on: Pattaya Sex Workers Have No Choice
Hi friends.
This week, I spoke to Nerys King, who works in Pattaya, Thailand with women that want to get out of sex work. I hope you find the conversation one that challenges the viewing of pornography, Western exploitation of the poor, and male dominance.
Thanks for reading. I know I’m not writing about easy-to-read topics. Hope your heart, mind, values and actions are all benefiting from these letters.
Please share. Please subscribe! And if you do subscribe, check your promotions tab in your inbox! The newsletter goes there, unless you add it into your contact list (so do that!).
Lauren
‘Good guys go to heaven, bad guys go to Pattaya,’ is the slogan on t-shirts that can be bought in Pattaya, Thailand. Pattaya’s beautiful beaches may attract some innocent tourists, but it’s the sex that appeals to most visitors. With over 30,000 sex workers scattered on streets, in karaoke bars, go-go bars (where dancers set the mood), and massage parlours, a tourist can easily locate a woman, man, or ladyboy for sale to use for personal gratification. The city boasts of its reputation being a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah and takes pride in its flamboyant display of sexual pleasure. Since lockdown, Thailand has closed off its borders and the sex industry of Pattaya has felt the affect as sex workers who depended on paying tourists have lost their entire livelihoods – leaving them wishing that men would return to exploit their bodies again so that they could feed themselves and their families.
Neyrs King lives in Pattaya and works for the Tamar Center, an NGO helping women out of the sex industry. Tamar trains and employs women to work in businesses where they can offer alternative services besides sex work. The alternatives are very limited – working in a bakery or restaurant and making jewellery and cards. The women are salaried fairly for their work, offered counselling for trauma they have suffered, housed if necessary, and provided childcare.
Nerys agreed to speak to me for this piece. ‘Most of the women come from the Northeast of Thailand,’ she began. ‘There is a lot of poverty there and many of these girls have had little to no education.’ Many of the families in this region of Thailand support themselves through rice farming. The unstable price for rice, gruelling physical work it requires, lack of men to harvest (many have left to search for work and financial security), and recent floods, have made it a disastrous livelihood. Nerys went on to explain that it is often the eldest daughter’s responsibility to provide for the family, so many young girls move to the cities in search of work. They aren’t strong armed into sex work. They aren’t tricked into sex work. But they have no other option for employment except for sex work. Once they move to Pattaya, they soon experience the pressure to prostitute their bodies from both employers and their family. The girls are poor. Their families are poor. And the only chance for income is to sell their bodies to eager, often-Western men that have come to Pattaya to buy sex.
The demand for sex drives the selling of sex. ‘The demand is getting worse because prostitution is becoming more and more accepted in the West,’ Nerys explained. ‘Pornography fuels what happens here in Pattaya - fantasy becomes real where men can pay to have it acted out. Taboos that are becoming more accepted in the west - bondage, porn, etc. is then played out in extreme here as people seek the next thing, more risky, dangerous, violent. So the experience for many women here is abuse and violence.’
Men are travelling across the world for the Pattaya sex experience. Men that are generally dissatisfied with their lives and desperate for happiness. Men that want the sex they view in porn videos. Nerys has had conversations with many of these men. ‘I've met many older men who have the same story - bad divorce, kids don't speak to them, etc. Finding and paying for a long term Thai girlfriend becomes this faux marriage. Man is happy to have someone to come home to, Thai woman is happy for the money.’
So, they escape to the “beaches” of Pattaya for a little break from normal living. They use their rich, Western, male privilege to exploit the vulnerabilities of a person desperate for money. They may even justify it by thinking they are helping by giving them money to live.
Are they helping them? Lockdown has revealed that without sex tourism, Pattaya is a ghost town. ‘Pattaya is a tourist city and without tourists, the city is struggling. Thousands are out of work. Bars have closed, but also it affects other business that rely on tourism. Taxis, food vendors, hotels, etc.’ Nerys continues, ‘The girls who have stayed and tried to find customers are mainly working freelance on the beaches. This makes them vulnerable - they will go with customers that they might have said no to before, the price will be cheap and there's more risk of violence and STDs.’
Sex Workers are struggling to feed themselves and their families. Struggling to pay rent. Struggling to live. Since prostitution is illegal in Pattaya, sex workers don’t receive any unemployment allowances because sex isn’t regarded as employment. Were the sex-greedy men a necessity after all? It seems that unless Thailand has a complete overhaul to its image and reputation, the sex workers will continue to feel that there is no other option for them except to sell their bodies for sex.
Nerys isn’t optimistic. ‘Many attempts have been made to change and shut down the sex industry in Thailand - but when this industry usually brings in over a third of Thailand’s annual GDP, it is hard to imagine it disappearing. The last 3 years Thailand has pushed for tourism from China and India. Many come in bus loads here - some on specific "sex tours" - it is hard to imagine this won't be the case again once the country opens as it is easy money.’
Many may argue that women choose to prostitute their bodies – that it gives them power and independence. This not the case here. Most that enter the sex industry in Pattaya do so because they have no other option. It is the life they must live to survive. Tamar and other organisations are raising funds to hand out food and helpful packages to those struggling. But it is only the Thai government, continuing to persevere in creating policies and alternative jobs, and sex purchasers, who drive the demand for sex tourism, that can change the future for sex workers in Pattaya.
photo credit: Getty