Prostitution In Thailand Essay Research Paper Prostitution

Prostitution In Thailand Essay, Research Paper

Prostitution In Thailand

While millions of children in America are waking up to watch Saturday morning cartoons, children of the same age in Thailand are waking up to a new strange sexual partner in bed with them. A main problem faced by children in America is deciding on what kind of ice cream they want to eat. In Thailand the children are faced with what STD have they encountered. Thailand has the worlds largest commercial sex industry. These child prostitutes will be joining the millions of older established prostitutes. Together they will lead a life of drug addictions, crime, violence, disease, and unhappiness. Why should any human be subjected to this kind of tragic lifestyle.

Thailand is in the heart of Southeast Asia bordering the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Thailand comparatively is slightly more than twice the size of Wyoming. They have a population of 60,037,366 (July 1998 est.). The Thai economy is in a deep recession. It’s odd to think that a country so small could have problems as big as theirs.

The greatest cause of prostitution is poverty. Poverty caused through drought, low wages, especially for women and debts make many women and children vulnerable to being forced into prostitution. The rapid growth in population, the slow growth in agriculture and the spread of market economy in the rural areas encourage migration to the cities, where many unskilled female and child laborers can easily be deceived or forced into the sex business. In many rural areas there are starving people, who have insufficient shelter, and no money but have children. They are apt to sell them to pimps for a small fee. The children can be sold for as little as five hundred dollars or even alcohol. Due to the severe famine in many rural villages of Thailand a child might try to provide for his or her family and turn to prostitution. These are the most common scenarios of why poverty leads to prostitution.

A broad description of the problem would entail over two million women and children in prostitution, of which 800,000 are children aged 15 or under. Twenty percent of these children are boys (World Health Organization) these people are victimized by sexual exploitation. They are being enticed; coerced and sold into sexual abuse, the vast majority from desperately poor families who may not be aware their children are trafficked across borders, taken to brothels and bonded into debt. Seventy five percent of all Thai men visit prostitutes on a regular basis (WHO). Twenty percent of Thailand’s prostitution takes place with foreign men (WHO). From these facts one can conclude that prostitution in Thailand is as common as “Wall Street” in New York.

A long-term cause of prostitution in Thailand dates back to the Vietnam War. During the war the Thai sex industry provided American soldiers with prostitutes and “for rent wives”. By the time the soldiers left, Thai men had found that they liked this new availability for sex. Men no longer needed to sneak off to brothels they now went openly. Another long-term cause is the Asian belief that sex with virgins rejuvenates a man, and can also heal venereal disease. Men and women were never viewed as equals in Asia. From ancient times men mistreated and disrespected women. So many men have no remorse for their actions. They feel that the women some how owe this to them. These long-term causes have just kept building up to produce the out of control prostitution of today.

The most prominent short-term affect that triggers prostitution is the poverty. Another affect is the demand. There is a great demand for prostitutes, recruiters recruit both boys and girls as young as seven. Sex tours are popular for tourists. These tours go through all of Thailand and let the tourist sample prostitution of all ages from many different regions. These sex tours are easily accessible especially through the Internet. Sex tours begin at only 2,000 US dollars for seven days and nights. These short-term effects make prostitution so routine.

As mentioned before Thailand is in a great recession. A recession is when the economy shrinks and there is a negative growth. Since the country as a whole is not making any money, poverty is the conclusion. Politically Thailand is unstable. They are filled with corrupt officials who do not enforce the laws (prostitution is one.). These factors are definite causes of the prostitution

Ironically prostitution, as well as sex with minors is illegal. Law enforcers and the government commonly overlook these laws. This quote further describes the importance of keeping prostitution alive and running:

Sompop Boontryuth, who started a refuge for Thai girls called the Daughters Education Program, has said, “It’s not safe in this (Thai) society to try to improve women’s lives because there is big money in prostitution. Some locals are agents and middlemen; the police and politicians are involved; also businessmen and owners of hotels, guesthouses and bars – whoever can use the services of these girls. The flesh trade is very profitable and there appears to be a lot of vested interest in keeping it alive and well. In this article in Newsweek magazine (dated June 29th, 1992) entitled “Fighting A Killer”, Ron Moreau writes, “Reliable studies show that more than 400,000 Thai men visit prostitutes each day, and at least