The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan-A Twisted Sex Trade

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In Afghanistan today, in the midst of war and endemic poverty, an ancient tradition–banned when the Taliban were in power–has re-emerged across the country. It’s called Bacha Bazi, translated literally as “boy play.” Hundreds of boys, some as young as eleven, street orphans or boys bought from poor families by former warlords and powerful businessmen, are dressed in woman’s clothes, taught to sing and dance for the entertainment of male audiences, and then sold to the highest bidder or traded among the men for sex. With remarkable access inside a Bacha Bazi ring operating in Northern Afghanistan, Najibullah Quraishi, an Afghan journalist, investigates this practice, still illegal under Afghan law, talking with the boys, their families, and their masters, exposing the sexual abuse and even murders of the boys, and documenting how Afghan authorities responsible for stopping these crimes are sometimes themselves complicit in the practice.

This documentary will air on PBS’ Frontline tonight at 9PM. Check your local listings.

Watch the preview:

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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4 years ago

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[…] There you will find 10739 more Infos: madmikesamerica.com/2010/04/the-dancing-boys-of-afghanistan-a-twisted-sex-trade/ […]

Anonymous
13 years ago

It’s not homosexuality it’s the sexual abuse of an innocent child you sickos

13 years ago

One thing is obvious: catholic priest or Tibetan monk, in any culture or geography, the bad behavior, pedophilia, is a generational behavior… abused children abuse children. Statistically, it’s a primary factor in child abuse issues. This childhood trauma is factor in recidivism …

[re:“I just can’t bring myself to respect a belief system”

Per­son­ally, I just can’t bring myself to respect a race that com­mits geno­cide, throws babies into fires,cuts out women’s gen­i­tals and stretches them over their hats and gives peo­ple blan­kets made with smallpox.A race that builds weapons laced with depleted ura­nium and fires them at peo­ple who have done them no harm.A race that uses phos­pho­rus weapons, which burn through children’s bones.A race which assem­bles inten­tion­ally bad invest­ments, then sells them to unknow­ing investors and makes money on bets know­ing said invest­ments will fail.

Sure there are beau­ti­ful and inspi­ra­tional White people.Some of you are even uplift­ing and inspi­ra­tional. But the extrem­ist Cau­casians are run­ning the show. And there is noth­ing peace­ful or decent about a race that treats Brown and Black women and chil­dren as if they are less than human.]

ABSOLUTELY BRAVA~! BRAVA. BRAVA.

(And I’ll tell ya what, it’s sux how the spell chk on this program misspells BRAVA but not BRAVO. Geesh.)

Reply to  Gwendolyn H. Barry
13 years ago

Of course there are examples in every society of atrocities committed against humanity. Christians slaughtering Muslims in Bosnia, Muslims slaughtering Christians in Iran, Indians with the Manifest Destiny, Spanish against the Inca empire.

I think the point with Mother Hen’s post is that ANY BELIEF SYSTEM that doesn’t respect the basic human rights of women and children is something that can’t be condoned. But BELIEF IS NOT THE SAME THING AS RACE. There are women in the Middle East that are quite courageous in fighting for rights and basic human dignity. Basic human rights such as not getting beaten in the streets for not covering your face.

Human rights are being violated in all countries today. That goes for Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. And I think that Mother Hen would be the first to speak up about it. After all, wasn’t Mother Hen’s first post about the use of Depleted Uranium and the detrimental effects it had on Iraq children?

Osori, do you really think that it was fair to imply that Mother Hen condones the atrocities committed against the Iraqi children? If you complain about a woman getting stoned to death in the Middle East, does that automatically mean you are for the war in Iraq? Does this mean that reports made by Amnesty International about human rights violations in the Middle East mean that Amnesty International is for the war?

I really don’t have any knowledge of the “72 Virgin” thing, but I do know that history shows that countries will dehumanize another country inhabitants, in effect creating sub-humans, to psychologically make them easier to kill. Examples come to mind such as Japs, Krauts, Slopes, Commie Reds, etc. But the United States is not the only country to engage in this behavior.

From what I have read of your posts and also Gwen’s posts, my impression is that you both are very caring humanitarians with great concern and empathy for the plight of others, here and in other regions of the world.

Perhaps that would make a excellent post, Osori. Write up something about where the “72 Virgins” came from. Present your case by writing down the facts to show people the error in their thinking. Bringing the truth to people is the light and the way for intelligent people to decide.

