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A daily article on global humanities and geography
WeChat public account: Earth Knowledge Bureau
NO.2198 - Illegal sex trafficking in Thailand
Author: Sven's Fan Senior
Draft: Chao Qian / Editor: Tuna
When it comes to Thailand, even the input method will help you think of a shemale. And this special group always gives people a feeling of wandering in the gray area between actors and pornographers.
As long as the money is in place, the children are also served
Or maybe it was at the strong request of the bald big brother who took the photo in front
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
In addition to the shemales, the streets of Thai tourist cities are more of a variety of Thai massage parlors that make people feel less serious. So much so that tourists' perception of Thailand is blinded by a sense of curiosity and soft pornography.
In fact, it is not only the Chinese that have such an impression, But also Thailand is also the most popular destination for "sex tourism" in Europe and the United States. There are even various stereotypes with racist overtones.
In fact, under Thailand's Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996, all obscene places and obscene activities are prohibited throughout Thailand, including the dissemination of pornographic films and pornographic images through the Internet.
So how exactly did the gulf between extremely strict laws and well-known reality come about? What kind of helplessness and tragedy is behind the appearance of hiding dirt and grime?
Ladies don't fit very well in fish-billed high heels
Pretending to be their floating and embarrassing lives
(Photo: One Map Network)▼
The history of the Thai industry
The origins of Thailand's pornography industry are inseparable from slavery. The Ayutthaya dynasty, founded in 1351, was ruled by a military aristocracy. They practiced a caste-like system of Sakdina, which was not only highly class-equal, but equally gender-equal.
For thousands of years, Thailand's monarchy has survived to this day
Although the reputation of the royal family is also mixed, it is difficult to subvert for a while
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
Aristocratic men had three types of wives, the first of which was the principal wife, the second of whom was the second wife, and the third of whom was a slave wife. Slave wives may have been taken captive from occupied territories, or they may have purchased or paid off debts, and their status is as inferior as property, and they can be bought, sold and beaten by their masters. Even the exchange of slave wives was seen as a way for the nobility to connect with each other.
The song stage is warm and the spring light is melting
Li Shan looked around, A Fang a torch, where was the luxury at that time?
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
As Thailand's economy grew, especially the wave of rice exports that emerged in the mid-to-late 19th century, cities such as Bangkok poured in large numbers of male laborers and foreign merchants. Many of them do not reside permanently, nor do they bring female dependents, nor do they have slave wives to satisfy their sexual desires. In some alleys, some poor women gradually meet the needs of this part of the people.
Thailand has long been one of the world's largest rice exporters
About half of the country's workforce is engaged in agriculture
(Enough grain pipes, full of warmth to think lustful, picture: wiki)▼
At that time, Thailand was a theravada Buddhist country with a strong religious atmosphere. The Buddhist theory of reincarnation was originally intended to persuade people to accumulate virtue and do good, but the logical ghost learned to push backwards, which led to the general belief that bad fate was to atone for the sins of the previous life, so that discrimination became justified, thus forming a hierarchical status of monks, healthy male free people, healthy female free people, disabled people, slaves, and animals.
Slave wives and prostitutes were naturally regarded as merely superior to animals. Not only are they discriminated against, but they are also hated for their shelters. Capable residents would evict them or move out of there. As a result, working women gradually gathered, thus forming the predecessor of the red light district.
Flower Street Willow Lane is full of "goddesses", leaning on the door to sell laughter and night and night joy
(Photo: One Map Network)▼
At the end of the 19th century, because of the wave of immigration from the southeast coast of China, on the one hand, a large number of single men came to Thailand, where rice exports were occurring, which stimulated the demand for sex trade; on the other hand, unfortunate women were tricked into engaging in the sex trade in Thailand.
In other words, because there are too many Chinese and agriculture is too inward-looking, it has to actively or passively go abroad to find survival opportunities. Therefore, the early development of Thai pornography also has the blood and tears of Chinese immigrants.
At the beginning of the 20th century, King Rama V took the initiative to learn from the West, promoted modernization reforms, and abolished slavery. However, subject to low governance capacity, drastic social changes not only failed to help the slave wives, but made them victims of reform. In an environment where there is a shortage of women's jobs, many of them are left alone and have to choose to fall into the dust.
Women without any skills can only work in the service industry with a lower threshold
And the early service industry is nothing more than that
(Teach people to fish, but also teach people to fish, photo: shutterstock)▼
Therefore, Thai pornography has a vestige of slavery from its source. Practitioners have a low status, have not been accepted by the mainstream of society for a long time, and have become ghostly marginal people.
