The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan

[EFerrari]

The dancing boys of Afghanistan



It was an ancient tradition banned by the Taliban but now it's back: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports from northern Afghanistan on the hiring out of young male dancers by older men

The night's rituals unfolded slowly. In a small house in a village near the town of Taluqan in northern Afghanistan, a dozen men huddled in a cold, dark room, wrapped in thick blankets and squatting on red cushions. The wind sliced through a plastic sheet nailed to a wooden frame in the mud wall, and a strong aroma of hashish lingered in the air.

A young boy brought a small metal pot, poured warm water on the men's hands and dried them with a small, stinking towel. Dinner was served: plates of meat stew, thick loaves of bread and bowls of yogurt. Then, when the meal was over, one of the guests opened his sash and pulled out four small bottles of Tajik vodka. Solemnly and with half-embarrassed smiles, the men raised their glasses, whispered, "Salamte" and drained them.

As more vodka was drunk, the party grew louder. Its host – a former Taliban commander now in alliance with the Afghan government and Americans – chatted jovially to his guests, mainly local farmers and shopkeepers. Then one of the men produced a sitar and a dancer entered the room.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/12/dancing-boys-afghanistan

from Frontline:

It’s an ancient practice, secretly revived--young boys sold by families to ‘entertain’ wealthy merchants and warlords. An undercover investigation into this illicit sex trade...



Stream here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/

Per this report, this trade in boys is not only in the north but wherever there is money, especially in the capital.

[kentuck]

1. Very interesting...

excerpt:
"The practice of taking young boys to perform as dancers at private parties is known as bacha bazi (literally, "boy for play") and is an Afghan tradition with very deep roots. Under Taliban rule, it was banned, but it has crept back and is now widespread, flourishing also in the cities, including the capital, Kabul, and a common feature of weddings, especially in the north. The bacha dancers are often abused children whose families have rejected them. Their "owners" or "masters" can be single or married men, who keep them in a form of sexual slavery, as concubines. The bachas are usually released at the age of 19, when they can get married and reclaim their status as "male", though the stigma of having lived as a bacha is hard to overcome. The Afghan authorities and human rights groups are aware of the plight of bacha boys, but seem powerless to stop it."

[EFerrari]

4. A lot of these children seem to wind up dead, too.

And it's very difficult to believe that any of these young men (children grown into young men under sex slavery) can ever reclaim anything like a normal life among their peers in their village.

[WheelWalker]

2. I'm watching. Is this the truth that sets us free?

[EFerrari]

3. The people who enslave these little boys are wealthy and connected.

So basically, you and I are funding this child sex trade with our tax dollars, as far as I can tell, because none of this can happen without the permission of the few powerful Afghanis, the so called warlords.

In the case of the boy in the film, when the Frontline producers tried to rescue him, they only got anywhere after they asked for help from the Afghani government, whom we directly fund.

[WheelWalker]

5. I'm nearly apoplectic. What this culture does, either to women or children, or both; Rape is not

about sex - it's about power and wealth is power. What's the next thing I'll learn? This is genuinely fucked up. But they are hardly unique. Buddha bless.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Watching now

Really excellent so far.

[kentuck]

7. And it was the Taliban that tried to ban it...

Everything is relevant in that backward society. Who is best to run that country? Do we truly know? Osama bin Laden moved into that part of Afghanistan because the people were backward and exploitable. After he schemed to attack the US, the Taliban were left to take on the American soldiers almost alone. That was the price they paid for befriending Osama bin Laden.

But it's been 10 years now. Maybe it is time to leave that country to the people. Let them choose who they want in charge. It's really none of our business anymore, in my opinion.

[WheelWalker]

8. Fuck the children or

fuck the women. That's one enlightened choice, don't you think? Whatever the choice, you fuck the future. Excuse me, I have to go throw up.

[EFerrari]

9. There's a sex trade in children in NYC, in Los Angeles, in Miami,

in DC. This isn't happening because the culture is "backward".

This is happening (imho) because there's a bunch of cash being injected into the country to influence people WHILE no one is really looking out for the people. In our cities, there is an infrastructure that tries to fight back against this stuff. That infrastructure in Afghanistan was leveled long ago.

