It's Bangkok-a-go-go At Aids Meet

[george]

It's Bangkok-a-go-go at AIDS meet

BANGKOK: -- Hours before her normal dance slot at one of the Thai capital's go-go bars, bikini-clad Was hopped on stage, grabbed a silver pole, and started grinding through her favourite moves on the sidelines of the world AIDS forum.

To the bemusement of onlookers, the 23-year-old bar girl and activist strutted her stuff at the mock strip joint "Bangkok-a-Go-Go" to the accompaniment of thumping Western music and flashing disco lights.

The show is one of the more spectacular contributions to the debate raging here between advocates of abstinence and those supporting the widespread use of condoms as frontline armor in the HIV battle.

Where Thailand's sex workers line up in the debate is clear. Many literally wear their attitude on their sleeves; one dancer sitting at the bar wears a t-shirt announcing "good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere".

Sex workers use their presence at the 15th International AIDS Conference to chat with youths, visitors and conference delegates about the harsh realities of life in the oldest profession.

"Sex workers are real and we should be able to live and work in peace without discrimination," Was told AFP, padding her brow after stepping off stage.

"Some people say this job is inappropriate for Thai women, but men come to us on their own for sex. Nobody's forcing them."

They said some 100 sex workers have come from 21 countries to join the 17,000 delegates here in Bangkok.

Some sit in on conference sessions, others act as mobile go-go dancers carrying foldaway poles they can unfold when the moment suits.

The European Commission's human and social development unit head, Lieve Fransen, said the mock nightspot was an eye-opener for some -- but that was the point.

"It is important that people coming to these conferences are also exposed to what all of us are dealing when we try to confront HIV," Fransen said.

"It is only by understanding what we're dealing with that we can confront the epidemic."

Commercial sex work, which experts say fuels the spread of HIV, is illegal but generally tolerated in Thailand, although a government crackdown over the past year has struck fear among many young women and men engaged in the trade.

The kingdom was praised for a sweeping and non-prudish approach to the AIDS fight in the 1990s which included a 100 percent condom policy.

"No condom, no sex," deadpanned Ti, a 33-year-old self described "go-go boy" in downtown Bangkok as he handed out condoms at the bar before jumping on stage.

"It isn't sex workers who spread HIV, it's unsafe sex. And I don't know about you, but we are having safe sex."

Not all prostitutes in Thailand are, the United Nations has warned. All signs point to a resurgence of the disease in Thailand, particularly among young people whose condom use rates have dropped alarmingly.

Thai activist Chantawipa Apisuk, founder of women's rights advocacy group Empower and brainchild of the go-go bar, blames the US in part for Thailand's AIDS prevention slide.

The US last year halted funding for Empower after a policy switch forbade the US Agency for International Development from funding projects with sex workers.

"People blame sex workers as the disease's spreader, but in fact we're professional educators," she said.

Men are often duplicitous when it comes to sex, she noted. "They say one thing about sex and protection and faithfulness and then do another -- but for us our private life is out in the public."

She was backed by the dancers on stage. "I want to tell people I'm a sex worker, and I have the exact same human rights as everyone else," said Ti. "Society looks down on us. But we are here, we are real, and we are everywhere."

-- AFP 2004-07-14

[astral]

Sounds in keeping with the latest government initiatives to paint a picture of Thailand as a "sex free" zone.

Ha Ha!!

[ASIC]

There are no sex-workers in Thailand. They are professional educators. Now I understand why there are so many illegal "English Teachers" here

ASIC