In 1929, the Thai economy was hit by an economic crisis, which led to a wave of women subsidizing their families with sex trafficking. By the time of World War II, the Japanese garrison in Thailand brought the traditional artistic energy of the island country, and related industries exploded. During the Vietnam War, Bangkok and Pattaya became vacation homes for the US military, and the strong purchasing power of the US dollar officially matured Thailand's sexual service industry.
After World War II, Thailand established good relations with many European and American countries
Short-term stays and consumption behavior of European and American tourists in the sexual service industry
It has even led to the phenomenon of Thailand's ultra-high mixed population today
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
Form a dependent reality
With the progress of Thailand's economy in the 1980s, the gap between rich and poor in urban and rural areas gradually widened, urbanization accelerated, and the supply and demand for pornography increased. On the other hand, during the same period, the Thai government increased its investment in tourism and built Thailand's major cities into popular international tourist destinations. It is inevitable that there will be such hobbies among tourists, and over time Thailand has been regarded as a sex travel destination.
The annual Songkran Festival is also an internationally renowned Songkran Festival
It has injected strong consumption momentum into Thailand
(Photo: Figureworm Creative)▼
Tourists are willing to come here for a simple reason – cheap. Before 2019, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where sex trafficking is legal, a 15-minute transaction cost around €50 ($56). In Thailand, the price for 20-30 minutes is 600-1000 baht ($16-27).
The left slide takes you to a glimpse of the fragrance behind the glass vitrines on the streets of Amsterdam
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
The root cause is not only because of the economic gap between the two countries, but also because Amsterdam's legal red light district is usually in a good location, the practitioners are well treated and have to pay taxes, but Thailand's illegal red light district, although blatant, is illegal after all, and it is seriously contrary to Buddhist morality. Thailand's pornography industry, from operation, to site selection, to the treatment of practitioners, has an underground, fringe color, thus driving down costs.
In order to escape the blow, erotic shops usually hang signs such as "massage", "bath", "bar" and so on
The store also only provides legal services, but you can also take it away if you look at it right...
(The legs can't see it, pictured: shutterstock)▼
Thailand's long coastline is dotted with many high-quality beaches, special cuisine, Southeast Asian style and seemingly innocent hunting, pornographic meaning, for European and American tourists with strong purchasing power, it means the ideal holiday destination, for the up-and-coming East Asian tourists, it means a novel experience with high cost performance.
The lights are red and green, and the price of The Chu Pavilion Qin Lou is low
(Photo: One Map Network)▼
These factors have made tourism an integral part of Thailand's economy, and the sex industry, which has become deeply integrated into its tourism industry, has become a vague neon sign in the shadows.
Return to the deep courtyard and enter the cave room separately
The sachet is secretly dissolved, and the strip is lightly divided
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
According to the Thai Ministry of Public Health, there are more than 120,000 people working in thailand's sex industry, which is not small considering that there are less than 70 million people in Thailand. Moreover, because this industry is illegal, practitioners will try to avoid supervision, and the relevant statistics are not comprehensive, and this figure is for reference only.
Sex workers hiding on street corners are either light or dark
Many "shemales" actually engage in or have engaged in erotic-related activities
In Thailand, the "shemale" group alone is more than 600,000, and it is quite young
(Source: Youtube)▼
In fact, when night falls, there are massage parlors in the streets of Bangkok. In some of the more concentrated underground red light districts, women wearing short skirts, hot pants, high heels, and heavy makeup look at passers-by without concealment. Local and foreign consumers linger. No one can say exactly how many people the industry has fed and how many people's desires have been satisfied.
There are also "boy street" where male practitioners gather in contrast.
Caters to the tastes of all types of tourists
(Bangkok's most famous Soi twilight street Photo: One Picture Network)▼
Many women engage in sex work to fulfill their responsibilities to the family. In the tradition of Thai society, the youngest unmarried daughter is usually responsible for supporting her parents. Poor women who do not have access to a good education are also trapped in the process of urbanization. Lacking survival skills, they are on the margins of society, or actively or passively enter this industry. However, this way of making quick money is like a drug, and once it is contaminated, it is difficult to get rid of it.
The same scene is staged in all corners of the world
Support for vulnerable women requires the joint efforts of all sectors of society
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
This is not the case with Thai society's dependence on the sex industry. Thailand's social environment does not allow it to be legitimized, de-stigmatized, and exist under government supervision and regulation, nor can it limit its existence and minimize its influence through iron fists.
