Thailands reputation

[Zaad]

Do I still have time to do so?

 

Back to business, somebody mentioned Amsterdam as being similar to BKK's prostitution.

I have lived in Amsterdam & Lisbon and there are places to go for this kind of entertainment, you just have to know where. But like Straycat mentioned, in BKK you don't need to search it'll 'come' to you. Hard to avoid if you travel around in BKK.

That's IMO the big difference bewteen BKK and other similar cities.

 

[SUZIBANDIT]

[color:"red"] In BKK you don't need to search it'll 'come' to you. Hard to avoid if you travel around in BKK.

[/color]

 

This may be true in some respects, but at the same time I live a normal life in Bangkok and if I want I can go weeks without being involved/seeing the scene.

 

Sure maybe you drive by a Karaoke bar or MP everyday and know what's inside, but they aren't chasing your car down the street.

 

It is perfectly plausible to be able to live, work, go out to eat, go shopping and not be propositioned.

 

What I like about Thailand is that it is there if I want it, but if I'm not interested I can avoid it easily.

 

Sure there are areas where it is impossible to go out and not be approached, but these are not the norm.

 

Sure many aspects of Thai society are in many interlinked ways affected by prostitution, and Thailand does have an albeit earned reputation abroad, but this does not affect the lives of people who want to avoid it.

 

Not judging either way, just saying it is not hard to avoid.

[JJsushi]

Says SUZIBANDIT:

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[color:"red"]I guess the point about MP's and brothels would mean that LOS is more open about the vices of the flesh and don't want to waste public resources in forcing it underground.

[/color]

 

This is completely wrong, IMO. Sure they are more open, but at the same time look at the amount of time and money this govenment has wasted trying to suppress the industry.

 

It isn't a thought out attempt to say "Hey it would cost us more to control it, let's just regulate it." I don't give them that much credit.

 

It is simply about money, and more money can be made if you force people to bribe police and/or officials in order to stay open.

 

The police aren't spending their time or resources on more pressing concerns, no they waste the same amount of time and resources extorting and playing shadow games with the industry all the while ignoring things theirtime could be better spent on.

 

Like corruption.....

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Your view on it is another way to look at it but I cannot agree. I don't think Thailands' government has wasted time and money supressing the industry rather they are curbing and controlling it more. They could easily shut it down if they want or force it deep underground but they don't because to do so would be futile. The more you "supress" it the more control you lose over it and allow seriously unsavory people and practices to take it over. So yes in a way you are correct when you state is is about money.

Thailand would waste considerably more resources in driving the industry underground than you think that they already do. One only has to look at the amount of manpower and money that is spent on supressing the prostitution trade in America. Those resources barely make a dent in eradicating the business and the only true accomplishment is in making it less visible to the untrained eye.

 

The police are still corrupt in America and really no different than their Thai counterparts. They just operate within different parameters. A couple of years ago a brothel was found to be operating and patronized by NYC police officers and the real kicker was that the brothel was located a few blocks from the police station and was paying protection money.

 

Corruption manifests itself everywhere and is not the sole domain of Thailand like many here seem to allude to. You only have to look in an American paper and see the daily headlines of corporate executives defrauding investors, creditors and employees to line their own pockets even as their companies are headed into bankruptcy. The ironic thing is that they can legally get away with it or at the most pay a fine that is a mere pittance compared to their overall take.

[SUZIBANDIT]

[color:"red"] Thailand would waste considerably more resources in driving the industry underground than you think that they already do. [/color]

 

I don't really think they waste all that much money. My real point was that it is no way a planned or conscious decison on their part to not supress the industry in order to keep the unsavory types out. That is just an added benefit.

 

I agree with you about the benefits of keeping it open and the futility of suppression, I just don't give the government credit for the plan. I still assesrt it is the money it takes to keep a "illegal" industry out in the open that the police and gov't are attracted by.

 

[color:"red"] The police are still corrupt in America and really no different than their Thai counterparts. [/color]

 

I disagree and I think this is a gross generalization. Sure the police in the States don't always do things the right way, are often times racist, are sometimes involved in crime.

 

However, not on the scale of LOS. When pulled over in the states I would be given an extra ticket for trying to bribe the cop out of the first one.

 

I am no pig-loving patriot, but after living in LOS for a while I have come to appreciate the fact that as a white male (I'm sure it can be different for minorities) I can expect the police to come and be helpful if I have a problem or I really need help. Not always, but much more so than in LOS.

 

There are many, many examples of how corruption is more extreme and accepted in LOS than the US. Perhaps we should satrt another thread. ::

[Zaad]

Thailand does have an albeit earned reputation abroad, but this does not affect the lives of people who want to avoid it.

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My point exactly in my first post here.

The people here in LOS know better. But the question was about Thailand's reputation, in other words, what do people abroad see, know and hear about Thailand? Better yet...what do the magazines, tv and friends/visitors tell them?

Most documentaries/stories/articles will be about this (directly or indirectly) sex industry.

IMO there's no one to blame for this, it's just the way it is.

[Guest]

First of all, I'd like to make a correction to my post. I had said 10K for those involved in the farang market. I had meant to say 100K, thus making the other figures work out.

