Exploited and Exploiter

Reading this article on the B.B.C. website makes several points on morality and how complex real life can be. Most moralists would condemn child-sex traffickers. The moralists would claim these people are the scum of the earth. But life sometimes isn't black and white sometimes even thinking in shades of gray isn't helpful.

Our black and white thinking our Manichean obsession blinds us to how complex and nuanced our lives can be. Sometimes things are not black and white sometimes it's Orange. How do you talk about Orange in a black and white world? It's not a "shade of gray" it's Orange.

Look at the story again. Our sex trafficker is not only a victim she is also a victimizer. A trans-gendered person she used to be a he. Before she was "reassigned" she engaged in homosexual child prostitution. Now she is trolling to find other children to feed the sexual appetites of foreign visitors.

What is the final answer here? Is there a pat and easy answer? Some would say yes. Some would condemn Keng as a horrid sodomite that who is perverting other children into godless ways. But is really that easy? Just asking.

There is a confluence of culture and economics and sexual identity and morality that makes this story so interesting. Without the the grinding poverty of Thailand, would any of these children be in the business their in? When the only choices in life are beg, starve, or become a "sex worker" what is the "moral" thing to do?