Ultra-high morals are powerless to regulate clients, but they make practitioners socially pretend they don't exist. As a result, the sex industry became a three-way zone in Thailand, eventually developing into a deformed monster that grew savagely in the dark.
Every year, it generates considerable income by relying on sexual peripheral industries
So much so that the government has no incentive to uproot this giant tumor
(Photo: One Map Network)▼
Behind the transnational criminal network
In early January 2018, Victoria's Secret, a Bangkok bathing centre, was raided by the Thai Special Cases Agency (DIS) and found that it was not only obscene pornography, but also threatened underage prostitution. Important criminal suspects such as the bath owner Brother Frog were caught on the spot. 113 young girls engaged in sex trafficking were rescued, including 96 from Myanmar, 11 from Laos, 4 from Thais and 2 from China. Their average age is less than 18 years old, with the youngest being only 12 years old.
The greatest harm of prostitution is the intuitive trade in women's sexual resources
There are also all kinds of illegal activities hidden behind it
（图：Asia news）▼
From this case, we can see the dark elements behind the rampant pornography industry in Thailand: the police who are obviously capable of accurately eliminating pornography, the violent and coercive underworld forces, the minors who have lost their feet, the foreign women who are drifting in their lives, and the insensitive prostitutes. The transnational criminal network behind Thailand's pornography industry can be seen.
Although the Pattaya police have been openly committed to getting rid of the external image of the local sexual paradise
But the intricate collusion of forces has long made some problems a persistent problem
(Photo: One Map Network)▼
After all, Thailand is a Buddhist country, the mainstream values are relatively conservative, and practitioners are discriminated against and oppressed. Therefore, in recent years, the proportion of local practitioners in Thailand has decreased.
However, Thailand's geographical location is very superior, and its tourism facilities, reputation and maturity of the sex industry are much higher than those of neighboring countries. Its neighboring Myanmar is politically unstable, Laos and Cambodia have sluggish economic growth, and a large number of laborers have gone to Thailand to work, which naturally takes over the Thais and becomes the main source of force for sex workers.
Landlocked countries like Laos
Traffickers often lure them to Thailand on the pretext of making money as fishermen
Who knows what awaits them is the dark future of imprisonment and abuse
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
Many of them were tricked into coming to Thailand under various guises, while others were involved in human trafficking and were bought for hundreds of dollars by brothel owners. The transition from good family women to professionals often involves violent coercion.
Just like behind Thailand's big business, there is often the back of military bigwigs. Behind the Thai massage parlors, there are often evil forces and corrupt police platforms. How much of the hard-earned money of the practitioners should be paid tribute to them, and whether they will use power and violent exploitation of sexual practitioners is worthy of scrutiny.
Most of the income from human smuggling
There are even some cancers in the tribute to the Thai border police
(Photo: One Map Network)▼
Because of the lack of regulation and fierce competition, the most invisible side of human nature is exposed in the Thai sex industry. The worst part is that Thailand is where the sex trade among minors is most rampant.
In recent years, this lucrative industry has also begun to see big fish eating small fish. Although local gangsters can dominate in the pile of women, they are too kind and simple in the face of transnational organized criminal groups from Japan and Russia. The latter's transnational human trafficking rings are growing rapidly in Thailand, and without intervention, future victims from Russia and Eastern Europe will gradually converge in Thailand.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and South Asia are the regions where people smuggling is most severe
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand's tourism industry has been hit hard, and its pornography industry has been hit by an earthquake, and practitioners have to change careers. Even so, we cannot hope that the epidemic will eliminate the sex industry. Because Thailand's economic structure, positioning in the hearts of tourists, and the lifestyle habitual to practitioners will not change, the attitude of the government and society to the pornography industry will not change, and the low moral level of the disciples who do not care about social influence in order to satisfy their desires will not change.
Thailand's pornography industry is likely to persist for a long time, and it will continue to deform for a long time.
Idle with the cluster of warblers and flowers, looking at the same way
(Photo: shutterstock)▼
Resources:
1.http://www.thailawforum.com/articles/Trafficking-in-Thailand-2%20.html#FN18
2.https://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/history-of-prostitution-and-sex-trafficking-in-thailand
3.https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/the-history-of-prostitution-in-thailand/
*The content of this article is provided by the author and does not represent the position of the Earth Knowledge Bureau
Cover: One Picture Network
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