Comments on: Sexerati: Cambodia > Arrival, Going It Alone http://melissagira.com/sexerati/2007/04/23/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/ Sex & the internet, by Melissa Gira Grant Thu, 17 May 2012 09:53:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Bill http://melissagira.com/sexerati/2007/04/23/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/#comment-608 Bill Sat, 05 May 2007 22:44:41 +0000 http://www.sexerati.com/2007/04/24/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/#comment-608 Hm. As another NGO person who's spent quite a bit of time in Cambodia and Thailand and the Philippines and so forth, I honestly haven't seen much actual sex industry. I mean, it's definitely there... but if you look at the numbers, it's insignificantly small compared to the sex industry in the U.S. or pretty much any other western industrialized country. Whether on a per-capita basis, or in absolute numbers of people or dollars. I mean, Patpong is what most people point to, most of the time, as the center of it all, and it's like two city blocks. Outside of that, there's very little that I've seen. And pretty much any city of half a million people in the U.S. would have a red-light district of that size. And Bangkok's nine million. Much less the rest of the country, and the neighboring countries, which are largely rural and conservative. Honestly, I think what we're seeing is the tail end of an industry that was in no small part created as an artifact of the personal moral and ethical shortcomings of Robert McNamara. I think the sensationalism of the American popular news media play it up, and encourage people who should otherwise have better judgement to believe that they can be catered to in a way that would be socially unacceptable in the U.S., while really, far more people do in fact transact business around those desires in the U.S. every day than actually happens in SE Asia. So yes, you do see some middle-aged loser white guys with underage SE Asian "girlfriends" with too much makeup and not enough clothing, but I don't think it's useful to go into a situation looking for that, finding it, and using it to draw conclusions about Asia, rather than about the Occident. Perhaps I'm naive or unobservant. Just my two cents. -Bill Hm. As another NGO person who’s spent quite a bit of time in Cambodia and Thailand and the Philippines and so forth, I honestly haven’t seen much actual sex industry. I mean, it’s definitely there… but if you look at the numbers, it’s insignificantly small compared to the sex industry in the U.S. or pretty much any other western industrialized country. Whether on a per-capita basis, or in absolute numbers of people or dollars. I mean, Patpong is what most people point to, most of the time, as the center of it all, and it’s like two city blocks. Outside of that, there’s very little that I’ve seen. And pretty much any city of half a million people in the U.S. would have a red-light district of that size. And Bangkok’s nine million. Much less the rest of the country, and the neighboring countries, which are largely rural and conservative.

Honestly, I think what we’re seeing is the tail end of an industry that was in no small part created as an artifact of the personal moral and ethical shortcomings of Robert McNamara.

I think the sensationalism of the American popular news media play it up, and encourage people who should otherwise have better judgement to believe that they can be catered to in a way that would be socially unacceptable in the U.S., while really, far more people do in fact transact business around those desires in the U.S. every day than actually happens in SE Asia. So yes, you do see some middle-aged loser white guys with underage SE Asian “girlfriends” with too much makeup and not enough clothing, but I don’t think it’s useful to go into a situation looking for that, finding it, and using it to draw conclusions about Asia, rather than about the Occident.

Perhaps I’m naive or unobservant. Just my two cents.

-Bill

]]> By: Gina de Vries http://melissagira.com/sexerati/2007/04/23/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/#comment-609 Gina de Vries Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:46:04 +0000 http://www.sexerati.com/2007/04/24/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/#comment-609 This is amazing. And some of the best writing of yours I've ever seen, period, on Sexerati and off. Keep blogging this, Melissa, please. You get at the heart of so many of the issues without falling into the usual racist/classist/xenophobic/sex-negative/ "let's-forget-oppression-b/c-we're-hip-&-sex-positive" traps that other writers can and do fall into, easy. I really want this to be anthologized somewhere. Keep going. xxx, Gina This is amazing. And some of the best writing of yours I’ve ever seen, period, on Sexerati and off. Keep blogging this, Melissa, please.

You get at the heart of so many of the issues without falling into the usual racist/classist/xenophobic/sex-negative/ “let’s-forget-oppression-b/c-we’re-hip-&-sex-positive” traps that other writers can and do fall into, easy.

I really want this to be anthologized somewhere. Keep going.

xxx,
Gina

]]> By: Sexerati Cambodia « Details are Sketchy http://melissagira.com/sexerati/2007/04/23/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/#comment-610 Sexerati Cambodia « Details are Sketchy Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:24:31 +0000 http://www.sexerati.com/2007/04/24/sexerati-cambodia-arrival-going-it-alone/#comment-610 [...] on flickr, and Melissa says she will be recapping her Cambodian experience all this week — the first entry is here — and promises some “exciting” [...] [...] on flickr, and Melissa says she will be recapping her Cambodian experience all this week — the first entry is here — and promises some “exciting” [...]

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