In the memoir, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip and Jay Wurts, Le Ly Hayslip's childhood is discussed during the Vietnam War, his escape to the United States and what his return to Vietnam was like after 16 years. Throughout history, the discussion of sexual violence and prostitution returns several times. Along with sexual violence and prostitution, there is debate as to whether sexual violence and prostitution are considered the victimization of women or the empowerment of women or even both. After reading the memoir, I believe that sexual assault happens when women are victims and prostitution represents female empowerment. This memoir explains why sexual violence is seen as victimization and that prostitution is seen as empowerment as Le Ly experiences both sexual violence and prostitution throughout her life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Sexual violence refers to crimes such as rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse. It is when someone forces someone else to engage in unwanted sexual activity without their consent. In Le Ly's case, she has been sexually assaulted a couple of times throughout the story. An example of this would be when she was taken for her death sentence, but the Viet Cong soldiers decided to rape her instead. “I was raped: now I knew the horror that every woman fears. What had been saved his whole life for my husband was taken away from him in less time than it takes to tell the story.” This quote is when Le Ly states that she was raped and how she felt when she was raped. Hayslip uses a vivid description when she describes what happened when she was raped. She explains how she felt dead after the accident. She states: “The force of Loi's twisted soul had entered me and killed me as surely as her knife. Now he could shoot me with a bullet, I wouldn't even feel the bullet.” Use lots of descriptive words to explain what she's feeling or what's happening to her. This incidence is what I would describe as a woman being victimized because Hayslip had no choice in what was happening to her. Rape can be seen as victimization of women. Victimization occurs when someone is treated in a cruel or harmful way, such as sexual assault and rape. Therefore, sexual violence is explained as a victimization of women because it is not a choice and consent is not taken. Prostitution refers to engaging in sexual activity with someone while being paid. Prostitution is seen as women's empowerment because women are seen to have choice and they are the ones who choose to engage in sexual activity with someone else and also get paid for it. An example of this is when Le Ly uses prostitution to her advantage to survive and take care of her family. “I got another shot just like the second one. I told him that clean poon would be expensive. They even paid me in advance." This quote is when she was selling drugs and started prostituting herself to survive. “I stared at money the way a thirsty prisoner stares at water. Four hundred dollars would support my mother, me, and Hung for more than a year, a year I could use to find better jobs and make contacts.” This is when Hayslip is offered four hundred dollars to sell her body, a practice known as prostitution. Since she had the choice whether to accept the offer or not, prostitution is considered female emancipation. I believe prostitution is empoweringbecause Le Ly had the power to choose whether or not to accept the offer. Empowerment means having the authority and power to do something, which in this memoir was prostitution. Therefore, I see prostitution as empowerment rather than victimization. Rape and prostitution in war was something that came up often. Rape is forcible sexual violence. Rape during war happens because of men in the army wanting the desire to have sexual pleasure, so they tend to rape. Another reason why soldiers rape is the sense of fear for the villagers involved in the war. They rape to scare villagers, which can lead to villagers moving, meaning soldiers don't have to waste time killing or removing villagers from war zones. Throughout the many wars fought, rape has been known as a weapon of war. This is because rape occurs where wars occur and helps to totally destroy communities. In Le Ly's case, rape is a weapon of war and prostitution is a way to survive in war as a woman. Hayslip's rape experiences would be seen as victimization, meaning that Le Ly was a rape victim. Another case where she gets raped even when the guy didn't want to rape her. The guy who actually didn't want to rape Le Ly but ended up raping her was Mau. It appeared that Mau had been forced to rape Le Ly. “'I-I'm sorry, Miss Ly' – his voice shook more than mine – 'this is something I have to do'.” The reason I believe he didn't want to rape her was because before doing so he apologized and stated that it was something he had to do. The way she hides what happened to her is interesting to me. "'What happened to you?' Thum asked, looking at the leaves in my hair and the dirt on my freshly washed face. 'I didn't even give her the courtesy of a decent lie…' Maybe Le Ly was afraid that someone might criticize her and chase her because she wasn't dead, because the original plan of the Viet Cong soldiers was for them to kill her, but they decided to rape her instead of killing her. I find Le Ly very brave and powerful as a person because, even though she was in so much pain, she cared about her family and how her family might be seen or targeted if the news of her rape got out, so she decided to hide the truth Le Ly, but she was able to use her strength as a poor village girl, as she describes, to have the power to hide her pain Overall, rape in any form is a victimization of women because they do not have an option and they are forced. In the memoir, there was an instance where sexual activity was carried out in the form of love. The only instance I remember where love was involved would be the night Anh and Le Ly shared intimate moments with each other. “I went to my room, but I was tired as I was. . . Even though at the age of fifteen I had been threatened, beaten, hit, molested and raped by men, I had never been kissed by one of them...". This quote explains how she didn't know what to feel when someone kissed her with love. Anh seems to be the first man she cared for and she loved him for helping her and how much he cared for Le Ly even though she was his servant. “The day after Anh and I made love was beautiful and sunny, although my longing glances and kitten-like smile aimed in her direction were not returned.” He felt like the next day was sunny and better than before. However, it was sad that he didn't.