Equality for sex workers urged

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HEALTH

Published: 8/10/2011 at 03:15 AM
Newspaper section: News

Sex workers should be treated the same as those in any other career, particularly in terms of safety and access to public services, says a researcher.

The sex trade cannot be eradicated, so a more open-minded approach is needed, says Chalidaporn Songsamphan, a researcher at Thammasat University's faculty of political sciences."Both governmental and public sectors should learn to live with it without illusion or self-deception," she said in a study.

The research, which looked at news reports and public and government agendas from 1978 until the present, together with interviews with people in the industry, was published yesterday by Mahidol University's Institute for Population and Social Research and Healthy Sexuality Programme.

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: Writer: Lamphai Intathep; Position: Reporter

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felixqui
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Discussion 31 : 09/10/2011 at 11:52 AM31
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Heartie, re D25,
"When you go around engaging in highly illegal crime such as drug dealing, robbery, murder and prostitution, don't go around expecting the same benefits and equality as those engaged in legal occupations such as teaching, health care, religion, etc. "

This nicely encapsulates the prevailing immorality surrounding the prostitution question.

First, prostitution is wholly unlike robbery and murder, except in one aspect: it is in fact illegal. But that illegality is itself immoral and without justice. There is no good reason why consenting prostitution should not be as legal as "teaching, health care, religion, etc."

The reason for legalization is not that "The sex trade cannot be eradicated", although this is also true. The reason is that prostitution is simply a business transaction between two or more freely consenting adults and since both parties have the right to make those decisions, any interference is unjust.
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hillfarang
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Discussion 30 : 09/10/2011 at 06:00 AM30
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Step One: Legalization must precede regulation of this service industry.
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spiceman
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Discussion 29 : 09/10/2011 at 03:44 AM29
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Khun BarryW #26, you make a good point that too many uneducated girls rather prefer to be sexually exploited with much better pay (while it lasts), than to end up with legitimate jobs with meager jobs somewhere else. However, they will remain young only for a short while before their bodies begin falling apart, if disease like AIDS didn't get to them first. Their counterparts have no such problem as they will acquire more skills and can be reeducated and retrained for better jobs in the future, contributing to society in the process, instead of dragging it.

My question to you is whether we should give priority to those who choose to work hard and play by the rules, or those who cut corners and suffer the predictable consequences? An Indian-born Canadian apologist Ravi Zacharias based a tragic life story of one of such girls in one of his books, "The Lotus and the Cross," I hope you can read the book and learn how tragic and horrible their lives and those they come into contact with can become.
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general
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Discussion 28 : 08/10/2011 at 10:26 PM28
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make me laugh. 8000 baht a day and they want free health care? you know hoe many john these girl have to service each day? you see what it do to them? one of my shop is near 'entertainment" area and i see hundreds of desperate girl stuck in this "job" until they slash wrist or catch AIDS. thats what kind of "job" it is. very glamorous yes. many of them die. parents feel proud na? ands what about scum like mr. chuwit the pimp MP billionaire who profit from the disease death and misery? how possible that man who abuse young girls is MP? why we not ashamed of our country and politic system that allow criminal to run country?
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siamitude
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Discussion 27 : 08/10/2011 at 08:20 PM27
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Prosecute the pimps and protect the sex workers.
Too mich hypocrisy in Thai society. Enough.
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barryw
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Discussion 26 : 08/10/2011 at 05:36 PM26
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If an uneducated girl has the choice between working in a factory for 300 baht a day, or partying with foreigners who treat her as an equal and not as an inferior female, and who takes her for expensive meals and holidays and is willing to pay her maybe 2000 baht and up per day, many of them make the choice to enter the entertainment industry. Is that a surprise? Many are not only providing for family but for the kid they have been left with by a local who made them pregnant and then wouldn't accept any responsibility for the child.
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heartie
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Discussion 25 : 08/10/2011 at 05:24 PM25
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When you go around engaging in highly illegal crime such as drug dealing, robbery, murder and prostitution, don't go around expecting the same benefits and equality as those engaged in legal occupations such as teaching, health care, religion, etc. This should be a no brainer!
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kaweeka
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Discussion 24 : 08/10/2011 at 04:49 PM24
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Good grief, look at the choice of worlds used in this article about sex workers and the trade: ERADICATION, ABOLISHED. This is not some decease or an unwanted weed in the yard, this is simply a trade that spawns human history. It is particularly prevalent in societies that highly discriminate on gender and social class, such as Thailand, which is easily explained as people must survive and find a way to provide their families or imporove their chances for a better life.

Thailand is particular interesting becaues many of the girls that engage in this industry do so with the dream to find someone that will take them out of the business and onto a better life. Whiel the chances of this is probably relatively small in percentage, the numbers are high enough to become a beacon of hope for many.

Remember, it is always the ultra-conservatives that preach moral values in public, but easily engage in the very same desires that most have. It is only human, and the quicker it is accepted in society, the quicker society improves as a whole.
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spiceman
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Discussion 23 : 08/10/2011 at 02:41 PM23
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Khun Franklin #21, I am afraid you are right. It would take nothing short of a miracle to change Thailand significantly in a meaningful way. For better or for worst, the things you mentioned sure make Thailand unique in the eye of the world.
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falangsur
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Discussion 22 : 08/10/2011 at 02:37 PM22
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The article speaks about treating sex workers fairly in terms of access to things. I agree - but fail to see how it could happen while it is still illegal. It is too large of an industry to actually change - too many people are making money on it. Not only directly making money running go-go bars, massage parlors, etc. - but Thailand as a country has come to rely on a portion of their tourism to come from this sordid business. It is a shame that the country allows its youth to be the sex partners to the world - but that is the fact. I hope that the government would indeed provide some resources to these folks - most of whom are overwhelmingly poor an uneducated.
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