Skin Art [VHS]

The branding by tattooing depicted in this film does happen. Rather than being purchased, Oriental women sometimes are lured from their villages with false promises of legitimate employment, then are kidnapped and forced to work in bordellos or for private owners. Distinctive tattoos mark the women as slaves who are shunned by Oriental society -- a de facto form of bondage.

Branding by tattooing [or (less often) by actual thermal branding] sometimes occurs in United States' society. More often, women are bound by indebtedness [e.g., (boyfriend's) vehicle loan payments and credit card payments] and several hungry young children in an economy offering few other opportunities.