The Dancing Boys

This one, I think, will be harder to read than the others, so, I’m warning you up front.  I’m discussing abuse.

I know that I should probably speak of what goes on in Europe to further explain things to you.  But, I can’t today.  Instead, there’s something else that I feel needs to be heard.  This is to raise awareness of a horror many don’t know: bacha bazi.  Sometimes, they’re referred to as “the Dancing Boys”.  This practice, once thought dead, is now rearing its ugly head in Afghanistan.  The words loosely translate to “boy play”–yes, it is what you think.

These boys are usually orphans or the children of poor parents.  The parents sell them, most times thinking they are selling them to men who will train them to work.  They tend to be 11-13 when they start out, but can be 9 or 10.   At 15, they’re skilled veterans.  They go and dance for these parties of older men.  At the end of the night, the boy tends to be sold off to the highest bidder for sex.   The boys are status symbols for men of power, much like having a lot of land, money, cows, what have you.  The boys are slaves.

According to UNICEF, this practice has spread all over the nation; it is even practiced in the capital.  The subject is very taboo in Afghanistan, however, so getting statistics on how many practice this is difficult.  The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan, a documentary done by PBS Frontline, is very enlightening on the subject.  I encourage everyone to see it.

The only time we focus on abused boys is with the Catholic church, it seems.  We tend to think of the girls.  Abuse of girls is high and probably the most prevalent, but this story has me thinking of the abused and trafficked and prostituted boys of the world. And yeah, the lady-boys of Thailand can fall into this category.  My heart goes out to them.  I’ve always been a guy’s girl rather than a girl’s girl.  My best friends with a few exceptions have all been male.  So, when I hear about abused boys, I think of my friends…those boys I ran around with as a little girl and played soccer with, flag football, video games, and those boys whose girlfriends I told them how to break up with (okay, I know that sounds bad, but we were 11, 12, etc…it’s not like it was going anywhere…don’t judge me).  When I see a boy dance in a crowd of lecherous old scum of the earth men, my heart breaks.  I just see the faces of the boys I loved.  Many of the boys in bacha bazi are murdered, usually because they tried to resist.

Because I am a woman, I cannot go to Afghanistan and help them.  As much as I want to jump on a plane and tell their abusers what I thought of them and then go all Jason Bourne on them, I can’t.  What I can do is pray and raise awareness.  I’m asking you to do the same.  Please, someone hear the plight of the dancing boys.  If you know anyone who does work to help them, tell me.  I’ll get behind their cause 100%.  So, spread the word.  The more pressure we can put on our governments to pressure Afghanistan’s powers that be, the better chance we have to help these enslaved boys.