These little boys are also "collateral damage".

[EFerrari]

10. .

[unhappycamper]

11. Oil, pipelines and now sex slaves.

I'm sure glad my tax dollars as being used for something useful. :sarcasm:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. And don't forget the record poppy crops.

[KG]

12. can't wait for the Big Fans to weigh-in on this.

:eyes:

[howard112211]

13. What I don't get is: The men owning this type of slave are probably

mostly heterosexual in the sense that their primary interest lies with adult women. Is it a cultural thing or what? :shrug:

[whathehell]

18. Of course it is..

and, like posters above, I think it's decidedly related to the extreme prohibitions relating to women and heterosexual sex.

"Why did he think other young boys dressed as women and danced? 'Because men like women and they are not available, so we act like women'".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/12/dancing-boy...

[tblue37]

14. And yet Islamic countries in the Mideast consider homosexuality to be a crime

that deserves to be punished by death. I have always been flummoxed by the way they can have such attitudes about hoosexuality on the one hand, yet keep young boys in sexual slavery to powerful men on the other. I guess homosexual behavior only seems wrong to them when it is not forced on the other person.

[howard112211]

15. The Taliban outlawed this. nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

19. I think it's related to the attitudes towards women there;

women are regarded as less than animals. Looking to satisfy "intimacy needs" *hurl* with little boys seems a logical step.

From my understanding, the same pattern went on in ancient Greece. Women were not even worthy of names; men channeled their sensuality towards youthful pretty boys.

[EFerrari]

20. Maybe the age of these boys allows some men to believe

it is not homosexuality "because it's just a boy".

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Bookmarked to view later and just shaking my head...........

[hayu_lol]

22. You have to go way way back to find the roots of this one...

read, for example, The Travels Of Marco Polo. They delivered one such highly trained boy for one area overlord to another some miles distant. Boys were used instead of women on those long caravans on the silk route. Women died easily for a number of reasons and boys survived.

This is a traditional practice in an area where tradition is everything and thinking is neither allowed nor required.

Since this is part of the history of the region, I am always surprised when they voice disapproval of the practice. Sort of like banning liquor but allowing Hash.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

23. First let me say this. Although it is a historical traditional practice, so was burning people

at the stake by the Catholic church. That doesn't make it right. It is child/sexual abuse and slavery, plain and simple.

As to historically, I knew before the Russians went into Afghanistan what a brutal country it could be. Hell, their annual game, as portrayed in the movie The Horseman, is played by hitting a goat's head while on horseback and it is grueling...I guess a precursor to polo. On a more personal note, a friend of mine who traveled years and years ago to exotic places, went to Afghanistan and she saw some men driving in a Mercedes, with a decapitated head over where the Mercedes radiator cap was meant to be. Life is looked at there quite differently than here, but should I like hearing of child slavery and think it's just ok because it has been done through the ages? I don't think so.

[EFerrari]

24. When I was studying the Shakespearean theater

my focus was elsewhere but there are repeated references to "engles" or "ingles" that I took to mean either a boy or a very young man that was used for sex. The word is cleaned up to mean "paramour" and I don't have my OED here. But, that was the usage, anyway. And those boys that played women didn't disappear when they left the stage, they lived somewhere as "indentured servants", too.

My point is that this practice was or maybe even is common in other cultures.

[tishaLA]

21. This was a really great documentary. Completely eye-opening

I guess because, on the one hand, it expose the sexual trafficking of boys and, on the other, because some of the biggest proponents of it had been leaders of the mujahideen and were, to varying degrees, unapologetic and open about the practice. It was like the society's open secret, with men saying they would keep boys if their wives let them, and then in the next sentence saying that their wives wouldn't object because their objections would fall on deaf ears anyhow.

[kentuck]

25. The "sex norms" were an interesting part of this documentary.

With Karzai and the Americans in charge, the practice of "bachi bazi" has returned to Afghanistan. Men keeping young boys to "play" with. Dressing them up as young women. At the same time, totally denigrating their wives. A very confused society.

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. weird weird weird