Bacha Bazi

"They do not understand the concept of rape, for them it's just sex." 

The term child abuse only started to appear in medical literature around the early 60's. Until then there was absolutely nothing to conceptualise this practice. Child abuse dates back a long way. In ancient Greece, pederasty (homosexual relationship with adult male and pubescent male) existed in the upper class circles. It was perfectly normal for a man to desire young boys in Ancient Rome. In 20th century China, young male prostitues were costlier than adult female ones. The practice of 'shudo' (the way of the young) in Japan was prevalent in the religious community, amongst samurais and was banned in the 19th century. 

The Sambia tribe of Papua New Guinea believe that in order for the young male to achieve sexual maturation, they need to fellate and ingest the semen of their elders. Yes. Disturbing indeed. But all these facts bring us to the main part of this blog entry, Bacha Bazi which literally means 'Boy Play' in Persian, also a prospering business in Afghanistan. 

When Canadian soldiers were serving in Afghanistan, some of them claimed that Afghan soldiers and interpreters were sexually molesting young boys. On their return home, many soldiers had counselling sessions where they revealed that they were guilty of not stopping these terrible incidents. Many were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, Canadian soldiers were asked by their superiors to ignore the incidents. An investigation was set up by the Canadian Military which until now has not resolved the situation. 

These young boys are dressed in flowing robes, made to wear makeup, lipstick and perfumes and are groomed as a girl, made to dance and entertain the adult purely for fun. In reality, this is sexual slavery. Many Afghanis have a young boy of their own and consider this to be a status symbol. The book 'The Kite Runner' actually talks about this where the protagonist goes in search of his friend's son who was forced into becoming a dancing boy for one Talibani official.

Photo by Barat Batoor

Photo by Lorraine Venberg

Photo by Martin von Krogh

Photo by Martin von Krogh

Photo by Martin von Krogh

Photo by Martin von Krogh

Photo by Martin von Krogh

Photo by Martin von Krogh

The sad part is that these boys are sodomised and tortured sometimes leading to death. It bothers me a lot to realize that such people do exist on earth who find pleasure in humiliating and hurting someone else. The young boys are traumatised at such an early age for the sake of earning money for their family. Hell is right here on earth. Many wealthy businessmen and powerful politicians are involved in this and there is nothing being done about it. The Afghan police and military itself is involved. So who's going to stop this? When you have power, you can do what you want, right? 

Why is this happening? In my opinion, to be very frank, these people who see women covered from head to toe, conceal them from society and can't afford a marriage are lecherous perverts who use these boys as an excuse for their desire. What's worse? the US has been aiding a land of pedos. No offence to the good ones. There is also a documentary titled 'The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan' by a journalist Najibullah Quraishi which I recommend you to watch if you want to learn more on what exactly is happening with these boys. May God save us all. If there is one.