“Prostitution Law: Amend or Revoke?” seminar held in Pattaya with adult industry professionals, government officials, and dozens of relevant agencies

[webfact]

 

By Goong Nang(GN)

 

Pattaya, Thailand-  Yesterday, the 14th of March 2022, at Pullman Hotel Pattaya, Mr. Thanyawat Kamolwongwat, a Pattaya council member and a spokesman for the committee of children, youth, women, elderly, disabled people, ethnic groups, and LGBTQ groups, took a role as a chairperson to open the “Prostitution Law: Amend or Revoke?” seminar.

 

The event was observed by Ms. Thitilak Khampha, Deputy Governor of Chonburi Province, and Mr. Banlue Kullawanit, Deputy Mayor of Pattaya, and attended by dozens of relevant agencies, including those in the adult industry and sex worker activists.

 

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The objective behind this seminar was to raise the issues of the enforcement of the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 in order to illustrate solutions to the law and to receive opinions that will pave the way to fix its enforcement and make it more reasonable in the future, according to those attending.

 

For a long time in Thailand prior to 1960, prostitution had been in the light and accepted by law and society, but due to the expansion of tourism, economy, community, and politics, many problems had spurted from prostitution in which Thailand agreed to follow and conduct a law known as the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1960.

 

However, this law was later revoked and re-enacted as the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996. 

 

Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2022/03/15/prostitution-law-amend-or-revoke-seminar-held-in-pattaya-with-adult-industry-professionals-government-officials-and-dozens-of-relevant-agencies/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2022-03-15

 

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[Thailand]

I thought there was no prostitution in Thailand apart fom the populace getting shafted by the big noises?

[brewsterbudgen]

3 minutes ago, Thailand said:

I thought there was no prostitution in Thailand apart fom the populace getting shafted by the big noises?

You thought wrong.  Prostitution in Thailand is regulated under The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996 which like previous legislation, especially the 1966 Entertainment Places Act, is very ambiguous about what legally constitutes illegal prostitution, thereby allowing many places to operate with minor hindrances, namely massage places and soapies, gogo bars etc.

[Boomer6969]

Maybe the Swedish, French, etc. approach, which makes the client the offender would work here. The Police would love it, of course. Just imagine the stories of sexpats and sex tourists handing out bribes with their pants dow. Ok I'm getting old, so fine with me.

[ikke1959]

THailand famous for its sex industry in the whole world.. Why not legalize it because everyone knows there is a lot of prostitution in THailand. Make fair rules for age and hygiene and disease control ....

[Gottfrid]

Just <deleted> it!

[itsari]

17 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

THailand famous for its sex industry in the whole world.. Why not legalize it because everyone knows there is a lot of prostitution in THailand. Make fair rules for age and hygiene and disease control ....

Yes , I agree with the legalizing of the industry where taxes could be raised for paying towards the many orphans in Thailand .

[mikebell]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

opinions that will pave the way to fix its enforcement

There is no enforcement only collection of BIB bribes.

[DezLez]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

committee of children, youth, women, elderly, disabled people, ethnic groups, and LGBTQ groups,

Who is missing from this group?

[clivebaxter]

Industry professionals- pimps and prostitutes ???? The 1996 law is clear enough no need to amend it.

[smedly]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The event was observed by Ms. Thitilak

better known as "two backs"

[hioctane]

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

You thought wrong.  Prostitution in Thailand is regulated under The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996 which like previous legislation, especially the 1966 Entertainment Places Act, is very ambiguous about what legally constitutes illegal prostitution, thereby allowing many places to operate with minor hindrances, namely massage places and soapies, gogo bars etc.

I don’t think you get the long running joke. The military does through Walking Street in Pattaya and declares there is no prostitution happening! So therefore the law is irrelevant.

[brewsterbudgen]

2 hours ago, hioctane said:

I don’t think you get the long running joke. The military does through Walking Street in Pattaya and declares there is no prostitution happening! So therefore the law is irrelevant.

