Sex slaves in Melbourne's north
Julia Adler
08Jul08
Author Kathleen Maltzahn with her new book. Picture: JOSIE HAYDEN
TRAFFICKED women are being held captive as sex slaves in legal brothels in Melbourne's northern suburbs, says a Thornbury author.
"Some police have told us there is no problem, but we know there is trafficking going on," says Kathleen Maltzhan, who works as a director of a women's health service, Women's Health In the North.
Kathleen Maltzhan's controversial new book Trafficked exposes the sex industry's demand for Asian women lured into prostitution through the false promise of well-paid jobs as hostesses in bars and clubs in Australia.
She said the recruitment process began overseas, where predominantly South Korean and Thai women were unwittingly sold into sexual slavery.
But they meet a grim reality when they reach Australia and are forced to pay off "contracts" in which they have to sleep with men without earning a cent.
"These women have no right to choose whether or not they want to be have sex with a client," she said.
The book reveals Ms Maltzahn's quest for law reform through the advocacy group Project Respect.
She highlights the plight of enslaved women and lobbying governments and police into taking action against traffickers in the sex industry.
Throughout the 1990s and up until 2004, Ms Maltzahn estimates, about 1000 women were trafficked into Australia to work in legal and illegal suburban brothels.
Ms Maltzahn said there was a nexus between prostitution, violence against women and trafficking.
"Prostitution is physically and emotionally exhausting," she said.
"Many women say their skin hurts and some get bedsores.
"A woman's body is just not built to have that much sex."
Ms Maltzahn will launch Trafficked in Fitzroy this weekend, followed by a performance with Project Respect and Brunswick Women's Theatre, Prostitute: Who is She?
The launch and play will be at Fitzroy Town Hall Reading Room, 201 Napier St, Fitzroy, on Saturday, July 12, at 6pm.
For bookings call 9416 3401.
