How The Pandemic Has Upended The Lives Of Thailand's Sex Workers

AURORA AMENDRAL

PHOTOS BY ALLISON JOYCE

 

 

 

Above: N., a sex worker at a bar in Pattaya, Thailand. The sex trade has offered good-paying jobs for many people from rural areas who were facing a life of tending rice paddies and digging up cassava roots. 

Allison Joyce for NPR

 

Mos, 26, was a "moneyboy" — a sex worker — at a gay bar in the Thai tourist hub of Pattaya. For him, it was a dream come true. Now the pandemic has put his dream on hold.

 

Mos grew up in a poor province on Thailand's northeastern border, eating fish from the river and leaves foraged from the forest. He wanted to eat pork and pizza.

 

When he graduated from high school, he moved to Pattaya and became a sex worker. He says the job was fun, and the pay was great. He saved up enough money to build a cement house for his family in the countryside. He promised his younger siblings he would send them to college.

 

"I'm very proud of that," he says.

 

Indeed, for people in rural, landlocked provinces, Thailand's tourist hubs offered good-paying jobs for those otherwise facing a life of tending rice paddies and digging up cassava roots — the lives they grew up with and their parents still toiled in.

 

Full story: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/03/960848011/how-the-pandemic-has-upended-the-lives-of-thailands-sex-workers

 

-- © Copyright npr 2021-02-04

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Tough times for them and families, maybe learn a lesson to save and not get into debt

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Tough times for them and families, maybe learn a lesson to save and not get into debt

Self-righteous moralizing serves no purpose..

18 minutes ago, webfact said:

The sex trade has offered good-paying jobs for many people from rural areas who were facing a life of tending rice paddies and digging up cassava roots.

If this is a reflection of the distribution of wealth in Thailand, the image of the country should be seriously questioned! ????

 

 

 

 

The same can be said of thousands of other professions and work types, and the are all suffering, this pandemic isn't very kind to no one...

As there is no prostitution in Thailand this must be fake news.

53 minutes ago, webfact said:

When he graduated from high school, he moved to Pattaya and became a sex worker.

why didn't he go to college, the lazy toe rag.

3 minutes ago, WineOh said:

why didn't he go to college, the lazy toe rag.

Obviously, you have no idea of what a college/university education costs here. It's why quite a few students become "sideline girls".

8 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Obviously, you have no idea of what a college/university education costs here. It's why quite a few students become "sideline girls".

If he was making such great money as he claims then why didn't he save up to GO to college and better himself?

 

I know why, too busy having fun!

 

Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?

Strange article those interview asked for their names not to be used, only their initial. Yet they were all happy for their photos to be plastered about......

It's nonsense to suggest as the article does that it's a choice of dire poverty or sexual exploitation. Cassava roots and rice paddies or selling yourself in some seedy bar in Pattaya, really? The reality is those from Issan who actually had some motivation are now teachers, civil servants, pharmacists and bank workers like our family members from a poor Issan village. About 400 homes and only one is known to have left for the whore houses of Pattaya over the years, the others just got off their bums and worked hard, they may be still paying off student loans but that's normal everywhere these days

3 minutes ago, WineOh said:

If he was making such great money as he claims then why didn't he save up to GO to college and better himself?

 

I know why, too busy having fun!

 

Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?

If you are really bored and read the whole article, he says his job was really fun and cant wait to get back!

 

Hmm, can think of more fun things to do rather than load of old men queuing up to sample the starfish!

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

 

He built a cement house for his family back in his province, and has promised to help his younger siblings through college.

I read it.

His family are just as bad for using him as an ATM.

It's a vicious cycle of laziness that is perpetuated throughout this society and it needs to change.

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

os grew up in a poor province on Thailand's northeastern border, eating fish from the river and leaves foraged from the forest. He wanted to eat pork and pizza.

What a load of rubbish, to my knowledge only 1 girl from this village went to Pattaya to sell her body.

My wife is 1 of 4 sisters, each 1 of them works as civil servants/ teachers.

21 minutes ago, webfact said:

...for people in rural, landlocked provinces, Thailand's tourist hubs offered good-paying jobs...

I've had a place in one of those rural, landlock provinces for years. The surrounding village is pretty much like all of the others that dot the landscape in Thailand insomuch as most folks around here are either famers or small business owners. The only time the village has guests is normally during the Songkran and New Year festivals.

 

This past week the local officials sent over a guy to spray for Covid at our pizza joint. Normally, this worker is working in Pattaya but since the pandemic he has moved back to his home village and now works at various odd jobs. I'm not certain how he made money in the seaside resort, but am assuming he was not a sex worker. However,  he is not the only one who has temporarily moved back home.

 

Over the last several months I have observed numerous new faces (both men and women) out and about in the village. Occasionally, they will drop by for a bite to eat. Funny thing is that most of these folks say that they worked at restaurants in either Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket. There are also a few that had been waitresses in Korea. Even though I have lived in Thailand for over two decades, I never realized until lately how many Thais actually work in restaurants...

 

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

 

He built a cement house for his family back in his province, and has promised to help his younger siblings through college.

Perhaps in your rush to judgment, you didn't bother to read that in the OP.

