"No little girl grows up wanting to become a prostitute." It's an argument that is hard to dispute and it is at the heart of the argument put forward by the makers of this film. Find them here are www.globalbreakthrough.net and watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8vXTRz5Y6c
The narrator explains that Pattaya is the centre of sexual slavery in Asia and the YouTube blurb offers an introduction which says that "in Thailand alone there are an estimated 2 million people trapped in the
sex trade having been coerced, manipulated or trafficked into it". Evocative stuff.
It is impossible to take issue with most of the content for three reasons:
1. The avid male Pattaya fan will enjoy the familiar clips of their favourite holiday destination.
2. There are a couple of heart-warming stories of girls who hated the life and made a successful transition to a new way of making a living.
3. GlobalBreakthrough appears to be an active charity trying to help girls who want a new opportunity not just a pressure group seeking the criminalisation and vilification of the girls or their customers. They are to be applauded for this.
The only issue is that, understandably, the film looks at the argument from only one perspective. For the other side of the story I can only refer you to http://www.empowerfoundation.org/index_en.html a web-site produced by the girls who work in the Thai sex industry.
It is certainly true that no little girl grows up wanting to be a prostitute and as another interviewee says, "the girls all want a way out". The truth is, however, that many would not swap their lives for a poorly paid job elsewhere in the Thai economy. Prostitution for them may be unappealing but is often a lifestyle choice. Whilst there are countless victims in the global sex industry, to paint Thailand as the stand out example of female exploitation is neither accurate nor helpful, but hats off to GlobalBreakthrough for giving the women of Thailand another option.
No comments:
Post a Comment