SARENO, PHOEBE JOY D.

BSN3-A

CASE ANALYSIS
“From the moment that a woman has paid her debts, she is free to leave the
brothel.” she said. “But these women are socially stigmatized outside their
‘homes’ and thus often choose to stay and continue supporting their families with
their earnings.”

Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim countries where prostitution is legal. They have
their own reasons on how they end up working as sex working girls. As stated, one was
to pay off their debts. And on some situations, they end up there without knowing they
were unjustly sold.
At first, maybe they pursued ‘freedom’. But! How come when they are already given the
chance, they still wanted to stay?
It is maybe because of “stigma” that was stated on the passage. Oxford Dictionary
defined stigma as, “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance,
quality, or person”. It is the shame they feel for themselves and the discrimination they
may feel from others. Because sex works are commonly perceived as a disgrace
already. Like, “what if they get to see me, think and treat me like a “bayaran”. With this,
their self-esteem and confident seems to regress.
Another reason maybe because of socioeconomical issue, wherein those in poverty line
are more likely to advance on this field of work. It is also legal and easier way in earning
money that the family needs to sustain. The fact that they may think as “I was already
doing this job, what is bad on doing it continually for my family; stopping working as a
sex worker will not make me decent and unclean”.
Sociocultural theory on the other hand is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at
the important contributions that society makes to individual development. This theory
stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live. In
short it relates to both society “the social standard of the place” and culture “way of life
(how life is commonly perceived)”.
It is just like the COVID-19 Pandemic, people are afraid to be infected. Not because of
the virus itself but the fear to be discriminated by the people.
‘Simply Psychology’ published an online article written by Saul McLeod titled LEV
VYGOTSKY'S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY. This theory stresses the fundamental role
of social interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed
strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." And
was likely supported by a journal titled “STIGMA: A SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND MORAL
PROCESS” published by Harvard. It is concluded that the moral standing of an
individual or group is determined by their local social world, and maintaining moral
status is dependent on meeting social obligations and norms. And stigma works
SARENO, PHOEBE JOY D. BSN3-A

oppositely towards the society “Yet, this has been to the exclusion of considerations of
how social life and relationships are changed by stigma”.

REFERENCES
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/190651237.pdf
https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-sociocultural-theory-
2795088#:~:text=Sociocultural%20theory%20is%20an%20emerging,culture%20in
%20which%20they%20live.