Busting Some Myths About Prostitution in Thailand [S5.E61]

Ed leads a discussion and semi-rant about a persistent myth regarding the history of prostitution in Thailand that was recently perpetuated by a YouTube video by Thaiger. The myth goes like this: prostitution wasn’t much of a thing in Thailand until the Vietnam War era, when the demand created by American GIs on rest and relaxation resulted in a booming sex industry. 

Ugh. Where to start? Well, first of all, prostitution is called the oldest profession in the world for a reason, and there’s clear evidence of the industry existing in Thailand many hundreds of years before the Vietnam War. Second, many studies have revealed the well-known fact that the bulk of prostitution in Thailand has Thai men as the clientele, not foreigners. And last but not least, what about the Thai women (and men) who populate the sex industry, the bar owners, and the landowners? Are they not Thai? 

The guys discuss the Thaiger video and praise it for what it gets right, namely the Thai government’s promotion of condom use in the 1980s and the serious steps to eradicate sex trafficking that occurred in the 1990s. But alas, no matter how many times certain myths are debunked, the one that says foreigners are the major driver behind the sex industry in Thailand never seems to die. :(

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