1. Before I forget, what was the name of the movie?
2. It happens that I do a lot of work in three cities where there is a lot of prostitution -- Rio de Janeiro, Manila, and Bangkok. While I have not seen this stuff "first hand" (whatever that means), I know something of the scene just from spending so much time in these places. I have been out to some of the clubs in Bangkok, as I am often with executives from American companies who invariably want to get a little taste of the tawdry.
The reality of the situation in Bangkok is not much different than you portray, it is really quite sad. There has been some improvement in the child prostitution area, as the government has begun to crack down on the business much more than say 5 years ago. Most of the child prostitutes come from the northern minority tribes, where poverty is rampant, education is abysmally bad and girls are held in lower esteem than among the Thai nationals. It is also an unhappy coincidence that girls from the northern minorities are considered to be "more attractive" than pure Thai girls. Real improvement will not happen until the income and education levels of the northern minorities are considerably increased. It will also be difficult because the northern minorities tend to be culturally separatist and resist assimilation.
As to the more mainstream prostitution scene in Bangkok, it will be difficult to see things change very much in the near term. My understanding is that the police are very much on the payroll, and any crackdowns are basically wrist slaps. Although women are held in higher esteem among Thais than among the northern minorities, they still have relatively limited career opportunities, although this is also getting markedly better as the skilled labor market in Thailand has become very tight.
The Philippines has been more effective in clamping down on prostitution by making a lot of sweeps, putting johns and sex tour organizers in jail, etc. Also there is a much stronger movement in the Philippines against exploitation of Filipina women in various forms (as prostitutes, overseas maids etc). The scene in Manila is much less hardboiled. Most of the bars which have been allowed to stay open are much more low key. The girls, while not well paid, make a regular salary and whether or not they leave with a guy is strictly an individual decision, there is no implicit pressure from management (unlike say in Patpong in Bangkok, where any woman in the bar is assumed to be "available"). Most of the girls will not go with someone unless they like the guy and he's going to be around for awhile (the "holy grail" is to meet a comparatively wealthy American and get married, this actually happens a lot). Many of the girls work the clubs at night to get money to go to school. There is a hardcore scene but most of it has been chased out of Manila to places like Angeles City, and the government is also cracking down in these areas as well. |
