A political view

From the same web site where I found Mike and Noi's story I found a political view of the open-ended prostitution in Thailand:

http://www.freelancerbar.com/TheGirls/political.htm

The political view presented in this article is quite one-sided and is a vast generalization. I do not agree on describing a Thai-western relationship this way, because we are all individuals and this article may hurt many people, Thai and Farangs, who have found love through each other. But it is still quite interesting, and the author do have some key points. Too bad he is so one-sided. When you consider this article, then you may agree with me that the author calls western men racists, Thai girls money loving prostitutes, and says that the warmth and smiles of the Thai people are unreal and only there to make money. He says that all Thai boys and girls are poor, and if they are together with a western man, it is due to money. In other words, he is one of those well-meaning western idiots that I mention on page two, 'The Women of Thailand'! He puts labels on Thai people that nobody would want on themselves. This is a quite evil article on relationships between Thai girls/boys and western men! Why it is so, will be investigated and explained on these pages later. So, watch out for updates on these pages!

Some quotas from this yucky and evil article to make you interested::

"Sex tourism offers the key to a deeper understanding of the real nature of the global economy, of the true meaning of so-called 'interdependence' between profoundly unequal partners. "

"The curiosity of people is not aroused by the army of Chinese workers who provide most of the toys which make the eyes of Western children shine on Christmas morning. Who asks in what conditions they work, how much they earn, how they live, what pressures have driven them into the factories and sweatshops of the city? "

"This is why the sex industry is significant and symbolic. It is one of the few arenas where people from North and South actually meet one another, where a living humanity comes face to face with the reality of its own experience. Surely, nothing more direct, immediate and inescapable could be imagined."

"Their experience of Western sex workers is that they tend to be functional, mechanistic and loveless. When they meet Thai women, they believe they have found something special. The seemingly warm and affectionate sensibility of Thais makes them feel they have transcended the crude market transaction and found love. "

"Those who have recently 'discovered' Thailand can be heard praising the superiority of Thai over Western women. 'They are all woman.' 'They know how to give a man what he wants.' 'She cannot do enough for me.' 'When I go into the bathroom in the morning, I find the toothpaste already squeezed onto the brush - that's what I call caring.' Of course, in this version of woman as nurturer and as sensual Oriental there are sexist and racist stereotypes, which the delighted punter does not perceive.

What he also does not realise is that there may well be a whole network of extended family in the village depending upon the remittance of the woman who is, after all, a sex worker. There may be children, elderly parents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins whose survival is guaranteed only by her earnings. He believes that he is loved for himself. As one worker said, 'There is no man so repelling, so arrogant, so devoid of charm who does not think in his heart that he is loveable.' The monetary transaction becomes buried in a haze of emotion.

Only when he discovers that he is expected to pay for and help keep many dependants, when he learns there is a hospital operation for a grandmother urgently needed, a brother to be put through school, a vegetable plot to be bought for a poor relative, he becomes swiftly disillusioned. The demands for more money force him to re-evaluate the relationship. Self-righteous anger and resentment come to the surface. He begins to see himself as victim.

'I was conned, cheated, betrayed.' He reaches for other, racist stereotypes which are always readily available in the Western psyche. 'You can't trust them.' 'You never know what they're thinking.' 'They're dishonest, treacherous.' 'You can't trust them.' "