Sex tourism Thailand not a Western invention
Walking Street Pattaya
In September this year, a Thai law student and her boyfriend were arrested for selling sex videos on the forum OnlyFans. The couple, aged 19 and 20, are accused of distributing pornographic material online for commercial purposes. If found guilty, they could face up to three years in prison. Because, really, selling sex for money is illegal in Thailand. Well, I didn't notice much of that during my travels through this country.
It is often said that widespread sex tourism in Thailand is a phenomenon that has come over from the west. That poor conditions ensure that this Southeast Asian country is a sex paradise for Western, especially male, tourists. That is partly true.
Sex tourism in Thailand is often associated with the arrival of the US military during the Vietnam War. And the deployment of the Air Force with forty-four thousand soldiers in the early sixties. Pattaya in particular was frequented by American soldiers for sex and entertainment that attracted many ladies.
US troops
Yet it is not correct to say that US troops are responsible for the start of prostitution in Pattaya. There were brothels in this former fishing village even before the influx of the sex-hungry troops. However, widespread prostitution already existed on a large scale before the arrival of the Americans. The American 'invasion' merely gave it a 'Western face' in the rest of the world. Westerners, it is often thought, took over the role of colonial prostitutes after the departure of the Americans and ensured a revival of the sex industry. However, international tourism only started after 1970.
Western face of sex tourism
The vast majority of Thai sex workers will never come into contact with a farang in their lifetime. The 'hostess' or 'host' that the farang encounters is not representative of colleagues in massage parlors and brothels for Thais who are looking for short pleasure. The 'western face' of Thai sex tourism is a bit more 'romantic'. Farang often spend the night or the rest of their holiday with his choice of bar. The Thai man has to go back to his wife.
Brothel
Thai men go to a brothel on average twice a month, if the statistics are to be believed. In Hat Yai and other border towns in southern Thailand, numerous brothels mainly cater to customers from Malaysia and Singapore. In the town of Mukdahaan in the far west of Thailand on the Mekong River, you see expensive cars in the parking lot every night for places with blinded windows. Bangkok has special places just for the Japanese, run by compatriots and in Chiang Mai you have a whole neighborhood of brothels where a foreigner never visits. Bangkok has neighborhoods full of 'short-stay' hotels where Thai men stay with a lady for a few hours. Westerners are not welcome there.
Thai teenagers
Most Thai teenagers have their first sexual experience with a prostitute. Because the Thai is ambivalent when it comes to thinking about prostitution. Because a 'neat girl' does not go to bed with a boy before her marriage, visiting the brothel becomes a ritual at a young age that is cheerfully continued after the wedding. A prostitute is at the bottom of the social ladder. When they get older they go back to their native village, or marry a Westerner or become brothel keepers themselves. Sometimes they have earned so much that they start a boarding house or shop.
(Patryk Kosmider / Shutterstock.com)
'Sex tourism does not exist'
In Thailand, prostitution is prohibited by law. And, 'sex tourism does not exist' claims the government. But wherever a tourist comes, he is served at his beck and call. As soon as I leave the airport in Bangkok I am confronted in the taxi with photos of scantily clad ladies in pink bathtubs filled with soapy water
In Bangkok's red-light district Patpong, where a large tourist market arises every night (at least before corona made its appearance), women and men try to lure the tourists shuffling past into the nightclubs and bars. They promise a spectacular live show and boast of topless service and low prices. "No bikini sir." A few days later in a luxurious and elegant business hotel in Lampang, the reception calls me around XNUMX:XNUMX am and asks if I want another lady for the night. When I say that I don't need it, the receptionist kindly wishes me good night. "Have sweet dreams sir."
Koh Samui
On the paradise island of Koh Samui, it is possible to watch the sunset from a bamboo hut on the beach with a Thai lady in your arms, with whom you can spend the night for a fee. When I appear there for breakfast in my hotel in the morning without company, the first and surprised question is whether I have slept alone.
In my favorite resort town of Hua Hin, Poolsukroad and the surrounding area is the mecca for any man who wants to take a lady to his hotel or immerse himself in the illusion of paid sex and the lavish attention of the female folk.
Hypocrisy
Ergo. Every time I have traveled through Thailand I am confronted with something that is prohibited by law, but widely displayed in public. Hypocrisy plays a major role in that regard, as witnessed by the message I started this story with. Arrests and breaking up a brothel here and there or a raid on a farang beer bar is just for the stage and to boost the ego of a high police chief or politician. Because a prostitution-free Thailand will damage the economy too much. Billions of euros are spent annually in this sector, which accounts for approximately 14 percent of GDP. In addition, sex workers annually send millions of euros to their families in the countryside. Much more than the government spends on development programs.
