A History Of Sex Work In Thailand

[canadiangirl]

A very interesting history of events that have influenced sex work in Thailand, written by Thai sex workers for the Empower foundation:

From: http://www.empowerfoundation.org/preview.php?id=37

In 1920 rice crops failed and many women had to sell off some or all of their land. By 1930, 27% of northern farming families had no land. Unlike other parts of Thailand, in the northern provinces property was passed from mother to daughter. When men were married they left the family home and lived with their in-laws. It was women who lost their land and livelihood.

Since the first cash rice crops in the 1920's land loss increased. Generations of women have dedicated themselves to earning money to buy back land for their families. Rice farmers are able to predict how much they will be able to harvest when the rice is still green, around April. Families who will not have a good crop and won't be able to make good sales will be desperate for cash to survive until the next harvest or risk losing their land. Since the late 1940's recruiters, originally military men visited the north and northeast in April offering to find young women paid work in the cities. Families were given a lump sum as an advance on their daughter's wages. She was indebted to the employer until the original loan was repaid. This became known as the "green harvest". With improved economy and the raising of the age of compulsory schooling for girls, the green harvest had all but disappeared by the mid 1990's.

Edited August 23, 2007 by canadiangirl

[Acquiesce]

And here was me thinking they were just lazy wastes of space who found that line of work far less taxing and more financialy rewarding than other work they would be suitable for.

I'm enlightened.

[canadiangirl]

And here was me thinking they were just lazy wastes of space who found that line of work far less taxing and more financialy rewarding than other work they would be suitable for.

Some of us like to learn about the world around us. It's called "education".

[bendix]

With improved economy and the raising of the age of compulsory schooling for girls, the green harvest had all but disappeared by the mid 1990's.

. . . to be replaced by the gold harvest.

[soundman]

. . . to be replaced by the gold harvest.

golden oldies?

[LaoPo]

Bar Rules from a bar in Bangkok 1995

* Instant dismissal for causing any problem with any customer

* Come to work late, salary cut of 2 baht a minute

* One day off per month. More than that for any reason and salary cut 400 baht a day

* If don’t come on Fri, Sat, Sun or Public Holiday the salary cut is 1,000 Baht

* There is a 50 baht salary cut for eating or using the bathroom outside allotted time

* A 50 baht fine for trying to sign in for work before putting on make-up

* Arguing with other women 300 Baht fine

* On payday must show clinic check-up card or no pay. If fail to show more than once an extra 300 baht fine

* Must be bought 60 drinks a month by customers. Salary deducted 30 Baht for every drink beneath the quota

* Must be bought out of the bar 6 times a month. Fined 200 baht for each time beneath the quota

* No social security

* Salary 3,000 Baht month

Bar Rules from a bar in Phuket 2005

* Don’t cause any problems with customers

* Come to work late, fined 5 baht a minute

* One day off per month. More than that and fined 500 baht a day

* If don’t come on Fri, Sat, Sun or Public Holiday fined 1,000 Baht

* There is a 5 baht charge for each trip to the bathroom

* Paid 30 baht for each drink priced over 150 baht bought by customers.

* Fined 500 baht for failing to bring your customer to the bar each night to pay bar fine

* Not allowed to find customers independently without permission from bar owner

* Work hours 6pm-3am

* No social security

No salary - given bed and board in lieu

LaoPo

[naka]

Ok, so you know how to Cut and Paste !

Anything else you can add to your C.V.

Naka.

[LaoPo]

Ok, so you know how to Cut and Paste !

Anything else you can add to your C.V.

Naka.

I never had a CV

LaoPo

[Austhaied]

Ok, so you know how to Cut and Paste !

Anything else you can add to your C.V.

Naka.

Yes he can. He has intelligence and class. And he's a gentleman.

And what would your CV contain ??

[Lancelot]

Hmmmm, and I thought it was all started those naughty Viet Nam troops R&Ring in Thailand. Surely there was not a P4P scene prior to that

[roietjimmy]

* A 50 baht fine for trying to sign in for work before putting on make-up

* Arguing with other women 300 Baht fine

* On payday must show clinic check-up card or no pay. If fail to show more than once an extra 300 baht fine

* Must be bought out of the bar 6 times a month. Fined 200 baht for each time beneath the quota

* Come to work late, fined 5 baht a minute

* One day off per month. More than that and fined 500 baht a day

* If don't come on Fri, Sat, Sun or Public Holiday fined 1,000 Baht

* Fined 500 baht for failing to bring your customer to the bar each night to pay bar fine

LaoPo

I know this bar. Owned by Lee Kuan Yew.

