Background on The History Of Prostitution in Thailand
Background on The History Of Prostitution in Thailand
Prostitution was first legalized in 1934 and because of the dangers surrounding the profession the King allowed the prostitutes to be registered so they could receive medical care.
In 1960 when the United Nations declared the abolition of prostitutes the Thai government responded by introducing an act to deter prostitution. It forbade anyone from participating in the sex industry and if someone was caught doing so the penalty was a 2000 baht (80$US) fine or two months in jail.
An interesting result was that after the legal prohibition of prostitution the number of prostitutes increased as did the number of sexual harassment cases. Although the profession of prostitution is termed illegal all officials are aware of its existence and many law enforcers benefit
from it. One senior Thai official stated that policeman often own brothels and therefore directly profit from their existence.
It can be said that women have become Thailand’s most profitable cash crop. Tourism is Thailand’s largest single source of foreign exchange and prostitutes are just seen as a commodity. Thailand has become the brothel of the world.
The height of escalation in the profession was during the 1960s when the United States established military bases in Thailand during the Vietnam war. In 1957 there was an estimated 20,000 prostitutes
Another reason that girls enter the sex industry is due to insufficient education. One study concluded that the age at which girls entered the industry was between 10-19 years old, at these ages the girls should still be in school. Another area in which edu
Example Essays Home
