Poverty drives Myanmar girls into underage sex work

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Poverty drives Myanmar girls into underage sex work

By Htet Khaung Lin

YANGON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Teenager Wut Yee was devastated when her mother, a sex worker, told her that she had just agreed to sell her daughter's virginity to a businessman for $3,000.

Wut Yee, then 14, had quit school to handle household chores and look after her brother but had no other source of income.

The monsoon was coming and their thatch-roofed house in Yangon's Hlaingthaya Township required urgent repairs. Her brother's school fees and old debts also needed to be paid.

"The next morning, I had to follow this man after the doctor injected me with anesthetics. He took me in his car to a house on the outskirts of town. I spent the whole day with him," said Wut Yee, 16, recalling the events from two years ago.

"I wasn't in pain when he sent me back home in the evening because of the medication, but I couldn't walk properly," the teenager told Myanmar Now, an independent news service supported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/poverty-drives-myanmar-girls-underage-sex-025832568.html

[ezzra]

As is cruel it may sound, what's the point of the article? is there something people all over poor countries

around the world familiar with, millions go by living without selling their daughters virginity to strangers,

why there isn't an article about these people? I swear, sometime people just write stuff out of boredom...

[Linky]

As is cruel it may sound, what's the point of the article? is there something people all over poor countries

around the world familiar with, millions go by living without selling their daughters virginity to strangers,

why there isn't an article about these people? I swear, sometime people just write stuff out of boredom...

As far as I am concerned the more reports about this sort of disgusting behaviour from the businessman the better. Even better if they can find him and lock him up.

Keeping these things in the public eye is a good thing.

Empathy for the plight of the poor is also a good thing.

[fred Kubasa]

Not a big deal compared to those who sell some of their bodily organs for far less and undergo a whloe lot of pain !

Chances are, in Asia, at 16 her virginity was soon to be lost for Zero dollars !

[micmichd]

Agree on organ trade.

The issue here is paedophilia, though. And there is always a demand by customers. Have a look at those.

I know a young mother with a lovely small daughter. Last year a young German came to invite both, and I was getting kind of jealous - until this German told me something that shocked me. He didn't want the mother, he wanted "a reservation" on the (then underage) daughter. He was far from paying for the young girl's education though.

Edited August 18, 2015 by micmichd

[NeverSure]

A story like that should break a guy's heart but it's apparent that some people don't have a heart.

[chasntong]

I am surprised by the richtous disgust at this article, if you live in Thailand most of the bar girls had sex for the first time at this sort of age, only not for that amount of money, and if you live in the villages there are plenty of young girls with children living with Thai men twice their age, my wife's grand daughter is 16 and her baby is two years old living with her 30 year old Thai husband, if that was a Farang he would be in prison and on a child molesters list

[lust]

A story like that should break a guy's heart but it's apparent that some people don't have a heart.

Perhaps the reason is we are desensitized to these stories in south east Asia. It's poverty stricken. It should not be a surprise to anyone that these things happen. I saw an advert for a tour guide offering to take guys around to find young girls.

I personally know of a Burmese maid who sold her body here in Thailand. Now she has swanky clothes and a better phone than me. How should I feel about this, society?

[micmichd]

I am surprised by the richtous disgust at this article, if you live in Thailand most of the bar girls had sex for the first time at this sort of age, only not for that amount of money, and if you live in the villages there are plenty of young girls with children living with Thai men twice their age, my wife's grand daughter is 16 and her baby is two years old living with her 30 year old Thai husband, if that was a Farang he would be in prison and on a child molesters list

It's amazing how some people here justify paedophilia by pointing fingers at Thais.

The never-ending story about bar girls' sex lives wouldn't justify anything, whether true or not. Simply state if in your Farang opinion the value of a sexually experienced woman is less than that of a virgin, and tell why.

Edited August 18, 2015 by micmichd

[fitnesspm]

For a start... Paedophilia are people attracted to children before they go through puberty. Not after (12 year old)

Attraction is biological, where the most attractive age of a woman to a man is 15-16 cause she is the most fertility at that age. After that age she puts on fat. It's basically illegal to admit it if your westernised cause men in the west are shamed for being men.

At what age does a man not like a young women??? This is why they are labelled as dirty old bustards in the west.

Read up on history... It only became illegal in the last 50 years! Paedophilia (before puberty) was always looked down upon in history while soon as a lady got her period, she was married and had children. This was life for the last 100,000 years.

Due to education finishing at 18 today, the age has been increased from 13 (start of puberty) to 18 years old for sex.

If you ask me, going to jail for life due to our nature biological functions (consent from both parties) is a joke! Men and women are the most horny when they are teenagers.

Resource: learnt from study and reading history

[micmichd]

For a start... Paedophilia are people attracted to children before they go through puberty. Not after (12 year old)

Attraction is biological, where the most attractive age of a woman to a man is 15-16 cause she is the most fertility at that age. After that age she puts on fat. It's basically illegal to admit it if your westernised cause men in the west are shamed for being men.

At what age does a man not like a young women??? This is why they are labelled as dirty old bustards in the west.

Read up on history... It only became illegal in the last 50 years! Paedophilia (before puberty) was always looked down upon in history while soon as a lady got her period, she was married and had children. This was life for the last 100,000 years.

Due to education finishing at 18 today, the age has been increased from 13 (start of puberty) to 18 years old for sex.

If you ask me, going to jail for life due to our nature biological functions (consent from both parties) is a joke! Men and women are the most horny when they are teenagers.

Resource: learnt from study and reading history

OK, call it "Lolita complex" or something like that if you want.

Yes, these young girls are attractive to men, I know. But like you stated, education might be in the way. Sex *and* education was possible in my youth in Europe. Obviously it is not so easy in Asia.

If I understand Thai law right, there's still a way out of the dilemma: consent from the girl *and* the parent(s). Guess you had to keep her and care for her if you take her and don't want to go to jail. Remember the girl has only one chance if everybody is after virginity.

So, what can a Farang want? Legalize teenie sex and make education for girls illegal?