Prostitution: Thailands worst kept

secret

S
ex workers wait for customers in a red light district in Bangkok. Pic: AP.
By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Jul 03, 2015

By James Austin
You could be forgiven for thinking if you were new to Thailand that prostitution was a
market aimed solely at foreign tourists and fund-dumping expatriates. The garish
lights, garish hook-ups, and garish whispers in the night have become iconic, a thing of
holiday myths, books, films, and for many who dont live here deceitfully
representative of an entire culture. But Thailands lusty epithet of a land of salacious,
often mendacious smiles, is a foreign concoction, and within these borders most
citizens I think dont taint themselves with that brush.
Its said that about US$16 million from Vietnam War foreign soldiers pockets went
towards the Thai sex industry, the catalyst of what gave Thailand its seedy image. But
the industry, apropos tourism, is hardly even the tip of the iceberg.

A lot of women, and men, in Thailand sell sexual services for money. Siamese 50
satang brothels were popular in the early half of the 20th century, while the ragingly
popular arb ob nuad (soapy massage) has been around since the 1940s. Only over the
last few years has thefull-body massage (no penetration) become extremely popular,
with new houses of supposedly ill-repute opening and closing as is often the case
with the service orientated industry in Thailand all over the country. Theres also
now what is referred to as the business of sidelines, which is young girls, supposedly of
a more pure status, selling themselves online. Its no secret; in this report by the
Kinsey Institute, 90% of the [Thai] male participants had had sex with a prostitute
and 74% had lost their virginity with a female sex worker. Its no secret, but Thais
tend to be discreet about the matter. You should know that prostitution has been
illegal in Thailand since 1960. Still, its estimated to be worthUS$6.4 billion a year in
revenue, a large part of the countrys GDP, according to black market research
company Havocscope.
(READ MORE: Opinion: Sexual hypocrisy is alive and well in Thailand)
In 2004, Dr. Nitet Tinnakul, while working at Chulalongkorn University, said that the
sex industry in Thailand involved 2.8 million people: 2 million women; 20,000 adult
males, and 800,000 minors under the age of 18. Dr. Nitet explained that this number
includes those indirectly involved in the industry, including cleaners at establishments,
accountants, and even corrupt policemen receiving kickbacks from bars.
I interviewed Dr. Nitet a few years ago for a story I was writing for Citylife magazine.
He told me that women in Thailand, become prostitutes for economic reasons, and
lack of educationIt cant be legalised as society still doesnt accept it. Women cant
admit they do it, its a loss of their dignity. While much has been said about not
making the women, the ones who choose this occupation, victims, its likely the case
that economic hardship is the grounding for this kind of what I imagine to be difficult
work. Thai women historically have been used as chattel. F.A. Neales book, Residence
in Siam, written in the late 19th century, explains that he witnessed fathers taking
their unmarried 13 year old daughters, having reached their expiration date, to their
shops to be sold to the highest bidder, or even sold to Arab merchants. Dok
Kaew, the practice of selling off a daughter at a young age to a male buyer although
not available until she came of age was evident in Thailand until the 90s. Modern
prostitution, while often decried by those a long way from ever understanding it, is at
least empowering when we consider what befell many poor Thai women in the past.

Footage of a bargirl giving performing fellatio on a customer in Pattaya has upset a lot
of people this week. Image via MCOT.
So it really should come as no surprise to anyone in Thailand that many womens
bodies have been, and still are, a commodity. But this last week it seems the nation was
shocked by a moment of lewd candidness after a Thai sex worker in the city of Pattaya
was caught on camera fellating her Korean John. The aptly named Pol.Col. Sukthat
Pumpanmuang, superintendent of Pattaya Police Station, said that the couple would
be charged with public indecency, as was reported by Khaosod. In the same story the
director of a hotel association, Sanpetch Suphabowornsatient, said that a government
response should be to campaign and educate people, about the good culture and
tradition of Thailand. He added that, Right now, Thailand is trying to promote the
Thai way of tourism, and Buddhist way of tourism Thailand is a Buddhist country,
yet nowadays men and women express themselves in a way that causes damage to
image of the country. The offending bar was shut down for 10 days, and life in
Thailands worst/best tourist destination, even though tarnished, goes on as normal.
(READ MORE: Thailand anti-vice efforts target prostitution and corruption)
Whether a cash industry should be equated with Buddhism is something all Buddhists
might ponder. Even so, Thai tourism and those that profit from it have banked on Thai
women being poor enough to become part of a diaspora leaving the fields and doing
the epitome of physical work in the city, and the fact there are enough virile, and nonvirile, tourists coming to abate their sexual frustrations. There is a niche, and Thailand,
like many other countries, fills it. Lets not pretend otherwise. The shock is not because
something has happened that we thought didnt exist, its because the worst kept

secret, for a lurid minute, was captured on camera and has caused some folks to blush.
Its commonly known, from Chiang Mai to Pattaya, that establishments breaking the
prostitution law must pay heavy kick-backs to the local police. This is another of
Thailands worst kept secrets. Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has rhetorically
stated time and again the need to address the moral fabric of the country. But what of
the economic fabric of the country? A large percentage of the countrys revenue comes
from tourism, and billions of that money is spent on sex tourism. Cracking down on
women doing their jobs, often focusing on the meager foreign part of the
business enterprise, only hurts the people at the bottom of the food chain. Thailand
needs prostitution, as things are, because a lot of people are reliant upon it. Perhaps if
a crackdown is deemed necessary, then it should not be a crackdown not on sexual
morality, but on capitalist morality; a crackdown on the police cracking down; a
crackdown on hypocrisy. Thailand must start to accept what it has become.
Crackdowns and ethics rhetoric are facepalms to the real world. Prostitution was born
out of poverty; if theres anything that requires the great leaders attention, its just
that: lack of money for the majority. A paid-for blowjob is negligible in itself, but in the
wider scheme of things, its a big deal.
About the author:
James Austin is a journalist and fiction writer living in Thailand.
Posted by Thavam