Effects Of Sexual Tourism In Thailand

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Child sexual tourism and the commercial sexual exploitation of women are widespread and well-known practices in Thailand. A sexual tourist is a person who travels from a foreign country in order to commit sexual acts that are illegal or socially unacceptable in their home country and thus avoid prosecution or a personal sense of responsibility by paying for the “service” from an exploited woman or child. Commercial sexual exploitation involves the recruitment, manipulation and forcing of women and children into prostitution, in exchange for money (Vejar & Quach, May 2013) (Newman, Holt, Rabun, Phillips, & Scott, March 2011). Sexual exploitation can also include the transport of women from other countries under false pretenses, such as for …show more content…

It is obvious to me that by looking the other way and allowing women and children, who are members of the human community to be treated as vacation play things; we are on a slippery slope and the value of all humanity is diminished.
Thailand’s commercial sexual exploitation industry is also trading short-term financial gain for a long-term healthcare crisis. Thailand is becoming the breeding ground for HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases that sex tourists carry back to their homelands like unwelcome souvenirs (Fontanet, et al., October 1998) (Morinsky & Coan, 1998).
The mental health effects of chronic trauma and widespread sexual abuse of children may also have long-term consequences for Thai society. Elderly Thai men and women are relying on their daughters to care for them in old age. However, the repeated humiliation and emotional trauma experienced through a life of prostitution could leave these “good” daughters unable to care for themselves or anyone …show more content…

This can also be seen as a form of sexual servitude. These brides are leaving their home, their family, their culture and very often their children in order to make a lifetime commitment to sexual and domestic service to one man (Angeles & Sunanta, 2009). They are banking on the fact that this one man will treat them well, but they have no assurance that this is true. Many women find out too late that their new “husband” is actually a sex trafficker in disguise (Huda, 2006). Even women with true marriages are not equal partners. Their husband is entirely dominant in that he holds all the economic and situational power in the relationship. The new bride must continue to earn her place in the marriage more like a pet than a true

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