Sex Tourism and Child Exploitation

Sex Tourism

in the Vietnam War is stationed in Thailand. Combat-weary, his commanding officer takes the G.I. And ten other troops to Bangkok, under the new "R& R" programs. In Bangkok, the young G.I. And his buddies traipse down the streets and back-alleys of the Patpong area in Thailand's capital and before long find themselves each in the arms of a young Thai woman. Recreation and Relaxation -- R& R -- would become one of the origins for the international sex trade and sex tourism, a flourishing industry. Sponsored in part by the United States Department of Labor in conjunction with the Thai government during the Vietnam War, R& R. sparked a profitable trend. Now, throngs of tourists from nations around the world, mainly from the United States and Western Europe flock to Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia like the Philippines for sex tourism. Barely short of state-sponsored prostitution, sex tourism brings in countless dollars to the Thai economy. On a large scale, sex tourism was partly responsible for the Southeast Asian economic boom, which is why the World Bank chose to allocate billions of dollars in funds to nations that were overtly using the money to propagate the sex trade (Haney 2001).

Gareth is a nineteen-year-old male from Canada. He travels to Thailand and Indonesia during summer break from college. Although he wasn't looking to meet young Thai women, he is enthralled by the flashy bars and nightlife in the Patpong area in Bangkok. After enjoying a few beers with some new friends from Australia, Gareth engages one of the bar girls in a game of pool. She asks him to buy her a drink and later that evening they go back to Gareth's hotel. After they make love, she asks Gareth for some money to help feed her family.

Decades after the R& R. trend, sex tourism has become such big business that Thai law enforcement officials willingly look the other way even though prostitution is illegal in their country. In fact, the sex trade has become an integral part of the financial infrastructure in countries like Thailand and is a major part of the tourism industry in those countries.

Hans is a fifty-year-old divorced businessman from Berlin. He visits his local travel agency, having heard that more than just fun in the sun awaits him on the beaches of Phuket, Thailand. Without a word, the man behind the counter books him a trip, including airfare and a hotel known for its good food and its lovely bar room hostesses. Hans returns to the same hotel the following year, and that time he brings two of his friends from Germany. They cannot help but notice how easy -- and cheap -- it is to hire an escort for the evening.

The sex tourism industry is so entrenched in the worldwide tourism industry that it is dangerously close to becoming mainstream. Thailand is not the only nation that half-unwittingly sponsors sex tourism. In addition to Thailand, the Philippines, Cuba, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, and more recently, former Eastern bloc nations like the Czech Republic, Russia, and Hungary are in on the business. One noticeable traits these countries have in common is their economic conditions: sex tourism flourishes in the Third World, in developing nations. According to the Third World Women's Health website, one girl's work can feed and clothe her entire family (Haney 2001). When making ends meet is impossible, families are hard-pressed not to send their girls off to hot spots and hungrily wait for the profits to flood in.

And it is girls who are the main targets and victims of the bustling sex tourism industry. Partly because of a market demand for young girls, and partly because of the need to indoctrinate pliable minds, the sex trade recruits girls as young as six years old (Haney 2001). According to the Third World Women's Health website, about one-third of all prostitutes in Thailand are under eighteen years old, and most prostitutes started off as children.

In some cases, girls who are sold into the sex trade have no idea what they were getting into. Often, girls and young women land jobs at local bars, restaurants, hotels, and country clubs thinking that they will have a normal job. Before long, they are told by their supervisors that part of their job description requires that they 'hang out' with some of the tourists or guests. Inevitably, the girls become pimped off and have become full-fledge prostitutes with no conceivable way out of the industry.

Changing Attitudes, Morals, Values

Until fairly recently, sex tourism was widely ignored and in some cases supported. Especially in its early days: when foreign armed forces helped to create the sex tourism industry, host nations and international organizations alike turned a blind eye toward the potential humanitarian problems associated with sex tourism and sex trade. Moreover, because the sex tourism industry is so profitable, it enabled host nations and foreign interests alike to better ignore the economic, social, and political causes that drive young girls into prostitution. Many so-called "love children" were the products of sexual unions between American G.I.s and their foreign consorts during their R& R. breaks. Prevailing moral values at the time, and prevailing attitudes toward Asian people in general, enabled early sex tourism to flourish relatively unchecked. In 1975, the World Bank actually "built an economic plan for Thailand around the sex tourism industry," (Haney 2001). The World Bank continues to indirectly support the sex tourism industry by providing $1.9 billion to Thailand in loans (Haney 2001). With such financial and moral support, the sex tourism became almost commonplace, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Because the sex tourism industry has direct and indirect support at the upper echelons of power in the worlds of government, business, and international financing, eradicating the sex tourism industry will be difficult at best. Any program of eradication will likely be done on a grassroots, rather than on an institutional level.

Since the 1960s, the sex tourism industry has become far more sophisticated in terms of marketing and in terms of semantics. Globalization has directly resulted in the expansion of sex tourism. Because it is now so easy to travel around the world and so affordable to do so, sex tourists from all walks of life can jump on a plane and fly over to Phuket. Moreover, globalization has increased the appeal of many previously remote, exotic locations in the Asia-Pacific region because of improvements in tourism infrastructure.

As the mainstream tourist industry thrived, so too did the sex trade industry. In fact, the Asian economic boom contributed most of all to the flourishing of the sex trade in that region, but even after the market crash in the late 1990s, sex tourism remained a significant source of income for many people and a significant source of R& R. For sex tourists. Because tourism will continue to be a major source of revenue for the Asia-Pacific region, and for good reason, the tourism industry itself is one of the main keys to eradicating sex tourism.