He actually sounds to me like a better person than you are.

No read it all, loves getting poked by old men and sending his family to school.

 

Guess that's a win all round!

 

 

Just now, colinneil said:

 

What a load of rubbish, to my knowledge only 1 girl from this village went to Pattaya to sell her body.

My wife is 1 of 4 sisters, each 1 of them works as civil servants/ teachers.

Disagree, Colin. Your relations are fortunate, a government job is the plum everyone seeks as it is a job for life, good pay and a better pension.

Thais in my GF's village average about 2500 baht/month income. For someone young that has beauty or is handsome, they can make that in one night in Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket.

Permit me to doubt you know everything that goes on in your village.

6 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Any can do this without becoming a prostitute, it's quite normal. Building a cement house is no justification for falling into the sex working trap, a profession of the lazy who have no thoughts of what they will be doing when they are 40.

Someone else who has no idea of costs. The average cement house anywhere in Thailand is between 750,000 to 1 million baht, you think a laborer in the rice fields is ever going to be able to come up with that kind of money?

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Tough times for them and families, maybe learn a lesson to save and not get into debt

And if the golden goose do,es return,don,t kill it.

41 minutes ago, WineOh said:

If he was making such great money as he claims then why didn't he save up to GO to college and better himself?

 

I know why, too busy having fun!

 

Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?

Because he saved enough for a house and providing for his siblings to go to college.

 

Too busy working to provide for others.

32 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Any can do this without becoming a prostitute, it's quite normal. Building a cement house is no justification for falling into the sex working trap, a profession of the lazy who have no thoughts of what they will be doing when they are 40.

Who says its a trap. Some like their job.

22 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

His family are just as bad for using him as an ATM

I wonder where they stick the ATM card? what, between the chicks?...

28 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Someone else who has no idea of costs. The average cement house anywhere in Thailand is between 750,000 to 1 million baht, you think a laborer in the rice fields is ever going to be able to come up with that kind of money?

No laborers can't, but my 'poor' SIL from Surin did one for 1.5 mil after working her way through Uni and working at a bank for several years, so I do know about costs. Youngsters do not have to become laborers or sex workers, but if they do become prostitutes moaning about the customers drying up does not get any sympathy from me, or most decent Thais.

35 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Someone else who has no idea of costs. The average cement house anywhere in Thailand is between 750,000 to 1 million baht, you think a laborer in the rice fields is ever going to be able to come up with that kind of money?

Pardon me but you're way out of whack with regards to building a small cement house in rural Thailand, you can build one for easily 1/2 of the price you mention......easily.

46 minutes ago, sungod said:

No read it all, loves getting poked by old men and sending his family to school.

 

Guess that's a win all round!

 

 

While some hawk their bodies in Pattaya to provide shelter and education for their families, others sit back on their fat, lazy butts and acquire multi million baht watch collections for just being connected, tell me there's nothing wrong with this country!

 

 

They will tell you anything when they are after a customer or off their heads. They don't like it when the easy money dries up though

 

37 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Disagree, Colin. Your relations are fortunate, a government job is the plum everyone seeks as it is a job for life, good pay and a better pension.

Thais in my GF's village average about 2500 baht/month income. For someone young that has beauty or is handsome, they can make that in one night in Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket.

Permit me to doubt you know everything that goes on in your village.

 

Colin's relatives sound like ours, they are not fortunate, they are just normal. Some just take the lazy way out without thinking about their futures, cop a baby or two and they just pack them off back home for the relatives to look after. We need to get over this fantasy of rural Thailand of being populated by people who have to choose between poverty or sex work- they don't and it's just an excuse propagated party by the customers of sex workers.

44 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Disagree, Colin. Your relations are fortunate, a government job is the plum everyone seeks as it is a job for life, good pay and a better pension.

Thais in my GF's village average about 2500 baht/month income. For someone young that has beauty or is handsome, they can make that in one night in Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket.

Permit me to doubt you know everything that goes on in your village.

Totally agree with your last line.

12 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

No laborers can't, but my 'poor' SIL from Surin did one for 1.5 mil after working her way through Uni and working at a bank for several years, so I do know about costs. Youngsters do not have to become laborers or sex workers, but if they do become prostitutes moaning about the customers drying up does not get any sympathy from me, or most decent Thais.

Spot on mate.

My wife came from a poor family.

She worked her backside off being a waitress to fund her college education and buy a plane ticket to the USA.

She then worked even harder whilst there and paid her way through university.

Now she is a director and a shareholder in her company and is reaping the benefits of all the hard work she put in years ago.

 

If you want a better life then you have to work for it.

And if you don't want to work for it then don't complain when all the easy money dries up.

it's as simple as that.

1 hour ago, WineOh said:

If he was making such great money as he claims then why didn't he save up to GO to college and better himself?

 

I know why, too busy having fun!

 

Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?

Perhaps yes, as he most probably didn't have much parental guidance.

51 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Someone else who has no idea of costs. The average cement house anywhere in Thailand is between 750,000 to 1 million baht, you think a laborer in the rice fields is ever going to be able to come up with that kind of money?

Someone else who has no idea of costs............