Inside the Thai sex scene where women are sold like meat

[Hans Mann]

By Michael Kaplan
April 24, 2016 | 7:20am


The red light district in South Pattaya, Thailand

Grimy, neon-splashed Walking Street, populated largely by young hookers and pie-eyed Western men, is the main attraction of a Thai beach town called Pattaya. Sex for hire there was most certainly what drew Ben Bartanyi, the 49-year-old American real estate broker recently arrested for allegedly performing a sex act on a 20-year-old dancer in one of Pattaya’s many strip clubs as other patrons cheered him on.


Ben Bartanyi (r) admitted to performing a sex act on a Thai bar worker in broad daylight.Photo: Thai Police

Some people may have been surprised by the outrageousness of it all. I wasn’t. Ten years ago I visited Thailand to do a story on the commercial sex trade there. By all accounts, nothing has changed.

Then and now, lining Pattaya’s red-light strip, open-fronted bars bear suggestive names such as Virgins and SugarBaby (which vows “p - - - y without attitude”); they offer illicit promises that all too often are kept.

Small stages inside teem with nude or bikini-clad women who are there for the taking — so much so that they have numbers pinned to their skimpy tops or G-string bottoms. These numerical designations make it easy for customers to call them and take them out for cheap sex.

‘I have few friends and no life outside of work. It is bad what I do, and I cannot have a Thai man…Someday I will be a good person.’ - a bar-girl in Bangkok.

I remember my Pattaya hotel selling condoms at the front desk and having signs warning that the age of consent is 15. In a Marriott there, a clutch of men loudly strategized about visiting a brothel where you must have two women at a time. Nobody seems to care.

It was a raunchy scene where women were readily available. Most of them came from the poor northern part of Thailand. They moved to Pattaya or Bangkok to earn money to send back home. As one girl wearing a skin-tight knock-off T-shirt that read J’Adore Dior, explained to me, “I need to make money for family. They grow rice and raise buffalo, but they are very poor. They need money for tools. You can get very hungry in Isan [the northern, rural region from which she comes].”

Of course, many of the naive family members thought their daughters and sisters were working in the big cities’ department stores. Surely, family members would be horrified to know what comes with making the money they receive. “What’s hardest is when I have a drunk customer who becomes really stupid,” I heard from a girl who called herself Lin.


Young Thai girls stand outside the brothels of Pattaya city.Photo: Getty Images

Sitting on a bench, staring out at the Gulf of Thailand, she continued, “Maybe he refuses to wear condom, tells me that he wants me to have his baby. Or he beats me. That happened once, when a customer was drunk, shouting at me, and I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He ran toward me, tried to punch me, missed and hit the wall. Then he kicked me. I grabbed my bag and ran.”.....

Inside the Thai sex scene ? where women are sold like meat | New York Post

[Lukey1979]

The reporter probably needs the funds to extend his holiday in pattaya. Hence the reason we have yet another ground breaking report from the murky underworld of Pattayas sex industry...

WOMEN SOLD LIKE MEEEEEEEEEEAT!!!!!! Says our man in Patts....

[nidhogg]

Mind you, looks completely dead in that top photo...

[hazz]

having signs warning that the age of consent is 15

Rather dangerously incomplete advice....

[nidhogg]

And of course Pattaya is nothing like a civilized place such as, well Amsterdam:

[wasabi]

Populated by pie eyed western men.
What a lying tosser, no mention of thousands of Indians and chinese tourist groups, then the dirty Arabs, outnumbering the blue eyed sexy men.
The usual famous reporting that the women are victims.
Don't you just hate journalists,

[hazz]

And of course Pattaya is nothing like a civilized place such as, well Amsterdam:

^^
whilst it does not really distract from the point you were making...

Does this still exist. I was under the impression that holland had shut most of these windows down a few years ago.

[Hans Mann]

What a lying tosser, no mention of thousands of Indians and chinese tourist groups, then the dirty Arabs, outnumbering the blue eyed sexy men.

It's possible he believed his girl when she assured him Thais would never associate with those dirty, smelly heathen.

[nidhogg]

And of course Pattaya is nothing like a civilized place such as, well Amsterdam:

^^
whilst it does not really distract from the point you were making...

Does this still exist. I was under the impression that holland had shut most of these windows down a few years ago.

Interesting. Did not know that. Must admit on my last trip to Amsterdam last year did not see any of that - not really looking though, and I am well past being a night owl.

[hazz]

if I remember correctly it was part of a general campaign targeted at shutting down the criminal activities of dutch biker gangs (who had presumably done something to bring the coordinated power of state down on their heads) they apparently owned most of these windows.... so they had to go.

[wasabi]

The windows are full of transvestites from Rio. Outside the windows are massive crowds of chinese and Japanese coach parties taking photos from their huddled groups, just like they do in Pattaya Thailand.
But of course that's never mentioned, it's only white men the press can make derogatory remarks about.

[Warrior]

... Of course, many of the naive family members thought their daughters and sisters were working in the big cities’ department stores. Surely, family members would be horrified to know what comes with making the money they receive.
...