Another way sex tourism has become more sophisticated is through advertising and infrastructure. As with all forms of advertising, sex sells. The so-called "sexual revolution" that supposedly empowered women only resulted in "sex being marketed more than ever before," (Thorbek and Pattanaik 2002 p. 36-37). Even the most innocuous tourism package deal can be laced with innuendo to lure the traveler hoping to find R& R. On the road. However, in some cases, sex tourism is blatantly touted. Many internet sites cater to the sex tourist, and many travel agencies willingly offer their clients packages that include a thinly veiled assurance of sexual pleasure. The massage parlor is one of the most notorious covers for prostitution. As T.J. Iverson and J.C. Dierking point out, massage parlor prostitution is a gray area, "viewed by many as a consensual business with no third party consequences, it is often not a high priority for law enforcement," (1998; p. 86). Promoting sex tourism is done both overtly and covertly, through blatant word-of-mouth advertising to convenient justifications. Therefore, the tourism industry: from marketing executives working for large-scale resorts to small-town travel agents, needs to conscientiously work toward eradicating sex tourism. This can be done by outright refusal to cater to clients who seek sex tourism, by doing business only with reputable hotels and institutions abroad, by including pamphlets and brochures in their sales material, and by supporting local businesses in host countries that are not associated with the sex trade.

The semantics of sex tourism has become highly sophisticated. Massage parlors are only one of the ways that prostitution hides behind respectable businesses. In Thailand and other parts of Asia where the sex tourism trade flourishes, many hotels and bars openly cater to sex tourists. As a result, tourists like nineteen-year-old Gareth can easily lose sight of the ethical, social, and humanitarian implications of his escapades in Patpong. Sometimes, sex tourism is held out as a means by which young girls and women can empower themselves. Otherwise faced with poverty, such women are said to be doing a service to themselves and their families. For instance, Bart Croughs states, "in general sex tourists act rather feminist: most of them practice a private form of affirmative action ... This way the disadvantaged women in third world countries are given the opportunity to advance their economic position and catch up with the men." Such astounding spins on what is a genuine problem are prolific. Sometimes, the excuses are more subtle. They range from denial of intent to lack of direct payment to lacking restriction, promiscuity, or amorality (Gunther 1998, p. 72-73). Nineteen-year-old Gareth, who did not come to Thailand in search of sex, could easily claim denial of intent. "I didn't seek out sex; it just sort of happened." Gareth could also claim lack of direct payment. Like many sex tourists, their financial exchange was more subtle than it is depicted in the movies. Most, if not all, sex tourists, rely on the lack of legal restrictions as a prime excuse for their behavior, and also tend to point attention to the lack of seeming amorality surrounding the sex trade in countries they visit. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. In most cases, prostitution is both illegal and frowned upon in the countries that host sex tourism.

Were nations like Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines more dedicated to women's rights and women's education, the sex tourism would be less likely to thrive. Therefore, one of the main ways sex tourism can be eradicated is to strongly and ceaselessly promote female education and job training in all nations at risk for sex tourism. A myriad of non-governmental organizations such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) can and should get involved in the systematic education and job training programs. Furthermore, if the nations that host sex tourism were offered significant debt relief and other aid packages, then the economic conditions that force families to find sex tourism an attractive option for their daughters would be ameliorated. However, such ideals remain exactly that: dreams.

A Solid Program for Action

Thus far, it seems that more has been done over the past several decades to promote sex tourism than to prevent it. However, more and more people are becoming aware of the problems with sex tourism and public policy is beginning to change. In 2004, Canada passed a ground-breaking law that "allows police to prosecute sex offences committed by Canadians in foreign countries even without a formal complaint from a foreign country," ("First man jailed under new ... " 2005). The first man prosecuted under the new sex tourism law was a man named Donald Bakker, who pled guilty to ten sex crimes committed in Cambodia. Such legislation is a step in the right direction on the part of wealthy nations, those that sex tourists usually hail from. While governments normally do not issue transnational legislation, in cases of sexual abuse such legislation is absolutely necessary to safeguard the well-being of women, children, and male prostitutes. In many cases, host nations do not have adequate law enforcement bans on the sex trade. Law enforcement officers in countries in which the sex trade is a lucrative business deliberately choose not to enforce anti-prostitution measures because of the impact their actions would have on the local economy, because of organized crime, and because of inter-governmental corruption. Because of the shortcomings of law enforcement in host nations, the nations from which sex tourists hail should take bold legislative steps like Canada has.

Sexually-transmitted diseases are one of the most severe problems associated with the sex tourism industry. Therefore, international and domestic health organizations need to take a stand toward preventing sex tourism. Sex tourism permits deadly diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis B to flourish. Clinics in host countries must provide up-to-date literature regarding such diseases, and schools in host countries need to educate their students to the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. The governments of host countries should be pressured by international bodies to step up their education policies to at least increase awareness of the spreading of infectious diseases so that even when prostitution is allowed to continue, the diseases themselves can be minimized. Local, state, and federal governments also need to ensure that their young girls are well-educated, offered the same opportunities for work and livelihood as boys. Businesses need to receive funding that enable them to contribute positively to their local economies so that more vocational options are open to girls, so that families no longer have to sell their girls into the sex trade. Eliminating the poverty that drives the sex trade is next-to-impossible, but small steps can be done to improve the status of women in third world nations.