Pederasty+-+Afghanistan

In various regions of Afghanistan, powerful men practice what is known as //bacha bazi//, literally translated as "boy play." Bacha bazi is also frequently translated to "dancing boy(s)" in Western discourse. A bacha bazi is a 10-14 year old boy who performs in feminine clothing to groups of men at private parties and festivals; they tend to be orphans or come from poor families, and are owned by wealthy military or government men (Baily, 2013).

Travelers from Europe first documented this practice in Afghanistan in the early 1600's, although similar practices have been around since the ancient Greeks (Baily, 2013). Western journalists tend to portray bacha bazi as sex slaves, kept as catamites by regional warlords. The investigative documentary //The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan// (2011) highlights the frequency of sexual exploitation and sexual violence in the culture of bacha bazi.

= = =Socio-political Context=

Afghanistan has a centuries-old and uniquely steadfast tribal social structure: mu ltiple attempts to establish a powerful centralized government system in the capital, Kabul, have failed. After the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989 and subsequently collapsed in 1992, the sudden lack of a wealthy patron - for the first time in 150 years - made it impossible to fund a central government. With a collapsed Afghan economy came a collapsed Afghan government; the population was suddenly without any self-sufficient infrastructure (Barfield, 2010).

The subsequent chaos and civil war made way for the Taliban to take control of Kabul in 1996, and atttempted to unify the country under strict Islamic law. Instead, the Taliban drove Afghanistan into a further state of poverty and social upheaval. After the attacks of 9/11, and the invasion of US troops, the Western occupiers established its own version of an effective federal government. However, this new government system was too culturally different from local political traditions: for one, it held elections. Leaders of regional and ethnic minorities looked upon this government with cynicism: from their perspective, it seemed just as opressive and corrupt as previous dictatorships and monarchies (Barfield, 2010).

Afghanistan is heavily divided along ethnic lines that prefer to have little to do with one another, and yet have no desire to split into separate countries across those lines. Afghans see the negative consequences of disunion as outweighing the animosity between ethnic groups; therefore, the local militias serve as regional governments that prefer to work together, but not control one another. The one exception may be the Pashtuns - the ethnic group of the Taliban - who are not strongly allied with any other ethnic group and have tried to control other groups (Barfield, 2010).

In the rural areas, the last two decades have been ruled largely by military commanders who replaced the old elite during the Afghan cilival war, and managed to hold onto local power when the Taliban tried to impose a central government. These local commanders tend to be viewed in a favorable light by the locals; they are seen as the only reliable leaders who would defend their region against warring tribes, the central government, and foreign invaders. They enjoy a luxurious lifestyle and regularly throw parties and festivals for other males in the region (Barfield, 2010; Doran & Quraishi, 2011). . = Gendered Context =

Islam
The practice of bacha bazi is better understood through the context of gender relations under Islamic law as it is practiced in rural Afghanistan. Dance and music, like many aspects of fundamentalist Islamic life, are segregated by gender. Female sexuality is seen as a disruption to social order (Siassi & Siassi, 2008). Therefore, female dancers would not be permitted to perform for male audiences (Baily, 2013). While the practice of bacha bazi is technically illegal under Afghan law, it is not considered as deplorable as the same activities - dance performance, sexual activity - with a young girl.

Homosexuality
Homosexual behavior in Afghanistan is highly prevalent, even in urban areas that allow a higher degree of mixing between genders. It was estimated in 2002 by an Afghan professor at the Kandahar Medical College that approximately 50% of the men in the city of Kandahar have sex with another male at some point in their lives. Many of these interactions take place between a boy between 12 and 16 years of age, and an older male (Baily, 2013).

The prevalence and general acceptability of pederastic activity in Afghanistan could have a number of socio-cultural explanations. One hypothesis suggests that pederastic activity emerges out a need to indulge one's sexual urges in spite of the inaccessibility of women; another suggests that Islamic warrior culture encourages strong male bonding, which in turn incites homosexual desire (Varnell, 2002). media type="custom" key="25730490" width="140" height="140" align="left"

Bacha Bazi
However, the structure of the bacha bazi system suggests something different: the boys create the illusion of the female form that adult males may admire from afar. Many of the military men who own bacha bazi and enjoy sex with them are married men, and therefore has access to women as sexual partners (Baily, 2013). Also, the adult males who own bacha bazi tend to fondly describe the boy's more feminine features - not his male features - which contradicts the hypothesis of homosexual attraction (Doran & Quraishi, 2011). In the context of cultural gender roles and relations, the bacha bazi do not predominantly indicate pedophilic or homosexual desires on the part of the men who own them. Rather, they serve as proxy to allow adult Afghan men the illusion of publicly and unabashedly gawking at female sexuality: a practice that would be strictly culturally taboo.

=Movements to Eliminate Bacha Bazi=

The Taliban
The Taliban is openly against the practice of bacha bazi, and arrested many who practiced bacha bazi in the mid-1990's. This Islamic extremist group prided itself on a foundation of moral fortitude, and were openly against both child sexual abuse and music: two major components of bacha bazi culture. They conducted arrests on people who were reported to own bacha bazi, and musicians who played for bacha bazi parties, and successfully reduced the prevalence of this practice (Baily, 2013). Since the U.S. removal of the Taliban from Afghanistan's government, the practice of bacha bazi has started to see a resurgence (Doran & Quraishi, 2011).

The United Nations
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, was one of the first to speak at an international forum about this practice and declare that it has to be stopped. After viewing [|the PBS documentary //The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan,//]Coomaraswamy [|declared in an interview] that she thinks the judicial system in Afghanistan does not function due to the lack of cooperation from warlords.

There is no specific mention of sexual abuse or bacha bazi in the UN factsheets provided on their website for Afghanistan, though it is briefly mentioned in a new article on the UN’s website from 2008. However, an agreement was signed on January 30th, 2011 between UNICEF and the government of Afghanistan to move forward on an action plan aimed at curbing various abuses of Afghan children, including the practice of bacha bazi. UNICEF has partnered with NGOs to rehabilitate children, including: training more than 800 lawyers and paralegals on providing legal representation to thousands of children in juvenile detention (UNICEF: Afghanistan, 2011).

=References=

Baily, J. (2013). Wah! Wah! Meida meida! The changing roles of dance in Afghan society. In K. Salhi (Ed.), //Music, culture and identity in the Muslim world: Performance, politics, and piety// (103-121). New York, NY: Routledge.

Barfield, T. (2010). //Afghanistan: A cultural and political history//. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Doran, J. (Producer) & Quraishi, N. (Director). (2011, September 27). //The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan// [Television broadcast]. United States: PBS Frontline.

Siassi, S. & Siassi, G. (2008). Islam, sex, and women. In S. Akhtar (Ed.), //The crescent and the couch: cross-currents between Islam and psychoanalysis// (141-160). Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield.

UNICEF: Afghanistan. (2011). //Factsheet: Child protection// [Data file]. Retrieved from []

Varnell, P. (2002). Pederast isn’t Greek to post-Taliban Afghans [Abstract]. //Washington Blade, 33//(10), 32-32.