boom boom

It's no secret that Southeast Asia is a hotbed for sex tourism. As a woman, I have never been solicited for 'boom boom' on the street as my male friends have. But you don't have to look hard to see just how pervasive the sex trade is in Cambodia

(photo by Mohammed Massoud)
It can be hard to identify what exactly prostitution means in this culture and society. In the West, we think of prostitutes as hanging out on the corner in the ghetto, walking up to loitering cars. Well, there are certainly one-stop shop hookers here as well. But I think the difference is that the layers of the sex trade are very dynamic and frequently very hard to identify.

According to UNICEF, 35% of Cambodian sex workers are under the age of 16. Sadly, young girls are often either kidnapped or sold by their parents to pimps who auction off their virginity to the highest bidder. Allegedly Chinese men are the leading customers for virginity. I have heard from a couple male friends that mothers have tried to sell their daughters to them for $5.



Aside from destitute parents selling their children into sex slavery, girls are often kidnapped from small villages and towns in the countryside to be brought to a brothel in Phnom Penh. From the stories I've heard the scenario sometimes goes like this:

1.Everyone in town knows little girl and her family.
2.Little girl hits puberty; people in town start to notice her figure.
3.Little girl is offered a legitimate job as a waitress or is given a surprise piece of candy
4. Waitress job turns into a kidnapping job and the candy is laced with debilitating drugs.
5. Little girl is held in a brothel until her virginity is auctioned off and she is thereafter a regular sex worker.

Very, very sad and scary.

So how does Cambodia compare to other Asian countries that are also quite infamous for their tolerance of gross sex trade practices? Here's a map:


GREEN: Prostitution legal and regulated
BLUE: Exchange of money for sex legal, but brothels illegal
RED: Prostitution illegal

Clearly, you'll see that what the law states is nowhere near societal reality or cultural perception of acceptability. Quite ironic in an area of the world where good girls are supposed to refrain from sexual desire altogether. We don't talk about sex in Asia, now do we?

Creepy Western pedophiles are usually the ones we hear about buying their services. But it's estimated that 99% of the clientele of the sex industry are Cambodian men. It's much cheaper for Cambodian men at as low as 5,000 riels for a go ($1.25). It's estimated that a great portion of HIV contraction is actually from married men bringing the disease home from brothels. This has lead Cambodia to have the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS in Asia. Some say that one of the reasons why the sex trade has become so normalized in this country is that traditional morality was challenges by the cultural wipe out of the Khmer Rouge. I find this argument highly subjective and ignorant of the fact that many other areas of common morality are upheld here just as they are in the rest of the world. But undoubtedly, there is a major lack of education about sexually transmitted diseases and a general approach of impunity towards men who participate in the sex trade. While in the West there has been an upsurge of undercover missions to expose the plots of these brothels, the Dateline and 60 Minute Specials do little to change the systemic problem.

And as for the Western creeps who are caught through secret investigations and child protection agencies, well let's just say that money does buy freedom in some cases. Several pedophilia cases have been resolved by the accused deviant paying the victim's family a sum of money. Thereafter their testimony miraculously changes - no hard feelings right? And if that doesn't work, hey you can always pay your way through the justice system.


It's hard not to judge these white men you see out at bars flirting with their Cambodian hookers or temp girlfriends that look like they could be 16. Although the foreign demand for sex workers doesn't make up the majority, it promotes a power dynamic here that is anything but progressive for women. Not to mention the fact that it's quite embarrassing for the rest of us foreigners to have to watch them exploit such a terribly sad situation. Interestingly, foreign demand might have actually kick started the industry after the war subsided; although forced marriage took place during the Khmer Rouge Era, prostitution was not big. Apparently, the number of sex workers jumped from 6,000 to 20,000 between 1991 and 1992. Coincidentally, this was the year that the UN installed it's aid overhaul of Cambodia, bringing in throngs of Western aid workers...or customers.

In their defense, because the cultural standards of sexual behavior are markedly different here than they are in the West, many foreign men think they have met a girl that they are just having a fun time with. But the fact is that 'proper' Cambodian women would not be found out at a bar at midnight alone and would surely not have a one night stand with a foreigner. But if the girl doesn't ask you for a fee flat out it doesn't necessarily mean that she is not a sex worker of some kind. This is where 'taxi girls' come in.

