I don't really want to process what I saw tonight. I'm afraid it would be too devastating for my little heart to handle. I wanted to bottle this informaion up and throw it away actually. Women are sex symbols. This has been told to me ever since i was little, but I've never actually experienced this fact so explicitly. Tonight I did. It was repulsive really. Old western men isn't an accurate label for what they really are - coming to Thailand simply to exploit these girls who have no desire to be dressed in so little and have to be with countless men every night just to get enough money to send back to their families. I can't explain how badly I wanted to just throw my fists at their nasty drunk faces touching young girls who are probably more than half their age. Who in their right mind would think this is right?
The poverty in Thailand is not apparent. Thailand is actually a thriving country, with less than 11% in poverty. However it is the sex industry that helps it thrive; with 90% of Thai men having gone to a prostitute and 40-50% going regularly, without forgetting the hundreds of foreigners coming to Thailand simply for the sex industry, and catering to most of the economic success. Because Thai girls have more opportunity and access to education in the city, it ends up being hill tribe girls and refugees from neighboring Burma who become trafficked and exploited for sex. These young girls who are not given Thai citizenship, who are looked down upon for being a prostitute, and who are the lowest of the low in society, are actually the backbone of Thailand's economic success as a country.
That's not right is it?
While walking around the bars, I made direct contact with these western men - I couldn't help but with a disgusted look in my eyes. Don't they know they are the reason for so many young lives being completely ruined? Do they know that these girls don't want to be here? That they would rather be at home with their families? But they can't because girls in Thai culture are suppose to support the family? Don't they realize how awful it would be to be taken from your family, deceived into prostitution thinking you were going to be working at a noodle shop, and be forced to sleep with 6,000 men in a matter of 6 years? Do they know that those in prostitution have much higher rates of PTSD than those that are war veterans?
Do you know what you are doing to these girls? How could you?
As we drove by the Red Light District of Chiang Mai, i wasn't ready for the apparent-ness of the sex industry in Thailand. Every venue that has women, girls and boys for sale has to be fronted by some other venue - the most common are karaoke bars, massage parlors, alcohol bars, some restaurants and brothels. I thought we would be looking for these 'fronts', but i was taken by surprise. As i looked to my right, i saw a big open building with bright blue and purple neon lights bordering the opening. it resembled somewhat of a big fancy movie theatre or a night club. There were probably fifteen or so bar stools out front with young Thai girls wearing 6 inch heals and small skin-tight dresses sitting on them fixing their hair or makeup...waiting. The same sad, heartbreaking scene was found at the dozens of other karaoke bars we passed that night. As we walked into one bar, we found young girls around 6 or 7 years old, called "flower children". These girls are brought to the bars to sell flowers first, and then their bodies. Most of these children are refugees from Burma, miles and miles away from home. No 6 year old should ever have to be sexually abused and forced into prostitution so far from home. It just shouldn't happen.
The following is from the NGO Nightlight based in Bangkok, the center of the world's human trafficking problem:
"Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Through force, fraud and or coercion people are recruited, harbored and transported for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking generates billions of dollars each year as people are transported around the world to work in prostitution, pornography, sweatshops, construction, housekeeping, agriculture, restaurants and more.
Often victims migrate willingly, responding to fraudulent offers of employment. Upon their arrival they are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude or the commercial sex trade. Many international victims encounter language barriers, and are threatened with punishment or harm to family members in their home countries. In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 made human trafficking a federal crime but due to the hidden nature of the problem, it is difficult to locate trafficked persons."
If you want to learn more, here are a few websites of Human Trafficking NGO's that we have visited personally. These NGO's are doing great work in the prevention, eradication, and restoration of human trafficking in Thailand.
Bangkok - http://www.nightlightinternational.com/
Chiang Rai - http://www.ezekielrain.com/Ezekiel_Rain/Home.html
Chaing Mai - http://www.urban-light.org/
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