[Ijustwannateach]

I think this thread is beginning to fall afoul of one of the forum rules:

1) You will not use thaivisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, referencing prostitution (including bargirls and barboys), referencing suicide, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

Please limit discussion to socioeconomic or political issues discussed in the OP's link, or this thread will be closed pretty quickly.

[Dupont]

A very interesting history of events that have influenced sex work in Thailand, written by Thai sex workers for the Empower foundation:

From: http://www.empowerfoundation.org/preview.php?id=37

In 1920 rice crops failed and many women had to sell off some or all of their land. By 1930, 27% of northern farming families had no land. Unlike other parts of Thailand, in the northern provinces property was passed from mother to daughter. When men were married they left the family home and lived with their in-laws. It was women who lost their land and livelihood.

Since the first cash rice crops in the 1920's land loss increased. Generations of women have dedicated themselves to earning money to buy back land for their families. Rice farmers are able to predict how much they will be able to harvest when the rice is still green, around April. Families who will not have a good crop and won't be able to make good sales will be desperate for cash to survive until the next harvest or risk losing their land. Since the late 1940's recruiters, originally military men visited the north and northeast in April offering to find young women paid work in the cities. Families were given a lump sum as an advance on their daughter's wages. She was indebted to the employer until the original loan was repaid. This became known as the "green harvest". With improved economy and the raising of the age of compulsory schooling for girls, the green harvest had all but disappeared by the mid 1990's.

Chill out for gods sake! Your coming to live in the most beautiful part of the world and are at war with a bunch of blokes you have never met.

Looks like the old falangs are off the hook though as it started before most of even us were born!

Selective reading to find material to back up whatever predudices you may have or perceive in others is not education by the way.

Lightnen up, you can have a lifestyle and happines here that will make you the envy of most Canadians that you leave behind.

[Ulysses G.]

From what I have read, this phenomenon started way before last century, but - as another reader said - at least they don't claim that it all started with Vietnam.

[Gerontion]

I started composing a reply after reading the OP and was going to say simply, "thanks" to canadiangirl for an interesting link. But the responses...man. What can I say? Every now and then I feel optimistic about the world but then I read stuff like this.

Chill out for gods sake! Your coming to live in the most beautiful part of the world and are at war with a bunch of blokes you have never met.

Looks like the old falangs are off the hook though as it started before most of even us were born!

Selective reading to find material to back up whatever predudices you may have or perceive in others is not education by the way.

Lightnen up, you can have a lifestyle and happines here that will make you the envy of most Canadians that you leave behind.

<deleted>? You do realise that the Victorian era is over, don't you?

[LinkPopularity]

Thailand is known for paid pleasure for hundreds of years !

500 years ago they had to make a law to get the orgies in the royal houses under control, especially lesbian sex !

[eek]

I rather think CG posted something useful Dupont.

You had the option not to read it.

Its easy to say "chill out" when you are one of those people who prefer not to look at the serious sides of situations. Tbh I think most men who come here dont wish to think about it, prefering to gloss over things and not have their fun spoilt by facts. Some of course just dont care.

Rather than accuse CG of selective reading, would be more interesting to read some factual information posted as an arguement against the point. I would be happy to read multiple sides of this.

Thank you for that link CG.

[Dupont]

I started composing a reply after reading the OP and was going to say simply, "thanks" to canadiangirl for an interesting link. But the responses...man. What can I say? Every now and then I feel optimistic about the world but then I read stuff like this.

Chill out for gods sake! Your coming to live in the most beautiful part of the world and are at war with a bunch of blokes you have never met.

Looks like the old falangs are off the hook though as it started before most of even us were born!

Selective reading to find material to back up whatever predudices you may have or perceive in others is not education by the way.

Lightnen up, you can have a lifestyle and happines here that will make you the envy of most Canadians that you leave behind.

<deleted>? You do realise that the Victorian era is over, don't you

Sure you replied to the thread you intended?

Its just the ususal resurected stuff that we all know about anyway. In this case its been trotted out as an insult because she got a mauling on another thread. Anyway, according to them, its all done and dusted now anyway. Think she is trying to tie it in with her beliefs that all our wives and girlfriends/boyfriends are only in it for the money.

