Sex Slavery

I agree with Nikhil Nigam's claim that the rehabilitation of women who have been forced into sex-slavery needs to go beyond individual treatment. Nigam argues that "it is up to the larger society to convince her that it was a deceitful social process that made her a victim, took away her womanly dignity, made her an object of lust, and it is the same process that would have her continue as a prostitute." I am ignorant to the successes and failures of individual rehabilitation treatment for a woman returning from forced prostitution. Although I would like to think it could be successful in many ways, I am sure that critiques are right in claiming individual rehabilitation programs are often

fruitless. I think the notion of some kind of collective societal stance or belief in the wrongness of what is being done to these women could, perhaps, be more effective and beneficial than rehabilitation programs. I would argue, however, that the two go hand in hand. Even if the treatment of one woman is ineffective, the act of the Nepalese government, or Indian government, funding/supporting the rehabilitation of former sex slaves could help shape the thoughts and culture of Nepalese or Indian society. This, of course, is not enough in making amends for what was done to the women, but I agree with the author that great progress can be made in rehabilitating women if they are returning to a society that has outwardly/publicly taken the stance that  the women have been wronged tremendously. Rehabilitation programs sponsored/supported by the government would ideally be successful on an individual level, but if not they could hopefully serve as a public statement to help convince the victims that their community does not accept what happened.