I get the joke, although to be honest it's not a very funny one.  Most bars and gogos on Walking Street do not allow customers to have paid-for sex on the premises, and as paying a "barfine" is not prostitution, technically the military's comment was correct.  Paying for sex back in the privacy of a hotel room or home is not illegal in Thailand.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

but due to the expansion of tourism, economy, community, and politics, many problems had spurted from prostitution in which Thailand agreed to follow and conduct a law known as the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1960.

Are we talking massage here?

[fvw53]

Will this lead to a ministerial post for somebody who really "knows it from inside"  i.e. Khun Chuwit Kamolvisit

[Dogmatix]

The 1996 law really only makes runnng a bawdy house and soliciting crimes, both loosely defined,  for prostitutes and operators. For clients it made having sex with a minor over 15 but not over 18 a crime for the first time, provided there is evidence it was commercial sex and took place in a place of prostitution (not defined).  This makes that part virtually unenforceable, although cops find it useful for shaking down people who intentionally or unknowingly have commercial sex with this age group. Sex with minors under 15 is statutory rape and much easier to prove. 

 

Since the law doesn't really trouble either prostitutes or clients, I doubt vested interests, including cops, will want to reform it.  If they try to reform it, they might end up throwing the baby out with the bath water. 

[bristolgeoff]

Just up along beach rd the lady boys and ladies sell themselves.Every now and then the police nab them,they pay a small fine and back to business the next night or a few hrs later.Yet they want to talk about this and decide what is right and wrong,this business has gone on for centuries and worldwide

[Sydebolle]

What are they talking about?

Various tourism ministers and mayors have publicly declared over and over, that there is no prostitution as it is forbidden. In some cases the backdrop though was chosen "less than lucky" with all sorts of "X agogo, Y agogo and Z agogo" - so the photo op did not quite correspond to the verbal announcement and correction by the chosen experts ........ 

Why should the present system change? If the sleazy trade will be back (hypothetical question) then the nice tradition of little and not so little envelopes, so benefittingly explained as  "token of appreciation" will be finally back. Now who wants to change that? 

[brianthainess]

17 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Paying for sex back in the privacy of a hotel room or home is not illegal in Thailand.

As a friend once said " I never pay for sex, I only give them money to leave my room"

[NoshowJones]

17 hours ago, fvw53 said:

Will this lead to a ministerial post for somebody who really "knows it from inside"  i.e. Khun Chuwit Kamolvisit

Yes. If the other Chuckle Brother with a degree in engineering can be a qualified health minister, then anyone can be anything in this Banana Republic of Thailand government.

[spidermike007]

Definitely revoke the law. In the US, where they have an enormous sex industry, it is so far underground, people do not even realize the US has one of the highest per capita rates of sex workers, on the planet. And that does not even count the "civilian sex for donations" crowd, which is huge. 

 

Very difficult to find real numbers, as it is so far underground in the US. My friend is a very reliable and good source, and she was deeply involved in the NGO area, with regard to sex workers in SE Asia, as she founded and ran the largest HIV foundation in Thailand. So, I take her at her word, but do not expect others to, especially Americans, who live in a constant state of denial, about the industry back there. How about this, as a place to start? And any study is going to underestimate, rather than over estimate the number of sex workers in the US. And of course, they are not going to include the "really good local gals" who will bang for a month's rent. 

Stephanie Chen, former Writer-Producer for CNN, stated in her Aug. 28, 2009 CNN.com article titled “‘John Schools’ Try to Change Attitudes about Paid Sex”:

“No comprehensive effort has been made to track the numbers, but experts estimate 1 million to 2 million prostitutes work in the United States. 

https://prostitution.procon.org/questions/how-many-prostitutes-are-in-the-united-states-and-the-rest-of-the-world/

The State Department releases an annual report on human trafficking with breakdowns for individual countries, though it is largely focused on government actions to address the trafficking and does not estimate the total number of victims. However, in its 2019 report, the State Department found the top three nations of origin for human trafficking victims were the United States, Mexico and the Philippines. It does not break that figure down for sex trafficking alone. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/07/29/12-trafficking-statistics-enormity-global-sex-trade/1755192001/

The prostitution trade is estimated to generate over $14 billion a year in the US (Havoscope, 2013). Different data sources suggest that anywhere between 16 to 30 percent of men have paid for sex in the US (General Social Surveys, 1992-2010; Langer, Arnedt and Sussman, 2004).

https://www.restud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/MS21721manuscript.pdf

And there is NO justification for criminalizing the industry, either here or in the US. None. It only increases the danger for women. 