I'm all for interesting threads. This offers nothing new and is part of an ongoing conflict that CG seems to be having. I'm just pointing out that she could come here and have a lot of fun and live a full, healthy life out here. Up to her.... and you!

Anyway, I'm not posting on this thread again, as I'm busy selling me children to't pit owners and chimney sweeps! We had severe poverty in England as well you know. Now we are enjoying the fruits of our labour in re-building it.

[britmaveric]

From what I have read, this phenomenon started way before last century, but - as another reader said - at least they don't claim that it all started with Vietnam.

Quite correct mate - certainly didnt originate in the 30s, nor in vietnam - way before any of us were born 500+ years ago.

[kat]

If you are talking about the history of sex work in Thailand, it goes back way further than the 1920s. Peasants also started to lose their land before then as well. Besides looking at the history and roots of concubinage and commercial transactions with early European traders, you could start with the beginning of actual short-time, brothel business, which started with Chinese during the Ayutthaya period. It was so prolific, women took Chinese names, so that they could blend in. Of course, this was helped along with the end of slavery for lower caste women and concubines, who then needed a profession. Landlessness of peasants started before this, when Chinese merchants started coming in and working as tax collectors for the monarchy in addition to their "businesses", and started buying up land and expanded their investments into rice harvest, transport, and storage in the big city, and the rest is history.

[Creeper]

What the fawk is wrong with you people?

You act like sex for sale is totally unheard of anywhere else in the world, when us frequent travellers know that it's just normal.

Honestly, I cannot understand the obsession some people have with sex that they pay for, if it was , I would keep it quiet.

You want sex in Asia, I invite you to come to Japan, you can get anything you want, boy's Girl's, Asian, UK, Australian, American, Canadian, French, Italian, in fact any nationality you choose.

It appears on Thai Visa that they think that sex for sale is a dirty thing and only happens in poor countries, .................my god, how wrong you are.

Grow up lads . It's all for sale in Tokyo, only thing is...............................it costs more!

Edited August 23, 2007 by Creeper

[britmaveric]

Personally its a profession like any other - least thats my view point. (no stigma associated with it) However that only applies to the willing.

[kat]

What the fawk is wrong with you people?

You act like sex for sale is totally unheard of anywhere else in the world, when us frequent travellers know that it's just normal.

Honestly, I cannot understand the obsession some people have with sex that they pay for, if it was , I would keep it quiet.

You want sex in Asia, I invite you to come to Japan, you can get anything you want, boy's Girl's, Asian, UK, Australian, American, Canadian, French, Italian, in fact any nationality you choose.

It appears on Thai Visa that they think that sex for sale is a dirty thing and only happens in poor countries, .................my god, how wrong you are.

Grow up lads . It's all for sale in Tokyo, only thing is...............................it costs more!

You're quite right, except that the roots, history, and culture are completely different. That is basically everything. In the case of Asia, the roots stem from concubinage, which in modern terms translates into varying perceptions of labor and contracts. In the West, it is all about a precise exchange based on services given and services rendered (stemming from a different history of labor, contracts, and remuneration), whereas in LOS the exchange is less clear and tied to interpersonal relationships. The bars are a Western construction, and are much less prevalent in comparison to the more traditional exchange.

*grammar

Edited August 23, 2007 by kat

[WaiWai]

It appears on Thai Visa that they think that sex for sale is a dirty thing and only happens in poor countries, .................my god, how wrong you are.

It happens mostly to poor, uneducated people in many countries; people who don't see any other option than to do this de-humanizing work.

I don't know how many countries are visited by mobs of "sex tourists" but Thailand is certainly high on, if not at the top of, the list. I believe that the vast majority of Thais wish this were not so. If there is anti-foreigner sentiment here, this would surely be the prime cause. It affects us all.

Its just the ususal resurected stuff that we all know about anyway.

I didn't know much of what has been posted here.

Edited August 23, 2007 by WaiWai

[britmaveric]

It happens mostly to poor, uneducated people in many countries; people who don't see any other option tan to do de-humanizing work.

I don't know how many countries are visited by mobs of "sex tourists" but Thailand is certainly high on, if not at the top of, the list. I believe that the vast majority of Thais wish this were not so. If there is anti-foreigner sentiment here, this would surely be the prime cause. It affects us all.

Obviously you don't know thailand very well..... 99.9% of the clients are thai. And the profession encompasses from lower to higher echelons of society. (from farm girl to middle class to rich) Sex tourism's socio-economic impact is negligible in the scheme of the overall profession.

