SEX IN THAILAND

Thailand has a reputation as a place where sex can be bought on any street corner. This reputation is largely deserved. Thai attitudes towards sex are refreshingly un-Puritanical. No one snickers about sex. It’s too important to the economy.

During the Viet-Nam war, the United States used Thailand as its regional rest and relaxation center. I don’t know if we seduced or converted them into providing this service, but from all accounts they were eager and willing to do so.

When polled, sixty-five percent of tourists list sex as their prime reason to visiting the Kingdom of Smiles.

Prostitution isn’t just confined to foreign men and Thai women. Ninety five percent of Thai men confess to using prostitutes. A similar confidential poll reveals that ninety-five percent of married Thai men admit to regularly being unfaithful, as to eight-five percent of Thai women. Sexual fidelity seems rare in the Kingdom.

Every Thai sex worker financially supports five other adults. That’s not counting the children that are being supported.

So even though there is no law in Thailand against prostitution, because it officially doesn’t exist (a very Thai way of looking at many problems) it would be insane for them to outlaw prostitution. To do so would simply encourage corruption by the police and plunge the economy into recession. There are official government efforts to discourage and reduce pedophilia. From what I read in the newspapers, most of that market has been taken up by Thailand’s poorer neighbor, Cambodia.

I’m not here to argue the pros and cons of prostitution, but just want to say that it’s refreshing to see how openly its practiced and how few people look down their noses at it or its practitioners. It’s a fact of life, and they seem to have accepted it with equanimity. The north-eastern province of Issan, which is highly agricultural and lacking in industry, is also densely populated.  Most of the girls who practice in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai, come from Issan. The money they send home provides for parents and relatives who care for the children of these working women.

If you want a guide to how to avail yourself of this industry, there are plenty of guidebooks available on Amazon.