Bacha Bazi is a slang term for “Boy Play” referring to a wide range of activities involving sexual relations between young adolescent boys, most of whom who come from extreme poverty and have been groomed from a young age, and grown men usually wealthy or of high power. This custom is directly linked to pedophilia, child sex trafficking, and child prostitution, and require force or coercion be used to subdue these children. Illiteracy and poverty also play a role in pushing young boys into this sexual enslavement. Adolescent boys have become sex slaves and an object of lust  for influential men in Afghanistan. Usually, they are bought or, in some instances, kidnapped or acquired as an apprentice from their families. The poverty-stricken families sell or send their sons to the service and these young boys are then forced to sell their bodies and their dancing skills to meet the economic needs of their families. The families left to the mercy of such patrons allow their sons to provide the services without knowing they will be stripped of their masculine identity. These boys are often dressed as females, wear makeup, and dance for parties of men, and subsequently, they are compelled to engage in sexual acts. Afghan people residing in Afghanistan and outside of Afghanistan both condemn these actions and see it as a human rights violation and crime against the children and impoverished families of Afghanistan. Law enforcement fails to protect these children due to corruption and the high social status of men engaging in this vile systemic sexual abuse. 

That being said- Abingdon Theatre Production- an entire theatre production team of writers, actors, directors and stage crew members- NONE of whom includes a single Afghan- thought it would be a great idea to take this disgusting sexual abuse- glorify it in a musical play whose main lead is a boy who is a victim of this sexual abuse. To romanticize pedophilia and sugarcoat the severity of this situation using words such as “lovers” and “dancing boys” that are “trained to dance” to describe the grooming and predatory relationship between a child and an adult man is repulsive. The writers go even further to insult the Afghan community by pushing the false narrative that Bacha Bazi a part of our culture calling it “traditional” while Afghan people worldwide denounce these vile acts, and are actually victims of extreme poverty and on the disadvantaged end of a power dynamic.  The white, insensitive and tone-deaf writers of this sickening play won a Kleban prize of $100,000... As an Afghan I demand this money be donated to the same impoverished families and young boys depicted in this inaccurate play and for The Boy Who Danced on Air play to be ceased from ever airing live and production removed from all online streaming services immediately. It’s nothing new to see white liberals playing Social Justice superhero and monetizing and gaining success off the trauma of impoverished children in a third world country- under the guise of “bringing awareness” to the issue.