(…except for Cthulhu and his minions like Yog and Shub)

13 years ago

All these behaviors and beliefs are moot since Cthulhu is going to eventually devour us all.

13 years ago

Really great discussion folks. However, and I know that everyone already knows this, all of these so called “perversions” have been around a lot longer than the word perversion. Illustrations of homosexual behavior has been found in most every culture regardless of race or color. There is no shortage of discussions of the trade of children by both the early Greeks and the Romans. In fact, if you sit around and watch chimps for awhile you are sure to see a bit of buggery going on and they rarely stop and ask about age. The rarity these days is the fact that females are start to openly prey upon the young predominantly male population. The key terms here are “rarity” and “openly”. I give thanks every day for my baby sitter when I was 12.

Reply to  Lazersedge
13 years ago

Certainly lots of human behavior, whether harmful or harmless, has equivalents in other animal species. What’s different about humans is that we have morally evolved to the point where we can, at least in many cases, sensibly differentiate the harmful from the harmless, prohibiting the former and accepting the latter.

Religion has had an absolutely retrograde effect on that evolution. Islam and Christianity have both traditionally condemned harmless homosexual behavior between consenting adults, for example, and this taboo has only been lifted in practice as the influence of religion on society has weakened. And both Islam and Christianity have condoned the harmful sexual abuse of children in different ways.

osori
13 years ago

Mother Hen,

re:“I just can’t bring myself to respect a belief system”

Per­son­ally, I just can’t bring myself to respect a race that com­mits geno­cide, throws babies into fires,cuts out women’s gen­i­tals and stretches them over their hats and gives peo­ple blan­kets made with smallpox.A race that builds weapons laced with depleted ura­nium and fires them at peo­ple who have done them no harm.A race that uses phos­pho­rus weapons, which burn through children’s bones.A race which assembles inten­tion­ally bad invest­ments, then sells them to unknow­ing investors and makes money on bets know­ing said invest­ments will fail.

Sure there are beau­ti­ful and inspi­ra­tional White people.Some of you are even uplift­ing and inspi­ra­tional. But the extrem­ist Cau­casians are run­ning the show. And there is noth­ing peace­ful or decent about a race that treats Brown and Black women and chil­dren as if they are less than human.

Reply to  osori
13 years ago

I sure hope you aren’t hating on the Jews here just because some of their bankers are ripping off America. My own ancestors being from Denmark, I can honestly say that they weren’t Nazis, slaveholders, or worse.

What is “white”? Do you mean any non-negro, non-Asian? People from India, Pakistan- in fact much of the Middle East are, despite their darker pigmentation, caucasian.

I certainly think there is vast historical evidence of atrocity by all races who hold power against anyone of any race unfortunate enough to be in the way of such power. The Spanish vs the Native Americans is a good example. That wasn’t an ideological difference of opinion, that was genocidal land grab.

People can’t exactly choose their parents. Adults can choose their religion though. In some cases, where any type of free thinking is stomped out and where there is no education for most women, and apostasy is punishable by death, it can be difficult to overcome the religion one was born into. But it is possible.

The crazier factions of both Christianity and Islam get a lot of press. And unfortunately, the crazier Islamic faction is the one with the power right now. At least in America, Islam can have followers who chose that path over others. If a follower of that, or any other religion, tries something like battery or rape there are legal repercussions- unlike the Middle East, where such actions are protected.

There will always be greedy, powerful rulers who exploit others for gain. It does a religion no favors when those rulers are doing their crimes against humanity in the name of that religion. How about the Crusades? Done in the name of Christianity- but those weren’t recent enough to bear mentioning I guess.

The worst offender of crimes against humanity to most people has to be Hitler. Many like to assert that Hitler was an atheist. I guess this somehow makes him even more of an evil bastard? Has anyone ever made the argument that Hitler did what he did because he didn’t have divine guidance? I am not going to defend him because he is “a fellow atheist”. There is not enough room for me to go off on my anti-Nazi rant, much as I would like to.

Why do Christians and Muslims allow the extremists to run the show? If there are “mainstream” factions, why aren’t they speaking out against the abuses of the few?

Since I am not bound by any religion, I look across at all people of all races as equals. Women are as valuable as men. Humans deserve respect. Being human, they are instantly accorded certain “inalienable rights.”

