Documentary: Sex Trafficking in South India

Prostitutes of god

Journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about temple prostitutes in south India -Devadasi girls are dedicated to a Hindu deity and spend their lives selling sex.

Interview by Matilda Battersby
Monday, 20 September 2010

Former Independent journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about India’s temple prostitutes – Devadasi are young girls who are dedicated to a Hindu deity at a young age and support their families as sex workers.

The first instalment of the four-part exclusively online documentary ‘Prostitutes of God’ goes live today on VBS.tv.

I first went to India after I left The Independent three years ago. I wanted to run away and do something really different, so I went to volunteer with a charity in southern India which rescues victims of sex trafficking.

On my very first day there I stumbled into a meeting of Devadasi prostitutes. I was told that they were temple prostitutes, but didn’t have any understanding of what that meant.

I began to research it and in February 2008 was invited to northern Karnataka, which is the centre of the tradition in India. I interviewed a few of the women and wrote an article about it for Vice magazine. But visiting them stayed with me, and I wanted to find out more. continue reading full article at The Independent.

watch Prostitutes of God

Vice Web TV: HAMILTON’S PHARMACOPEIA

posted by ebeans

Vice is one of those free publications that one finds once in a while on a doorstep and it is magic.  Crazy, wild, kind of funny and kind of mean, Vice Magazine is a Vice.  An old copy resurfaced during some end-of-the-season cleaning, and as I re-read a couple of articles that only received a cursory glance before, I noticed that Vice has got a “TV” thing going on.  VBS.TV

My intention was to watch a documentary about forensic anthropology, but upon entering the site was immediately drawn into “Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia”.  Remember the “Nice, Thick, Uncut 12-Inch Shroom”? Yes, the very same (Hamilton).

The Sapo Diaries 1 of 3 – Episode 1 of 3

“There is an Amazonian frog called Phyllomedusa Bicolor or the Sapo which I have been reading about for years. It is totally different from the psychedelic toads found in North America. The Sapo’s venom produces an effect much closer to morphine than LSD, but really it’s not like either of those things. It’s a distinctly vomitous dissociative experience unlike anything else I’ve ever encountered.

There has been a lot written about the chemistry of the venom, and it has been said to have a diverse array of effects. Some people think it’s a miracle opioid which will yield…”  more