Taxi girls got their name from the practice of the men that they've had a one night stand with paying for their taxi ride home the next day. The bigger picture is just that these are women who sleep with a man to effectively make him their sugar daddy. Something many of the men are more than fine with. A scenario related to the taxi girl (or boy) phenomenon is that in which a foreigner pays for a night at a hotel at the girl's recommendation and then when he's off without having paid for the sex she receives a small kickback from the hotel.



I know what you're thinking. They're just a gold diggers and hookers; they exist everywhere! True. It occurs to me that some facets of gender relationships are universal. Women seek financial support before love everywhere. Sex sells everywhere. Women are afraid to ask their boyfriends to use protection everywhere. HIV and other STDs are taboo everywhere. And geez, we all blush and joke about the red light district in Amsterdam. Hell, the red light district is a common tourist destination. So how is this different?

To be honest, I'm not sure. As an outsider, I don't actually see much. But what I do see is a sex industry that is so far underground that the rights of the workers are absolutely nonexistent. These girls are so far outside the realm of 'decent' society, it seems pretty implausible that they would ever be able to find their way back into the fold. A very sad situation that needs a lot more than legislation to make it right.

so far from siagon

I had to make a visa run. Well, that was my initial motivation for making the 6-hour trek to Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon. I also really wanted that passport stamp!



I made the journey against my better intuition that I was coming down with some kind of illness. In my experience, illness in developing countries, particularly if you're traveling by yourself, is really not to be taken lightly. But I went anyway and when I woke up in the next day in Saigon, instead of heading to the beach as I'd planned - I had to make a hospital run. Because I was by myself, pretty feverish and delirious, I had to enlist the security guard at my hotel to accompany me. And I would have been totally lost without this kind man, because when we arrived at the first hospital tehy wouldn't help me because I was a foreigner. What?? Where's my preferential treatment when I need it, man? ;) Kidding, of course.

So he takes me to an emergency room that is as packed as a bus station. Literally, there were so many people in this tiny room just pushing to get by you, yelling at you for payment, papers, 'this way!". If I hadn't been so woozy, I would have whipped out my camera! The doctors spoke minimal English, as did my security guard so explaining that maybe I had malaria or something terrifying was problematic. And their explanation of what was wrong with me and what medicine they were giving me was also problematic. But I just had to trust that these guys would take care of me, Western standards of medicine aside. The doctor gave me a big hug before I left - so that sure made me feel better.

Once an ugly bout of strep throat subsided, I got to enjoy Saigon.



At first glance, the city is fast and intense. Traffic lanes are not quite comparable to China, but close! I pride myself on being a hardcore jaywalker, but it took me a minute to get used to crossing the street. Because there aren't really pedestrian crosswalks, you have to walk out into traffic very slowly and just let all the cars move around you. Visually, it's as graceful as moving against the current of a school of fish.


You can definitely tell that Vietnam was the darling of the French Indochinese colonies. Picture wide, tree-lined boulevards, corner cafes and lots of cigarette smoking. There is still quite a bit of French colonial architecture still standing, which I really love as decrepit as much of it is.


Culturally speaking, the city couldn't be more different from Phnom Penh. I try to avoid saying that people of a given culture are rude because as an outsider, you don't really know what people are like. But I definitely got the impression that the Vietnamese were not so immediately cordial. Cambodians are very cordial although they are not necessarily smiling and considerate because they are sweethearts. That is just their version of polite. It's like the equivalent of Southern hospitality - pleasant but not necessarily genuine. The Vietnamese on the other hand will not immediately be so nice to you.

One of the most frustrating things that I found was that it is culturally acceptable to charge a foreigner almost double the price than a native. Obviously prices are always higher for foreigners, but you can usually bargain them down. The foreigner inflation in Saigon though, is so ingrained in their dynamic with foreigners that it's really hard to bargain them down.

The most interesting activity in Vietnam was surely my visit to the War Remnants Museum, formerly known as the "War Crimes Museum". I was quite naive because the significance of being an American in Vietnam hadn't previously occurred to me at all. But at the museum, I found myself feeling a strange mix of guilt and defensiveness. The guilt of being from a country that participated in such a misguided war is conflicted because I wasn't even alive at the time and I should therefore not feel any personal responsibility. I think that the guilt is the result of feeling that my country has continued to pursue similarly self-righteous war efforts just in other parts of the world.