Edited August 23, 2007 by britmaveric

[mittheimp]

Prostitution, for all its ills, probably creates the greatest chance of upward social mobility in Thailand, which i think is not a bad thing!

[lannarebirth]

A very interesting history of events that have influenced sex work in Thailand, written by Thai sex workers for the Empower foundation:

From: http://www.empowerfoundation.org/preview.php?id=37

In 1920 rice crops failed and many women had to sell off some or all of their land. By 1930, 27% of northern farming families had no land. Unlike other parts of Thailand, in the northern provinces property was passed from mother to daughter. When men were married they left the family home and lived with their in-laws. It was women who lost their land and livelihood.

Since the first cash rice crops in the 1920's land loss increased. Generations of women have dedicated themselves to earning money to buy back land for their families. Rice farmers are able to predict how much they will be able to harvest when the rice is still green, around April. Families who will not have a good crop and won't be able to make good sales will be desperate for cash to survive until the next harvest or risk losing their land. Since the late 1940's recruiters, originally military men visited the north and northeast in April offering to find young women paid work in the cities. Families were given a lump sum as an advance on their daughter's wages. She was indebted to the employer until the original loan was repaid. This became known as the "green harvest". With improved economy and the raising of the age of compulsory schooling for girls, the green harvest had all but disappeared by the mid 1990's.

See how easy it is to stir the pot? You can find links like that everywhere. Here are some similar ones:

http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.c...s=A1ARTA0006521

http://www.cwhn.ca/resources/sex_trade/

dozens more too.

[kat]

It happens mostly to poor, uneducated people in many countries; people who don't see any other option tan to do de-humanizing work.

I don't know how many countries are visited by mobs of "sex tourists" but Thailand is certainly high on, if not at the top of, the list. I believe that the vast majority of Thais wish this were not so. If there is anti-foreigner sentiment here, this would surely be the prime cause. It affects us all.

Obviously you don't know thailand very well..... 99.9% of the clients are thai. And the profession encompasses from lower to higher echelons of society. (from farm girl to middle class to rich) Sex tourism's socio-economic impact is negligible in the scheme of the overall profession.

hmmm ... I wouldn't call it negligible, though. It has basically evolved into a formal sector of the economy, without formal acknowledgment.

[Ulysses G.]

It appears on Thai Visa that they think that sex for sale is a dirty thing and only happens in poor countries, .................my god, how wrong you are.

It happens mostly to poor, uneducated people in many countries; people who don't see any other option than to do this de-humanizing work.

I don't know how many countries are visited by mobs of "sex tourists" but Thailand is certainly high on, if not at the top of, the list. I believe that the vast majority of Thais wish this were not so.

Anyone who makes money off of "sex-tourists" is quite happy that they are here and that includes all of Thailand's GIANT tourist industry.

Yes, Thais would love it if the country were not known as a destination for sex, but not not enough to refuse the profits and certainly not enough to stop patronizing the sex industry themselves!

Edited August 23, 2007 by Ulysses G.

[kat]

A very interesting history of events that have influenced sex work in Thailand, written by Thai sex workers for the Empower foundation:

From: http://www.empowerfoundation.org/preview.php?id=37

In 1920 rice crops failed and many women had to sell off some or all of their land. By 1930, 27% of northern farming families had no land. Unlike other parts of Thailand, in the northern provinces property was passed from mother to daughter. When men were married they left the family home and lived with their in-laws. It was women who lost their land and livelihood.

Since the first cash rice crops in the 1920's land loss increased. Generations of women have dedicated themselves to earning money to buy back land for their families. Rice farmers are able to predict how much they will be able to harvest when the rice is still green, around April. Families who will not have a good crop and won't be able to make good sales will be desperate for cash to survive until the next harvest or risk losing their land. Since the late 1940's recruiters, originally military men visited the north and northeast in April offering to find young women paid work in the cities. Families were given a lump sum as an advance on their daughter's wages. She was indebted to the employer until the original loan was repaid. This became known as the "green harvest". With improved economy and the raising of the age of compulsory schooling for girls, the green harvest had all but disappeared by the mid 1990's.

See how easy it is to stir the pot? You can find links like that everywhere. Here are some similar ones:

http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.c...s=A1ARTA0006521

http://www.cwhn.ca/resources/sex_trade/

dozens more too.

Yep, human trafficking has globalized. Where do you think the extensive networks necessary to traffick women, children and men to Western countries begin?

We are entering the zone of shut-downs and thread pulling.