above 14 or 15 but below 18 or 19, it is most beneficial… The masters preceding me, who transmitted the Way to each other, lived to be 3,000 years old. Those who combine this with medicines can become immortal.’
But what of the victims? Watson’s Girls Of Phnom Penh, also screening, examines their plight.
WHO: Everyone with a conscience
WHAT: The Virginity Trade and Girls Of Phnom Penh screening
WHERE: Meta House, Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: 7pm July 27
WHY: The secret shame of child sex exposed