But I also felt like a defensive American. While immediately factual in it's presentation, this museum was grossly exploitative in it's effort to turn the facts into propaganda for Communist Vietnam's validation. They have an Agent Orange section of the museum that features a tank with dead fetuses that have allegedly died due to the effects of Agent Orange. Alongside the stillborn tank is a gallery of gruesome pictures of Siamese twins and a young man with Down syndrome playing Bach on a crappy keyboard. The young man's tip jar was full.

No one can deny the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam, you see people with deformities and Down syndrome everywhere. But their presentation of American atrocities and their denial of any ommitted by the North Vietnamese whatsoever was just really one-sided. To make it seem like the North Vietnamese did not totally screw their own people post-war - the South Vietnamese anti-war activists, the 're-education camps', the death of hundreds of thousands of boat people - it's pretty much a joke.

Nonetheless, I was really glad I went because it made me realize how the Vietnamese perceive themselves post-war. They perceive themselves to be the victors. Maybe that's why nobody seemed to balk when I told them I was from the U.S. They....won!

Vietnam is a curious spot and I absolutely need to go back. I'll make sure to avoid the hospitals this time.

yes, i have been productive

Just thought I would share a couple of pieces that I've completed for one of the English-language daily newspapers, The Phnom Penh Post. Evidence of my productivity;)

Tuol Sleng Blessing Ceremony from Briana Berry on Vimeo.

This first piece documents a blessing ceremony that happened at the former Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh the day before the verdict announcement of its former prison chief, Duch. It was my first time visiting the prison, to be honest I wouldn't have gone just to see the museum. I feel pretty adimantly against horror tourism. But I was glad to have a work assignment there because I got to see just how much this site has been transformed into a media photo-op, if you will. Being that the ceremony was staged before such a landmark media event, there was a ton of international press in attendance alongside country folks that had been bussed in to pray. Honestly the media scrum crowding around anyone who was crying hard enough felt a tad exploitative, but that was the aim of the event to some degree.

Khmer Rouge Verdict Announcement - The Media Frenzy from Briana Berry on Vimeo.

This next piece was shot at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia aka the court that is handling the Khmer Rouge War Crimes Tribunal. While the mass of people that showed up for the event where not actually inside the court room (in fact, cell phones weren't even allowed inside the court room), they bused a huge group of Cambodians from the provinces to watch the proceedings on a screen set up right outside the court. And to my knowledge, they have been busing people in for nearly every stage of the trial. Many people have said that what the ECCC is doing is enough, but I think that they have really made a genuine effort to involve Cambobians in this whole process.

Funny tidbit: The crying woman that this piece starts out with is actually one of the civil parties that was denied in the court's ruling. From what I have heard, she actually might be a fraud! Her claim is that an uncle was killed at Tuol Sleng at the hands of prison chief, Duch. However, this uncle 'died' before she was born....Ah, the hangers on of genocide.

first khmer rouge decision

There has been quite a lot of press on the very first verdict decision of the Khmer Rouge trials. Especially working a newsroom within Cambodia, this past week has been crazy! Duch, the prison chief of one of the top torture prisons during the Khmer Rouge era, was sentences to 35 years in jail. Because he has already spent time in jail for pre-trial detention, this sentence whittles down to 19 years left to serve. The guy is 67 years old, so there is a slight possibility that he could walk after finishing this sentence. But he's spending the time in Cambodian prison, not the Hague, so it's possible that prison conditions will wear on his health and he'll die in jail. From what I gather, that's what everyone is hoping for.

Opinions are all across the board as to whether or not this sentence was too light. The argument is that Duch was only following orders that were coming from above. So therefore he is not 'as' responsible as others... On the way other hand is "screw this guy". He ordered the deaths and torture of almost 13,000 people (that's the figure he admitted to during court proceedings), let him rot in jail and burn in hell.

As an outsider, it's hard to say. I think the most important thing here is that it happened at all. They have been waiting for over 30 years to have an official statement that what the Khmer Rouge did was wrong. Those reverberations will perhaps be felt in Cambodian culture more that the number of years he will serve.

This soundbite is a case in point. This man is one of the press coordinators for the court that handled this case. I got this bit while shooting at the verdict announcement for a local english-language paper.

fyi cambodia: street hawkers work the buses in every country

...except for in the States - p.sha! one thing that is great about this country is that you can eat the street food! of course, as in any developing country, you have to be careful. but by and large it is normal for foreigners to trust street food. amongst some of the goods you can get from a street hawker through the bus window are: crickets in a sweet BBQ sauce, hard boiled eggs marinated in a soy sauce, bootleg red bull, fresh baked buns and juice in bags! some yum, some not.

picky foreigner

I’ve become too used to the ease of living in Phnom Penh. I am pretty spoiled, I must say. I have air conditioning and Indian delivery. Such a city princess I am that I’m out here in the Prey Veng province for a shoot and I’m whining about flying cockroaches. Psha!