There is "considerable evidence from public health researchers that criminalization of sex work contributes to community violence, propagates crime, blocks access to public health resources, is an ineffective deterrent to participation in sex work, and is deeply harmful to sex workers." 

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-01-11/calls-mount-to-decriminalize-sex-work-in-the-interest-of-public-health
 

[DezLez]

20 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

they might end up throwing the baby out with the bath water. 

Who's baby and would it be illegitimate?

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/15/2022 at 3:04 PM, ikke1959 said:

THailand famous for its sex industry in the whole world.. Why not legalize it because everyone knows there is a lot of prostitution in THailand. Make fair rules for age and hygiene and disease control ....

Probably too much money to be made from it as it is to change it. For starters, the tea money to look the other way stops.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/16/2022 at 5:04 PM, spidermike007 said:

Definitely revoke the law. In the US, where they have an enormous sex industry, it is so far underground, people do not even realize the US has one of the highest per capita rates of sex workers, on the planet. And that does not even count the "civilian sex for donations" crowd, which is huge. 

 

Very difficult to find real numbers, as it is so far underground in the US. My friend is a very reliable and good source, and she was deeply involved in the NGO area, with regard to sex workers in SE Asia, as she founded and ran the largest HIV foundation in Thailand. So, I take her at her word, but do not expect others to, especially Americans, who live in a constant state of denial, about the industry back there. How about this, as a place to start? And any study is going to underestimate, rather than over estimate the number of sex workers in the US. And of course, they are not going to include the "really good local gals" who will bang for a month's rent. 

Stephanie Chen, former Writer-Producer for CNN, stated in her Aug. 28, 2009 CNN.com article titled “‘John Schools’ Try to Change Attitudes about Paid Sex”:

“No comprehensive effort has been made to track the numbers, but experts estimate 1 million to 2 million prostitutes work in the United States. 

https://prostitution.procon.org/questions/how-many-prostitutes-are-in-the-united-states-and-the-rest-of-the-world/

The State Department releases an annual report on human trafficking with breakdowns for individual countries, though it is largely focused on government actions to address the trafficking and does not estimate the total number of victims. However, in its 2019 report, the State Department found the top three nations of origin for human trafficking victims were the United States, Mexico and the Philippines. It does not break that figure down for sex trafficking alone. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/07/29/12-trafficking-statistics-enormity-global-sex-trade/1755192001/

The prostitution trade is estimated to generate over $14 billion a year in the US (Havoscope, 2013). Different data sources suggest that anywhere between 16 to 30 percent of men have paid for sex in the US (General Social Surveys, 1992-2010; Langer, Arnedt and Sussman, 2004).

https://www.restud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/MS21721manuscript.pdf

And there is NO justification for criminalizing the industry, either here or in the US. None. It only increases the danger for women. 

There is "considerable evidence from public health researchers that criminalization of sex work contributes to community violence, propagates crime, blocks access to public health resources, is an ineffective deterrent to participation in sex work, and is deeply harmful to sex workers." 

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-01-11/calls-mount-to-decriminalize-sex-work-in-the-interest-of-public-health
 

If they do legalize it I hope it doesn't go the way as in Singapore in the 70s, where it was VERY boring. Legal brothels, but they were no fun at all.

[spidermike007]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If they do legalize it I hope it doesn't go the way as in Singapore in the 70s, where it was VERY boring. Legal brothels, but they were no fun at all.

I hear it is the same these days in Singapore. $100 for 35 minutes. At 29 minutes, someone knocks on the door, and announces you have 6 minutes to finish! 

[jacko45k]

12 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I hear it is the same these days in Singapore. $100 for 35 minutes. At 29 minutes, someone knocks on the door, and announces you have 6 minutes to finish! 

That is probably when I would start! ????

[Leaver]

 

The funny thing is, if they passed a law tomorrow, completely legalizing prostitution here, absolutely nothing would change in Pattaya in regards to prostitution and the sex trade.  ????