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The Madam of the Brothel (Excerpt from 'Sex Slaves of Bangladesh')

In this excerpt, VICE News speaks to a madam at one of Bangladesh's biggest brothels and discovers the rampant abuse of steroids, which is often used to make underage sex workers appear older than than are.

Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim nations where prostitution is legal, and the country's largest brothel is called Daulatdia, where more than 1,500 women and girls sell sex to thousands of men every day.

Daulatdia is infamous for drug abuse and underage prostitution, and many of its sex workers are victims of sexual slavery who were trafficked into the area and sold to a pimp or a madam. They are forced to work off the fee that was paid for them, a debt that takes years to clear because they receive as little as a dollar for sex.

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VICE News visited the notorious Bangladeshi brothel — where human trafficking, underage prostitution, and drugs are commonplace — and met the traffickers and the trafficked, as well as the clientele.

In this excerpt, VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid meets a madam of one of Bangladesh's biggest brothels and discovers the rampant abuse of steroids, which is often used to make underage sex workers appear older than than are.

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