See more about the arrest here.
I can still hope that the Corona pandemic and the related absence of sex tourism in Pattaya, for example, will last forever. That's good for the image of Thailand, but I'm also tired of my wife being looked at skewedly as if every Thai is a (ex) prostitute.
Maybe something to do with your environment.
We have only had to deal with this twice in 30 years
Facts or circumstances of common knowledge need no proof. It has been known for many years that large groups of people think this way about the Thai woman. So being confronted with this twice is a very naive thought. What people think or say are often two things. I met my Thai wife in the Netherlands and our acquaintances already included many from the world of prostitution at that time. Almost all of them did not want their prostitution past to be publicized. The reason for this is self-explanatory. The exceptions can mainly be found among those who also practice this type of profession in the Netherlands, often illegally. A certain target group thinks about it far too easily, but judging and often condemning is really inevitable. The sex industry is and continues to damage people and the majority of prostitutes do not work out of love for the profession. It is a complex event that is already formed at a young age and for many a trauma (often at a later age) is inevitable. Take a look in those bars at how things really go and let's face it, is this a profession that we wish our children. What is in the head of the parents of these young women or men, because they are of course also among them. Often they don't want to know what is happening with their daughter or son and money paid is apparently the issue. Clearly unsuitable as a parent in my view. This is a major task for the government to do something about. A large part of the sex workers are used or allow themselves to be used. The simple idea that it shouldn't be a problem for adults with mutual approval is too simplistic. Many prostitutes do not oversee the negative aspects and will eventually experience this. However, things done don't take time.
The fact that entire tribes have sex with these young women, without actually taking sufficient account of the feelings of many, is also clearly visible to those who are open to it. I am aware that empathy is not given to everyone, but that does not justify it. With an alms as compensation one cannot buy oneself off. That's where the shoe pinches. People are not open to it, because comfort plays the predominant tone for many. In spite of the legislation, because it does not work or does not work sufficiently in this world of forces, which spares nothing and from which many earn. The double standards and the merits at the expense of these women and men. Some years ago there was the influx of the Russian prostitute in Pattaya. Pure exploitation cases, which were also widely used. A number of these women were found murdered on the beach. If for some reason you do not comply, this has turned out to be fate. A great sad affair and it just goes on, day in and day out.
As far as I know, Prostitution itself is not prohibited by law in Thailand, but “enabling and/or inciting to…” and “advertising or profiting from…” is.
This is what the law says
PREVENTION AND SUPPRESSION OF PROSTITUTION ACT BE 2539 (1996), dated 14 October 1996
Section 5. Any person who, for the purpose of prostitution, solicits, induces, introduces herself or himself to, follows or importunes a person in a street, public place or any other place in an open and shameless manner or causes nuisance to the public , shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand Baht.
Section 6. Any person who associates with another person in a prostitution establishment for the purpose of prostitution of himself or herself or another person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding one thousand Baht or to both .
If the offense under paragraph one is committed on account of compulsion or under an influence which cannot be avoided or resisted, the offender is not guilty.
Section 7. Any person who advertises or agrees to advertise, induces or introduces by means of documents or printed matters, or by any means makes known to the public in a manner apparently indicative of importunity or solicitation for the prostitution of himself ,herself or another person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of six months to two years or to a fine of ten thousand to forty thousand Baht or to both.
You could deduce from Section 6 that the customer is also punishable.
I am sure that most of the money from prostitution goes to the owners of the various establishments, the police, military and bureaucrats, and not to the prostitutes themselves.
Tino,
For the record:
Section 6 relates to the providers ('for the purpose of prostitution of himself/herself'), so prostitutes.
Sections 8 and 12 (below) deal with the customers. Section 8 states that commercial sex (prostitution) with a minor (and children) is punishable. Also, commercial sex using force/coercion is punishable under section 12.
In other words, the client of prostitution is not punishable as long as the providers are adults and no violence/pressure is involved.
This is one of the reasons that people are trying to change the prostitution law in Thailand. The argument is that the (mostly poor) providers are in fact the victims of the system.
Section 8: Any person who, in order to gratify his or her sexual desire or that of another person, has sexual intercourse or acts otherwise against a person over fifteen but not over eighteen years of age in a prostitution establishment, with or without his or her consent, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of one to three years and to a fine of twenty thousand to sixty thousand Baht. (Also increased punishment for abuse of children under fifteen).
