Guest Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Bibblies, read about Anthony Comstock - he was a large scale version of Mr. Kristoff of the 19th century and early 20th century. His tactics were interesting. For example, he would order birth control devices and then arrest the seller for selling birth control devices. During his life time, he became one of the largest burner of books inb the US. He became famous for having people arrested on sexual charges, pornography, birth control, books, etc. Comstock never did get credit for trying to resolve some of the social issues of the period - the reason was he just was not ever interested in such stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Hi, "As Suadam and I have questioned, why doesn't he seem to care as much about the non-sex workers in similar conditions? That's the reason for the suspicion, I think." Okay, valid point. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 What makes Kristoff's crusade so fascinating (to me anyway) is the philosophical element. It's another version of the debate that underlies this board in various forms. Good Thai girl versus bar girl. Are values universal? Can we or should we apply western values to Asian cultures? Is she really a prostitute? Or just another poor village girl forced by economic circumstances etc. etc. . Is she just trying to help her family or was she sold by her heartless mother? Is she a sex slave or does she want money for cosmetics? Why doesn't she work in a garment factory? Mr. Kristoff 'loves' Cambodia so much he has devoted all his time and energy to 'cleaning it up'. Of course he gets well paid for his efforts too but on one level he's just another punter in love with a prostitute. But wait! She's not really a 'prostitute' at all .... :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibblies Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I reckon it's the "Trading Places" argument: are your chances in life determined by your upbringing? Kristoff seems to believe, like a lot of socialists tend to, that it does and so (for him) these girls had little choice in the matter. He regards their fates as inevitable. This is the thing I think he assumes but with which I would tend to disagree. I've seen girls from similar backgrounds (sometimes in the same family!) choose different routes for themselves. Some become street-vendors, some work in factories, some become teachers, others choose prostitution. When in prostitution, some make choices to get out and some don't. Whether you're a middle-class British man in his thirties or an African child born to poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, I reckon you always have choices to make... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Very true. You can be born into a rich family and still make lousy choices. I don't think there have been any socialists in America since the Wobblys and I can't figure where Kristoff stands politically. He may be a...gasp....Liberal!! Not sure the prostitution issue is really much to do with politics. I think he's basically a feminist. He sees women as victims which is why he concentrates on the underage issue. Naughty little Spice girls actually choosing to sell pussy, or even giving it away, confuses the hell out of people like him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibblies Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Last year I had cause to offer an NEP girl I knew the chance of a respectable job through an ex-colleague. The key question was "How much?" and the answer, around 15 to 20K per month, didn't satisfy her (even though she's now at the older end of the bar-girl scale). I pointed out that her older sister, with the advantage of a degree and years of solid experience, was satisfied by a similar amount but this line of reasoning didn't seem to work! Another girl I've known for over 5 years has accumulated enough money to do what she wants. So what does she do? She keeps enrolling on university courses and then not turning up to them! (I add the exclamation mark as a western one, not one for those of us well versed in such behaviour! How many girls like this do us veterans know?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Well women are hard to figure at the best of times. Thai women especially. Getting back to the underage prostitution issue (always a forum favourite) where does a Thai high school girl selling it in a chat room fit into the equation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 chuckwoww said:Getting back to the underage prostitution issue (always a forum favourite) where does a Thai high school girl selling it in a chat room fit into the equation? Undercover cop? Hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 Hugh_Hoy said: chuckwoww said:Getting back to the underage prostitution issue (always a forum favourite) where does a Thai high school girl selling it in a chat room fit into the equation? Undercover cop? Hugh That'd be in the US. There are lots of them doing it here per stories in the newspaper and tales from my daughters. But it is only for Thais as everything is conducted on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and in Thai. Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 IJM has been tossed out of Thailand. Not sure whose quote this is, or disputing IJM being kicked out of Thailand, but am curious as to the source of the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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