Surely you need to do some more investigation there Mr Kaplan - many families are fully aware, to the extend that they are actively organizing their daughters' work in sex business.

[chassamui]

^Agreed. Think how much poorer Isaan would be without all the western philanthropy.

[rickschoppers]

As Chass mentioned, the scene in Pattaya serves a purpose for those poor families from around Thailand. It is an easy way to make fast money to send home and allow families to upgrade their standard of living. It has been around for decades in Thailand and I find it really has not changed all that much since I first experiencing it back in 1985. Phuket was my place of choice back then since Bangkok just seemed to be sensory overload, even back then.

The sex trade has flourished in Thailand and brought in billions of baht which is why it is tolerated. It serves a purpose, much like the monks serve a purpose. Although different in make up, the temples offer a safety net to those with nowhere to go. Without these two institutions, Thailand would be another India.

Whether you agree with how the Thais skim the money from foreigners or not, the sex trade will be around for many more years to come. Personally, I have nothing against it.

[Davis Knowlton]

the sex trade will be around for many more years to come.

As will assholes who make one trip to Walking Street, squeal in feigned horror, and run off to blog about the depravity of it all.

[harrybarracuda]

No mention of where the real trafficking and underage sex is, the Thai market.

[BaitongBoy]

It's what the "sheltered public" want to hear...The more "depraved," the better...There's some easy money in that, I suppose...

Imagine being "forced" to take two women...There is another angle on that...From the "poor" falang's perspective...

Maybe it's the main "feature" saving this forum...Embrace it, and let the money roll in?...

What's the limit to the "average mind" before it gets too depraved?...

[cyrille]

No mention of where the real trafficking and underage sex is, the Thai market.

Nah, that would take some actual investigation, and more than likely suffering threat to life and limb.

Easier to stick to 'sold by the yard' stuff.

[astasinim]

And of course Pattaya is nothing like a civilized place such as, well Amsterdam:

^^
whilst it does not really distract from the point you were making...

Does this still exist. I was under the impression that holland had shut most of these windows down a few years ago.

Its still there and well patronised. A group of us go every year, some for the women, some for the weed and most for the beer. Personally, I cant see the attraction tbh, but each to their own I suppose.

[NZdick1983]

I'm so tired of Thailand apologists trying to portray Thai hookers as victims..

The vast majority of them, are happy as a pig in shit, working on their backs getting money for jizz.

Mum and dad have no idea what Somying is up to in Pattaya.. yeah right bro...
whatever you say oh, omnipotent one..

The bulk of the Thai sex trade, caters to local Thai men, not foreigners FFS...

I suppose the Journalist believes all the Thai whores are contained to Pattaya and tourist hot-spots... 555 you can find brothels under the guise of karaoke bars in every province in huge numbers.

On a positive note:- good on the lady factory workers, office workers, etc, working hard to support themselves (and usually a kid from an absent Somchai junior) without resorting to the easy option..

[Maanaam]

Populated by pie eyed western men.
What a lying tosser, no mention of thousands of Indians and chinese tourist groups, then the dirty Arabs, outnumbering the blue eyed sexy men.
The usual famous reporting that the women are victims.
Don't you just hate journalists,

So, you think blue-eyed men are sexy.
Personally, I find brown-eyed girls sexy.

[Looper]

Inside the Thai sex scene where women are sold like meat

Take half a pound of chopped liver and pound firmly until tender.

Be careful to check the sell by date stamped on the bottom.

https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...safe-meat.html

[pseudolus]

Just loook at the state of the reporter.

If he is not a fucking pooftah, he is clearly a leftie wanker who has never fucked a girl in his life.

His job, from his Yankkie home?
Middle East reporter for @IBTimes breaking news team. Religious studies geek. Previously freelancer in Turkey.

So the chances are he has NEVER been to Thailand let alone Pattaya although he claims "Ten years ago I visited Thailand to do a story on the commercial sex trade there. By all accounts, nothing has changed."

Yeah well I call bullshit on that. Fucking poncy fucker - bet he is a bible bashing pedo

[BaitongBoy]

Its still there and well patronised. A group of us go every year, some for the women, some for the weed and most for the beer. Personally, I cant see the attraction tbh, but each to their own I suppose.

Heh...There's no hope for you, mate, save the fact you do go every year...

[cyrille]

^^ Dunno how you can glean that just from his photo.

I'd really like to ask people who turn stuff like this out a few questions though. One would be to ask if he's ever actually visited any parents of these girls with an interpreter and asked them if they know what their daughters are doing.

I strongly suspect that he is simply assuming that 'of course many of the naive family members thought their daughters were working in department stores'. That 'of course' just seems so self assured. If he's just made it up or taken a girl's word for it then he should be ashamed of being such a fraud.

A first timer just visiting this forum might think we were a bunch of cynics. Some clearly are, but I personally think this guy is a huge cynic if he's just peddling this stuff off the top of his head. He needs to get off his sheltered Jew boy arse and have a good look at the true complexities and nuance of these girls situations.

That's supposed to be his fucking job.