The constructs of humans, on the other hand, deserve scrutiny. Once a belief system stops serving and starts inhibiting humanity, it needs to evolve, or humanity will suffer. And the powerless and weak are the ones that suffer first, and most.

Children are like an “indicator species” in environmental biology. If bad things are happening to children because of a certain environment, something needs to be done as quickly as possible. In some cases it might mean ditching repressive doctrines, or abandoning religion.

13 years ago

So I’m going to say this: to figure that celibacy is the trigger for pedophilia is thought to be psychologically and criminally wrong thinking. Just saying… there thousands of aesthetics who live live happy, joyful, expressive and physically demonstrative lives without sexual intercourse… they channel their sexual energies for spiritual purposes… example: Tibetan monks…
I don’t personally think celibacy is the trigger for abusing a child. I don’t think it’s about any form of denial. Dangerous to miss that point..too. Like saying homosexuality is responsible for priests fucking boys. Just that plain, I’ll say it. I do not think it’s about sexual lifestyle. I think it absolutely about a criminal sickness. One that, as history has taught us, even castration will not alleviate.

In historical regard… that’s another post all together.

Reply to  Gwendolyn H. Barry
13 years ago

That is a good point. Just as the forced celibacy in male prison populations makes some of them (heterosexual men) rape other men, this behavior does not make them gay.

Some ascetics seek that lifestyle, and have truly overcome sexual urges and materialism. Repression alone isn’t enough to create a pedophile. I think for some of those priests it was also a question of access, but their positions of power, trust, and then the subsequent secrecy made it worse. Recidivism for pedophiles is common. They have to be kept away from children. This is where the crime was compounded- to hush and hide the shame while allowing the abuse to continue.

I don’t think we could generalize what is happening with the Catholic scandal to include the Tibetan or Buddhist monks in Asia, though there could certainly be cases of pedophilia among them. If there was, would the Western world have even heard of it?

13 years ago

Well thank you for that explanation of the goodness of atheist Mother Hen. I for one will now isist that all people in positions of trust and authority be atheists. You know; priests, teachers, doctors, politicians, firemen, military, etc. It’s obvious nobody of faith can be trusted these days what with their repressed sexual urges. It’s just as obvious that all people of faith are brainwashed by their religious texts into thinking they can rape children and just say either God or the devil made them do it.

Reply to  Truth101
13 years ago

Actually, atheists are statistically under-represented in prison populations relative to the general population, so there is that much evidence that crime is rarer among atheists.

Nevertheless, your response here is irrational. Individuals must be judged as individuals. It’s probably true that atheists are more moral and less likely to be criminal than religious believers, but that’s a statistical generalization. An individual can be held responsible only for that individual’s own behavior.

13 years ago

Any demographic, and I am sure atheists too, are going to have the occasional perv who is attracted to children. But some religions, either because of their actual holy scriptures, or because of their dogmatic adherence to ideas that contradict biology, create a scene ripe for the exploitation and abuse of women and children.

If Catholic priests could marry, and thus have legitimate access to a sexual outlet, I doubt there would be a scandal like the one that is raging today.

Islam has the distinction of being the religion of the theocracies of the Middle East. When religious people have the power and zeal to make and enforce laws based on that religion, it can reveal a great deal about the nature of the belief system.
Let’s ignore the scary side- the jihadists, the suicide bombers, the men who marry 13 year olds and younger.

Let’s look at the peaceful side of Islam. If tolerance of human differences are valued and persons are to be treated with kindness and respect then we would expect to see evidence of this in Islamic law. Great value would be placed on human life, social harmony, and service to the collective good. Conflict would be discouraged, and armed conflict would be rare. Punishments, when deemed necessary, would fit the crimes.
The society would care about its vulnerable members, and be certain their rights are secure. That is not at all what we see upon examining the lives of the citizens of these countries.

I just can’t bring myself to respect a belief system that has indoctrinated the idea of child marriage, battery of women, and rape victims who are executed while their attackers go free. Sure there are beautiful and interesting parts of Islam, just as there are inspirational and uplifting parts of the Bible. But the extremists are running the show, and there is nothing peaceful or decent about a theocracy that treats women and children as less than human.

