''The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan'' is a 2010 documentary film produced by Clover Films and directed by Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi about the practice of ''

bacha bazi ''Bacha bāzī'' ( fa, بچه بازی, lit. "boy play"; from ''bacheh'', "boy", and ''bazi'' "play, game") is a slang term used in Afghanistan for a custom in Afghanistan involving child sexual abuse by older men of young adolescent males or b ...

'' in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. The 52-minute documentary premiered in the UK at the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

on March 29, 2010,"True Stories: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan"
, ''Royal Society of Arts'', screening March 29, 2010; 18:30 and aired on ''

PBS Frontline ''Frontline'' (stylized as FRONTLINE) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variet ...

'' in the United States on April 20. ''Bacha bazi'', also known as ''bacchá'' (from the Persian ''bacheh'' بچه‌, literally "playing with boys" in Persian,

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

and Hindustani), is a form of

sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a ...

and

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child p ...

in which

prepubescent Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2005. Oxford University Press. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is ...

and adolescent boys are sold to wealthy or powerful men for entertainment and sexual activities. This business thrives in

, where many men keep dancing boys as status symbols. The practice is illegal under Afghan law.

References

External links

''PBS Frontline'' PageClover Films PageGhaith Abdul-Ahad: The dancing boys of Afghanistan
(''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'')
Cynthia Fuchs: Frontline: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
(PopMatters.com)
Jeremy Anderson: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
(Illume.com) 2010 films 2010 documentary films American documentary television films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{US-documentary-film-stub