In the late 1990's, various British news agencies reported cases of British-born South Asian Muslim women who forced into marriages. In 2000, the UK government produced a study that determined there were 400 British cases of "forced marriages" reported to UK police in a two year period. In response to these findings, the UK government launched an educational prevention campaign, in which they defined forced marriage as "a marriage conducted without the valid consent of both parties". I argue that, while the aim of the UK government's campaign is to promote the right of choice in marriage, they do not critically examine legal, religious, political and economic issues that may limit the ability of some British South Asian Muslim women to exercise that right. This study examines these issues to develop a better understanding of the link between culture, religion and forced marriage in certain British South Asian Muslim families.

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Studies on prostitution have typically focused on the experiences, problems, and histories of prostitutes, rather than examining men who seek to purchase sex. Race has also been overlooked as a central factor in shaping the sex industry and the motivations of men who seek to purchase sex. This study utilizes online reviews of prostitutes to examine the way men who purchase sex discuss Asian prostitutes in comparison to White prostitutes. This paper traces the history of colonialism and ideas of the exotic Orient to modern stereotypes of Asian women. These stereotypes are then used to frame a quantitative and qualitative analysis of online reviews of prostitutes and compare the ways in which Asian prostitutes and white prostitutes are discussed. Further, the reviews are used to examine more broadly what services, traits, and behaviors are considered desirable by men who use prostitutes. The study finds that there are significant quantitative and qualitative differences in how men discuss Asian and White prostitutes within their reviews, and that these differences appear to be shaped by racially fetishizing stereotypes of Asian women. Prostitution also appears to reinforce male dominance and patriarchy in the form of masculine control and the feminine servicing of male sexual and emotional needs.