My hotel in Prey Veng, a provincial town 2 hours outside of Phnom Penh, cost $5. I have changed rooms 3 times. Room number one – broken door. After communicating with 5 different people, all with progressively better English, I changed rooms. After a few hours and one Twilight saga later (don’t judge) I notice that the bed I’m sleeping in is totally infested with bed bugs/fleas/something nasty. And flying cockroaches are circling my room in a way that my loaded flip flops couldn’t keep up with. I whimpered a bit and went downstairs to ask for yet another room. At this point I really felt like a whimp tourist. Like suck it up and sleep with those damn bed bugs. Nobody cares – but me!

Many sohm –to’s (sorrys) and auh-kun’s (thank you’s) later, they bring me to another room. Another room with a broken door and cockroach living on the drapes. They sweetly hand me a beer and an extra sheet with a bloodstain. Good night.

The moment when you break down and realize that there is no way you’re going to get what you want by ‘foreign standards’ is comical beyond explanation. These expectation for our standard of living are so arbitrary and apply to such a small percent of the world actually live like that! I had to laugh at myself jumping around the room with goosebumps and a girly shriek. Alas, I'll going to enjoy that Ankor beer and snuggle up with a strangers bloodstain. Awesome.

Bat Kloun

Bat Kloun, or disappearing body in Khmer, Cambodia’s native language, was a term used to refer to victims of the Khmer Rouge. Rather than explicitly acknowledging that these victims were dead, they were described more mysteriously as disappearing. This says something interesting about Khmer culture and the residual impact of the horrendous history of violence this country has endured.

Particularly because I’m documenting challenges facing the justice system, I’ve encountered many people who are fearful of ‘criticizing’ the government. In Cambodia, ‘criticism’ can boil down to simply acknowledging challenges facing the Ministry of Justice. To admit that there are problems can be put one at risk of punishment by the government, especially if it is done on the record to a foreigner with a camera. It’s definitely challenging because I recognize that their fear is real and I would never want to do anything to put them in harms way. But at the same time, it’s hard to ‘document’ when you can’t get real answers on camera.

As an American who has been Bush-bashing since my early teens, I have a hard time reckoning this fear of the government. But the fear is in context of a recent history, in which bodies really did disappear for even the slightest offences. During the Khmer Rouge era, comrades would frequently be considered allies one day and traitors the next. The uncertainty of what actions could put you at risk for elimination forced people into a deaf/mute lifestyle as a mode of survival against this mysterious killing machine.

Although to a much lesser extent, this still happens today. Recently a representative of a legal NGO spoke out in the national news about a legal conflict with the government. Shortly thereafter, the NGO lost it’s funding and was forced to shut down. By opening criticizing the government, this NGO sacrificed its working relationship with them. In order for many NGOs to maintain public access in Cambodia, they must maintain a positive relationship with the government. Therefore, blatant NGO opposition to the government’s policies can be limited.

The government maintains this relationship of fear by frequently prosecuting its critics. In Cambodia, defamation, slander or misinformation is considered a criminal offence. Whereas in the States you would be sued for such an offense, in Cambodia you are looking at fines and jail time. This limits political opposition in the sense that the ruling party, the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), can legally force it’s opponents out of power by bringing them to court. One of the most high profile instances of this prosecution is in the case of Mu Sochua , one of the more prominent leaders of Cambodia's leading political opposition, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). Sochua is currently facing jail time in a legal battle with the Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, for critical comments made in the press.

At the civilian level, these kind of erratic legal consequences are also carried out. It is not uncommon for someone to be arrested on hearsay with little or no evidence to substantiate the charges. I recently did a video interview with a 65-year old man who spent 9 months in pre-trial detention on attempted murder charges filed by his neighbor. The neighbors had recently had a petty argument….

As a newcomer to this country, I’m not sure what exactly this all means. I’ll refrain from making blanket statements about this culture. But I think it’s fair to say that a weak system of objective and reasonable punishment seems to appear throughout Cambodia’s history in the 20th and 21st centuries. The result is a society whose free speech may be hushed for fear of retribution.