SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

times, these traditions have eroded and most hijra communities live from begging and dance
performance, while some also engage in prostitution. 224
While this variety of sexual identities provides opportunities for men and boys to find
communities of support in a society that might stigmatize them, it also provides opportunities
for boys to be unwillingly abused. Peer pressure, coupled with discrimination in the family
and school, may push a boy into social groups, including zenana or hijra communities, in
which he is sexually abused and perhaps exploited. In the case of induction into hijra
communities, boys may permanently separate from their families and may have themselves
castrated due to peer pressure rather than to their own desire to assert an alternative sexual
identity.
5.1.4 Sexual exploitation in pornography
Little documented evidence can be found of the distribution of pornography or the abuse and
exploitation of children in making pornography in India. At the same time, pornographic
literature, photographs and videos are readily available throughout the country, from cities to
rural towns. Internet cafés and chat rooms are ubiquitous in every city. In many Internet cafés,
computer terminals are in small cabins, where adults and children can download and view
pornographic materials in privacy. In interviews with traffickers as part of a study of
trafficking of women and girls, 6 per cent of respondents stated that they had trafficked
women and children for the production of pornographic material, not only within India but
also to the Gulf states, Republic of Korea, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
Teenagers were preferred in trafficking for exploitation through pornography. 225 Pornographic
production by foreign sex abusers using Indian children has also been noted in Mumbai and
Goa. 226
5.1.5 Other forms of sexual exploitation
5.1.5.1 Prostitution
As elsewhere in South Asia, there are no reliable estimates of the number of children being
sexually exploited through prostitution. Numbers are difficult to verify because of the hidden
nature of the activity and because prostitution may not be clearly recognized as sexual
exploitation. The line between non-commercial sexual abuse and sexual exploitation is not
always clear, particularly for boys. Many boys living on the street or engaging in child labour
are routinely sexually abused, and such abuse might or might not be ‘repaid’ through the
provision of food, shelter or money. Some boys engage in ‘survival sex’, either to meet
immediate basic needs or to prevent harassment or more violent physical or sexual abuse.
While the sexual abuse of boys in street situations is estimated to be high, and this abuse is
224
ECPAT International and Pakistan Paediatric Association, 2006, ‘Situational analysis report on prostitution
of boys in Pakistan (Lahore and Peshawar)’.
225
National Human Rights Commission, UNIFEM and Institute of Social Sciences, 2004, ‘A report on
trafficking in women and children in India 2002-2003’.
226
ECPAT International and Equations, 2003, ‘A situational analysis of child sex tourism in India (Kerala and
Goa)’; National Human Rights Commission, UNIFEM and Institute of Social Sciences, 2004, ‘A report on
trafficking in women and children in India 2002-2003’.
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