And the one thing that can be said about atheists is that they are a scientific sort. They tend to hold people of all races, adults, children, males, females, straight, gay- equally deserving of basic human rights. If an atheist does an evil deed, it is on him. He won’t weasel out claiming “God told him to” or that it was necessary to his religion.

osori
Reply to  Mother Hen
13 years ago

Mother Hen,

re:”I just can’t bring myself to respect a belief sys­tem”

Personally, I just can’t bring myself to respect a race that commits genocide, throws babies into fires,cuts out women’s genitals and stretches them over their hats and gives people blankets made with smallpox.A race who builds weapons laced with depleted uranium and fires them at people who have done them no harm.A race who uses phosphorus weapons, which burn through children’s bones.A race which builds intentionally bad investments, then sells them to unknowing investors and makes money on bets knowing the investment will fail.

Sure there are beautiful and inspirational White people.Some of them are even uplifting and inspirational. But the extremist Caucasians are running the show. And there is nothing peaceful or decent about a race that treats Brown and Black women and children as if they are less than human.

Reply to  osori
13 years ago

Bad analogy. A religion is a form of ideology and in no way comparable to a race. Race is simply a set of superficial traits of physical appearance which have no connection to anything important about a person. Hideous atrocities have happened all over the world at various times, committed by people with all the superficial combinations of skin color and eyelid shape. It’s simply something humans have a capacity for.

Religion is a type of ideology which generally includes forceful pronouncements concerning what is and is not acceptable human behavior. It’s reasonable to expect that adherents of a religion or ideology which declares the use of force and violence to be acceptable will actually use force and violence more often than people who do not adhere to such an ideology, for example.

Being against Islam is no more a form of bigotry than being against Nazism or Communism is a form of bigotry. These are ideological belief systems, not similar to races or ethnic groups.

And, of course, ideology is changeable, which race is not. Some of our best intellectual fighters against Islam are people who were raised as Muslims but later saw through it and left it, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Ibn Warrâq.

TSidhu
13 years ago

It was good how the producers provided Shafiq and his family monies from their own pocket.

Poor boys, children should never be harmed.

13 years ago

As a Christian it is my duty to love everyone. I love you Infidel. Platonically of course.

Truth 101
13 years ago

It’s too bad Afgahnistan isn’t an atheist nation Infidel. I hear atheists never sodomize children.

13 years ago

It does suggest something about monothesic religions thought, don’t it? I’m just saying…
TY Mike for the head’s up. I’ll watch … gee. Infidel, you make me laugh my ass off. LOL

Reply to  Gwendolyn H. Barry
13 years ago

The sad thing is that if it weren’t for Islam, Iran and Afghanistan might well be tolerant societies where a healthier gay subculture could exist, based on their traditions. I think it’s the religious repression that twists sexuality into such abusive forms. (It’s because the Catholic Church prohibits everything sexual to its clergy that it ends up producing the worst results of all.)

Reply to  Infidel753
13 years ago

Well of course Infidel, you’re very correct!

13 years ago

LMAO Infidel!

Our neighbor was a sniper in Afghanistan. His unit was set up to train the Afghans, and periodically rather than “R and R” like a US serviceman might get, the Afghan men were treated to a boy (he sometimes performed) who was then used for sex by the Afghan men. It was apparently culturally OK, as where else is an unmarried man going to get any? This was just when the war began, and the US guys were understandably disgusted and horrified at it. In a society that doesn’t allow for premarital sex, or prostitution, what options are there other than marrying very young or using boys?

Reply to  Mother Hen
13 years ago

Seriously, this is far from surprising. I don’t know whether it’s culture or genetics or what, but homosexuality seems to be much more pervasive in certain societies than others, over long periods of time. Greece is an example. In Classical times it was common and accepted, even respected.

Afghanistan is a closely-related culture to Iran (the Persian language is widely spoken there), though not so advanced historically. Iran is one of the places where homosexuality or bisexuality among males seems to have been commoner than elsewhere, from the earliest recorded times (6th century BC) to modern times. I’m not too surprised if Afghanistan is the same. What you and Mike’s post describe sounds, let’s just say, familiar from everything else I’ve read about the culture.

I don’t know what Zoroastrianism (Iran’s religion before the rise of Islam) said about homosexuality, but Islamic repression doesn’t seem to have accomplished anything but to drive it underground.

13 years ago

OMG Jesus F Christ — as soon as this thing airs every Catholic priest on the planet is going to be beating a path to Afghanistan.

Or maybe not. 11 and up might be a bit old for their taste.

Reply to  Professor Mike
13 years ago

It’s got to be one or the other, I’ve found.

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