 

Also, I wanted to say that I agree with sentiment that Thailand has a reputation brought on more by it's in-your-face availability, than overly staggering numbers. Not that the numbers aren't very much on the high side, for any nation.

 

But think about this a minute..... What if Thailand, all of a sudden, decided to end its unique concept of the L/T GFE? You wanted to have sex with a Thai girl? Then fine. You take her from bar to guest friendly hotel for 1-2 hours, and done. Finished. Just like most any other place on the planet. That would be not about what you would see, but about what you wouldn't see. What you wouldn't see is 40 y/o punters walking all over BK with a 20 y/o farm girl, in tow. Taking her out to dinner on Chao Praya river cruise, and being seated next to honeymoon couple from Fresno, for the evening, would not happen. Punter, and B/G, having breakfast together in the morning? Holding hands on the BTS? Shopping for a gold bracelet at MBK late afternoon? All non-existent.

 

So where, as the average tourist, might you get an inkling that prostitution even exists, in BKK? Lower suk, and PP. BKK is a huge city, housing 10,000,000 people. Sure...tourist will pass barber shops, and Thai massage houses. "Isn't Thailand famous for massage techniques? I hear the herbal oil ones at the Oriental, are the best".

 

The foreign Thai sex market is based in an incredibly small section of the city. The Thai gov. has obviously worked to contained this activity to a very small couple of acres, thus, a very defined area, and are working to even more, designate where this activity can, and cannot, occur. The occasional tourist finds there way down there, to these defined area's?...Then sure....they will see what they see. But not likely their cab driver is going to bring them to lower suk, unless he knows they are looking for sex action.

 

My point is, you do not have girls in fishnet stockings, hanging around MBK, Emporium, etc., soliciting customers, in Thailand. You want sex in BKK? Then you must go to a very "area specific" part of town, to do so.

 

Will the average Thai be walking around lower Suk at 10:00 pm? I think not. The falang prostitution scene is shown to them during the day....not at night. Same-same for the occasional tourist. It's the enigma of the Thai girl friend experience that most perpetuates Thailand?s reputation of being host to any, and all, takers, of the women there.

 

For the Thai's? Class distinction let's them instantly evaluate that the girl on your arm is a whore. It's just a given.

 

I live in Hawaii. If I am standing next to a 17 y/o girl, it will be assumed she is my daughter. In Thailand, it will be assumed she is my prostitute. It's as simple as that. Why?

 

Good question, HT :: Have an answer for this? Sorry...no. It all gets very, very complicated.

 

In the end, I do believe that Thailand?s problem with (some what former) horrific AIDS situation, coupled with the image of Thai B/girls willingness to "live with punter while he is here, in a girl friend/wife capacity, have given the image that Thailand has earned, good or bad.

 

 

[bibblies]

I disagree that they won't lose a lot of revenue if they eradicate the farang sex trade. Even the middle-aged tourists want to come to gawp at the naughty exotic things that they don't have in their homeland. They want the little thrill of going back to their friends and saying "I talked to a gogo-dancing ladyboy" (or whatever ). They'd be disappointed if they didn't get it. It'd be like taking some of the most dangerous rides out of an amusement park. Sure, the park may be a little safer overall but you'd lose the spark.

 

It's a USP for Thailand, a paradox and a mark of tolerance that sets it apart from other countries with similar weather, beaches, food and geographical features. Without it you may as well go to Bali, Singapore, The Seychelles or wherever. Even the Thai tourist board recognises this, making euphemistic references to "Bangkok's world-famous nightlife" in its literature. The world'd be a duller place without it. Do we really want a world of uniform, dull, PC, cleaned-up socially homogenous destinations like, er, Sweden?

 

(BTW, sorry Khun Sanuk but, if you look back, he did in fact ask to be flamed. So I was only being polite )

[check_bin_krap]

"I disagree that they won't lose a lot of revenue if they eradicate the farang sex trade."

 

Sure, they would lose a lot of revenue today and it won't be done as things are now. But things do change - and the loss would be less than some years ago. Already the sex image has been toned done and other attractions have been focused. A lot of money was put into "amazing Thailand" campaign.

 

Signals have come that the farang sex scene is not as welcome as before.

 

Cheers!

[Guest]

"If you can't find them outside the bars, up to you."

 

Where is that coming from??

I hope you're not discussing wether it's easier to pick up a BG than a non BG though?

 

Jasmine about the guy you met in the plane sitting next to you...I would have told you about the same had I been sitting there...Would have been only partly a lie BTW.StrayCat seems right,you're a lady(and seemingly a decent one) and you won't be told all about men's business

 

 

[Guest]

"Whats this crap with rating girls anyway? "

 

CBK are you serious?

OK I know you are,but girls are widely rated,a striking example is the way they're set in the thai MPs,according to their look they're priced differently,often while sitting in the same fishbowl.

Socially I and about everybody rate them,as well as men, all the times,according to their personality,appearence,profession etc...That we don't use the same parameters doesn't mean we don't rate them.When a girl is too low on the scale...I won't be walking along her...