Prostitution – Thailand’s largest Industry

Prostitution – Thailand’s Largest Industry

Although tourist guides will tell you that Thailand has an export-led economy made up mostly of agricultural products, such as rice, tapioca, coconut, rubber, pineapple, and prawn products, a closer look will show that prostitution is most likely more significant in economic terms than anything else. Although perhaps not admitted officially, no one in Thailand would privately deny this. Estimates of the gross national product from sex workers range from 2% to an overwhelming 14%. The estimates vary greatly because there is no record of how much money actually changes hands. But most Thais – including government officials – would agree that money from the sex industry has contributed more to the development of rural towns than all government programs combined. The money generally flows outward from Bangkok or other tourist towns to the small villages where the young girls come from.

As Louise Brown aptly explains in her book “Sex Slaves,” published in 2000, “Coercion is rarely employed and girls are not deceived….Agents work openly in the villages and compete with one another over the deals they can offer…In parts of Thailand…the family’s attention is not focused on safeguarding their daughter from prostitution. On the contrary, the critical issue is the kind of brothel she will work in. The measure of concern is the reputation of the brothel and the reliability of the agent who takes her there.”

When we were traveling around Thailand, we met many young girls and women from small towns who migrated to the capital to find work in the sex trade – in a massage parlor, a brothel, a go-go bar, as a bar hostess, etc. I say young girls because they are, indeed, very young. The age of consent in Thailand is 15, and many girls start working in the industry at around this age. They invariably send money back home, and if the family hadn’t actively worked to set the girl up with an agent, they didn’t like to ask too many questions about where the money came from, either. Everyone in the girls’ villages knew where the money came from, but it seemed as if the work was not considered degrading or disreputable. It was considered a job, just as any other job – the same as working in the market, or in a hotel, or in an office. The only condition that applied was that the young men of the village did not want to then marry the girl, so she had to find a husband from a different village.

Although not so flagrant in the countryside, a walk through the streets of any larger town or city would reveal many prostitutes and others working in the sex trade. It was very much out in the open; you didn’t have to look too hard. In these towns, too, it was very commonplace to see young Thai girls accompanying Western men – sometimes old or fat, but often enough very young men, as well. It was easy enough to spot: the scantily clad young girl walking alongside a large white man. We were told that often it was those that showed affection in public – as simple a thing as holding hands – that were the prostitutes (until very recently, even holding hands in public was considered indecorous in traditional Thai society). In a staggering number of bars in the cities of Bangkok, Phuket, Hua Hin, and Chawang in Koh Samui, bar girls in skimpy clothing all competed for the attention of male passers-by. The prevalence of this practice was, for me, hard to believe.

Even in rural villages and in the countryside, it was obvious that prostitution was a flourishing trade. It was not so open or so showy, but it was there just the same. After a day of biking, we would arrive in a village in the countryside at nighttime and ask where we could find a guesthouse. In these small, out of the way places, it became evident that the rooms in the area’s single guesthouse were mostly rented by the hour and that we were a rare breed that stayed for the entire night. The local girls in the countryside were obviously not catering to tourists, but to the local men. We even stayed in a few hotels that seemed abandoned during the afternoons and early evenings, at which point we naively thought that we were one of the few clients in the hotel (or alone on an entire floor!). Then, well after dark, the noise one floor up would start as clients would start to come and go.

Thailand is today known as a destination for sex tourists. A large number of Western visitors are unaccompanied men, come for the sole purpose of having a liaison with either a young woman or man. It must be said, too, that many of the men that visit Thailand come for the large and open gay scene. Thailand is known to be very liberal in its attitudes towards the homosexual community and Bangkok, among other cities, has a large number of gay venues. Some Western men can be seen with young local boys.

It seems that no visitor to Thailand can escape the numerous conversations that spring up about the flourishing sex trade. Some fellow travelers even regale you with tales of their escapades and conquests of the previous evening. But why is the sex trade such a flourishing industry in Thailand, and why do people the world over come to Thailand for sexual tourism? I tried to find out, both by talking to local people and expatriates, and also by reading about the subject.

So…

The Roots of Sex Tourism:

Prostitution first became more visible in Thailand after King Rama VII outlawed polygamy in 1934. Before that, it had been an accepted part of life in Siam from the earliest days. Kings had many concubines, and those citizens that could afford it had a second or a third wife. However, Rama VII decided to outlaw it because he thought that his country’s image needed modernizing, along European lines (Siamese kings of the early 20th century were educated in Europe and accepted European ideas as being contemporary and worthy of emulation).

Although polygamy was outlawed, prostitution was not. It grew in popularity, especially in 1941 when there were many Thai and Japanese troops in the northern part of the country. The 300,000 Japanese troops in Bangkok and the 30,000 British and Indian troops that came after them combined with local Thai and Chinese men to fill up Bangkok’s 85 cabaret clubs.

Prostitution was officially forbidden in the 1950s, but it was little heeded, because by this point, it had become too important for the economy. It got a second boost in the 1960s and 1970s when American GIs employed in the region filled the country’s bars and looked for a recreational outlet.

Although prostitution remained officially illegal, the country was actively promoted as a destination for sex tourists for two decades. Hundreds of thousands of prostitutes worked in the capital alone. Until the late 1980s, tours were on offer, especially in Japan and Germany, with the specific purpose of “sex shopping.” Companies in Japan openly provided annual sex tours for their employees to Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines. Flights and accommodation were included. Half of all tourists in the country were unaccompanied males.

Feminists started to protest in the late 80s, and such sex tours started to get a bad rap from the media. Two things happened: firstly, the tours adopted a lower profile, involving smaller parties and less open publicity; secondly, the industry was brought to the Japanese men, who were the main patrons of the sex industry. So thousands of Thai and Filipino girls were then trafficked to Japan.

Prostitution is mostly an Internal Affair…

Although prostitution is very visible with the foreign tourists, it is actually fueled mainly by the patronage of local Thai men. Estimates say that 95% of customers are Thai men. It is a more private affair than that of the thousands of bars with their neon signs, touts, and calling bar girls that beckon the tourists. Most local establishments have never catered to foreigners.

Before prostitution became so prevalent, different sexual outlets existed for married and unmarried men. Those that were married and that had a bit of money, often had mistresses or minor wives, and rich men had at least one “sopheni,” a “beautiful woman who had undergone a protracted period of training in the arts of entertaining men.” It seems probable that kathoey (modern-day ladyboys) were used as a sexual outlet for the less wealthy. Today, most Thai men regularly visit prostitutes. Most men and women believe that it is normal and appropriate for single men to do so. As for married men visiting prostitutes, their wives generally accept it because it is seen as preferable to having non-commercial relations with a mistress or girlfriend on the side.

Traditional Thai Hospitality…

It was a tradition in Thailand – and considered essential to hospitality – to provide a male visitor with female company. Travel writers talk about this as far back as the 17th century. In J. Orgibet’s book, “From Siam to Thailand. Backdrop to the Land of Smiles,” he sums of Thai hospitality in this way:

In up-country Siam in the old days an honoured guest in a home was offered the best that house had to offer, be it a farmer’s shack or Governor’s mansion. So that an honoured guest’s every comfort was provided, you should not have to sleep alone. Therefore, the best the house had to offer was yours. The best may be a sister, No. 2 wife, aunt, niece, even daughter, but never the No. 1 wife.