Section 12: Any person who detains or confines another person, or by any other means, deprives such person of the liberty of such person or causes bodily harm to or threatens in any manner whatsoever to commit violence against another person in order to compel such other person to engage in prostitution shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of ten to twenty years and to a fine of two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand Baht.
I think you're right, Stu. But I will look for the Thai text and let you know what it yields.
This is the Thai text of Section 6:
มาตรา 6 ผู้ใดเข้าไปมั่วสุมในสถานการค้าประเ More information More information More information ้งปรับ
More information More information More information ีความผิด
https://www.immigration.go.th/?page_id=2583
Thanks in part to Rob V/ I read it as follows:
Article 6 Article 6: Anyone who surreptitiously and illegally assembles in a location where trafficking in sexual services takes place, with the intention of using (this) trafficking in sexual services of himself or other persons, shall be punished with imprisonment of at least maximum 1 month or maximum one thousand baht or both.
So: buyer and seller are guilty
Thanks to Rob V. for the translation help.
That seems to be about a brothel. (a location where trade in sexual services takes place)
That does not apply to prostitution in other places.
I think that a “location/place where trade in sexual services takes place” is deliberately written to cover more than just brothels. After all, we all know that sexual services are also offered in or through massage parlors, bars and other entertainment and relaxation locations. And also 'secretly': officially the manager or customer can say that this is 'just a bar where people come to have a drink' or a 'salon for a wonderful massage', but unofficially there is also the option for more than that…
And anyone who is involved in it in one way or another is punishable (but perhaps the sex worker or sex worker the most: seducing men a little... foe.... kuche kuche).
The title of the law rightly says “(law) to prevent and ban trade/commerce in sexual services” ี). After all, such things are contrary to the good morality, order and cleanliness of beautiful Thailand .. so I imagine that the high gentlemen are patting themselves on the chest ...
Well Rob V., a 'place where trade in sexual services takes place'.
Well, when the need is high, people become resourceful and then you see in quiet places - as I once saw under a hotel in Bangkok - a 'curtain boy' who earns his money by managing a place where thick curtains can be drawn when someone with car and friend parks there in front of their 'paradise by the dashboard light' as someone once sang.
But what is the difference with our little polder people who perform their paradisiacal arts behind double glazing, thick curtains and with the central heating on max?
You can't stop it no matter how many rules you make…. By the way, you can bet that those rule makers in Thailand really do make an outside-the-door number now and then…
In my opinion, the prostitutes who work for the farang are not sex workers in the real sense of the word. A very large part of the girls who work in the bars are not there directly to earn money with sex or in the hope of meeting a 'good' man soon. Many of those girls then go to their boyfriend's country to work there and are often good, faithful mothers. A girl in a Thai bar does not immediately see herself as a prostitute.
If the farang is a pensioner, the couple often continues to live in Thailand and have a relationship there that is not so different from the one we experience in the west
This is quite different from here, where sex workers are often already in a relationship and simply label themselves as prostitutes. Prostitutes in the west are not actually looking for a relationship, which is usually different in Thailand.
Well Fred if you had posted your comment 25 years ago I could have suggested something. Nowadays you have the internet and many relationship agencies where everyone can get along with someone else or start a relationship. Those in the sex industry often see the foreigner as attractive, because people in the wealthier West think they can earn considerably more money with this activity. The Westerner is sometimes naive, let me stick to that, but you only have to look at the massage parlors in the West and you already know a bit.
Dear Fred,
If someone accepts money in exchange for sex, that's really prostitution, you know.
The people in question know that very well.
I don't have any problems with that though. If 2 adult people agree, then it's fine.
And yes, many sex workers in Thailand hope for a long-term one. loving relationship with a farang. There are at least as many who don't want a loving relationship with the farang at all, but lie to him to get as much loot as possible. In the 90s I often saw barmaids carrying several cell phones: one for when Fritz calls from Germany, one for John from Australia, etc, etc.
So now you're actually saying that those farangs that have those bars are actually marriage matchmakers 55555.
That is why the bar fines are much higher there than in the normal Thai bars. The lady drinks are also much higher there.
That in these bars, where they often work for 300 baht a day, they have the chance to hook a wealthier foreigner and possibly someone who can provide for their family. Or earn extra with a number of lady drinks.
These same girls and women are living normally in their hometown in Thailand. When I walk through the place or through the store there is really no one who tries to hook me up. While in Pattaya, etc. in certain streets and bars this does happen.
Quote: Because a 'neat girl' doesn't sleep with a boy before marriage...
Then there are a lot of "not neat girls" in the village and surroundings.
Incidentally, that punishment was probably given on the basis of the computer crime act and not so much under prostitution legislation.
Furthermore, there are many regulations in the criminal law, which can make the time you actually spend in prison much shorter than the original sentence.
Good behavior is paramount, which is rewarded by the monthly reduction of the sentence.
Furthermore, after serving 2/3 of your sentence, you are eligible for release – subject to restrictive conditions.
It's all about what name you give it.
I read this site: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/the-history-of-prostitution-in-thailand/ from which I understand that in the 14th century this behavior was already accepted, at least by rich men, who enjoyed themselves with young ladies and perhaps also with young men, who were possibly forced to do so. Forced how? Because of the greater economic or political power of their 'benefactors'. Well, that still applies. Money is the driving force and often out of dire necessity.
Hasn't it always been there? Also in our polder country there was a 'Malle Babbe' to help men with what they did not get at home or not enough.
Let it go free and in the open. You stop abuses a bit with that. A little bit…
Finally Bert: Mukdahaan is in the east, not the west of Thailand.
Hypocrisy is a virtue here, a form of being (not dis)polite.
Everyone knows that Thai people are taught from childhood to avoid confrontations or embarrassing situations in any circumstance and not to give rise to them under any circumstances.
Of course that is only possible if you twist a lot of things and never show the back of your tongue.
That can be quite irritating to Westerners.
But is that really an exclusive Thai trait?
I don't think so: I know dozens of people who mainly come here because of the cheap and accessible accessibility to paid sex, but who, once they have asked the man or woman about it, deny it with great indignation.
Color
“Because a prostitution-free Thailand will damage the economy too much. After all, billions of euros are spent annually in this sector, which accounts for about 14 percent of GDP.”
That 14% is the share of the tourism sector in Thailand's GDP, not the share of prostitution. Although the two will probably overlap quite a bit.
The numbers I've seen for the tourism industry range from 15% to 20% of GDP. (GDP: by residents of TH; GNP: by Thai)
You can indeed question the stated share of 14% by prostitution, because this industry does not keep official accounts. 14% of GDP seems a bit high to me. Or the Thai sex workers abroad contribute a lot to the GDP.
If you put such an item about 'Thai prostitution' for the umpteenth time after 40 years on top of the large piles of stale literature on this subject,
you will get a lot of responses. Score in the reading numbers!
And reactions trump.
The question is how (women) friendly that can still be in these times.
The question is how old-fashioned that is.
The question is whether we shouldn't be ashamed of taking these kinds of articles seriously.
In ten years' time all the Dutch and Belgian baby boomers will be dead
and we can finally put an end to the cliché of all those pot-bellied, unwashed old men
who offer themselves to young Thai girls with their black money
and think they are god-knows-what poverty fighters.
I spent twenty years of my youth in a silly town in Limburg, where there was both a military school for training non-commissioned officers (about 400 soldiers) and a military training airfield (300 soldiers).
(The fighter jets howled day and night. To drive them mad.)
Fifteen years old rode my bike to school past the endless row of 'whorehouses' and the girls gave me a friendly wave.
That was my natural habitat. It has been given the poetic name of 'Chaussée d'Amour', and has even been made into a TV series.
I never found anything wrong with that, and neither did my parents.
In any case, they never talked about it in that filthy, mysterious way that the common people still do.
It is what it is!
Not every woman can become a bank manager or sales manager…
But we all want to live and survive. Have respect for that,
and realize from what special speck in the world we come,
we who bathe in luxury, human rights, democracy, free education, free medical assistance, free stamp money, free pension and greasy food.
With even limited financial intervention for sex workers with disabled people.
Everyone has the right to seek happiness in their own way, regardless of our own (Western) moral prejudices.
So Thai women also have that right, no matter how.
From the town of Weert to Sittard along the N-road almost all red or blue lit houses (brothels and bars), the same was also across the border to Lommel-Maaseik.
Because the E9/A2 motorway was ready, all these tents slowly disappeared, just like when the A73 was ready. In Belgium, the police raided bars every night and wrote down the names of those present. They did not receive a fine, but the fun was soon over and one after the other closed its doors.
I don't judge anyone, I met my girlfriend this way and we now live happily in Isaan
“Everyone has the right to seek happiness in their own way, regardless of our own (Western) moral prejudices.”
It's music to everyone's ears unless it gets out of hand. It is not for nothing that the Netherlands is referred to as a narco state by various countries, because we simply like the fact that you should be able to enforce your own happiness uninhibited at the expense of your own happiness. A society means that there must be certain limits to keep a society sustainable and that can then be at the expense of the “right” to seek happiness. Does that right actually exist?