Anyone who reads my personal blog will know my thoughts on the multitude of prostitutes that populate the area around my condo (Asok / Soi 23)… So it’s with amazing relief that I today saw the entire row of scummy little bars that harbour the nastiest of the scum have been… demolished. Wow. How cool. I can now walk home without being bothered by the wretched little harpies.
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When we were going home on Saturday night, Oui noticed they’ve set up some tables and are serving drinks in front of the construction site. I didn’t notice any of your girls though.
Granted, the persistent solicitation of sexual favors can be annoying at times, but are these prostitues really deserving of anyone’s haughty scorn and contempt? It is not the prostitutes themselves that is vile, but rather the abuse, degradation and stigma that prostitution brings with it. Remove all the layers of psychological scarring from these women and what is revealed is the pathos of the human soul. On good days, these hardened women from abject poverty and severely limited life choices are looking for anyone who would be willing to just fVck them out of pity.
I have to disagree there. Prostitutes, which is what they are, are generally in it for the money.
Many people blame the prostitutes but it really is a supply and demand situation. Until one of them evaporates, the other will continue.
We should also remember that I am talking about the prostitutes in oneplace in particular – on the corner of Asok junction. They are very different to the ones on Soi Cowboy, or in Pat Pong, or Nana.
The ones that formerly occupied this area really are the dregs of society – not even decent enough to occupy a place in the higher sections of the prostitute social hierarcy. They are nasty beyond belief and resort to screaming and grabbing men as they walk past.
As Ben rightly says, of course, the western men who are the focus are every bit as much a problem. My post was not meant to be one-sided or narrow minded but the fact is that the average fat ugly no life farang who provides these prostitutes with $$$ is not attempting to scream at me.
Show me a prostitute who wants to be “fVcked for pity” as opposed to $$$ and I’ll show you a flying pig.
Also, annoyance isn’t necessarily the same as haughty scorn or snottiness. I love children and babies, but that doesn’t stop me from being rolling-the-eyes, annoyed-as-all-hell, wish-they-would-go-away pissed off when I’m sitting next to screaming brats on an airplane.
Sure, I’m sure most sex workers would rather work in a different job if the pay were adequate, but that doesn’t stop us from being annoyed. Telemarketers aren’t rich either, and they’re just people too stuggling to make a living, but that doesn’t mean I want to put up with it.
The last sentence in my original post poorly conveyed my idea. My intention was to draw sympathy to the plight of Thai prostitutes, not call into question their motives for spreading their legs. There is no dispute, on my part, that prostitutes are in “it” for the money. I was trying to emphasize, exaggeratingly, that the compassion Thai prostitutes receive is so few and far between that feeding off the emotional crumbs of some guy’s pity (สงสาร), while getting fVcked, would be considered a “good day”. Normally, they just get fvcked through and through. Contrary to some of the opinions, I was NOT suggesting that prostitutes are in the sex industry because they are seeking pity.
Ben: Yes, but IF being in “it” for the money is what defines a prostitute, then I can also be considered a quasi-whore. Please notice that my goal is NOT to be argumentative, but to elicit sympathy.
Him: I understand what you’re saying…I’m just not sure whether differentiating the degree of acceptability of prostitutes by social order helps your argument. Are the wretched souls on the bottom of the totem pole any less deserving of one’s compassion than the ones on Nana?
Paul: I conceded right-off-the-bat that the constant heckling can be annoying. I’m not asking anyone to be Mother Theresa…just sympathetic.
Bento / To All / นํ้าใจ / cogito_errr@yahoo.com / whatever you want to call yourself next:
My post was not about anyones views except my own. To me, yes, a woman who screams at me and acts like an uneducated monkey who has been trained to grab farang men is less deserving of my compassion. Any social order I mentioned is in my head.
I do not, actually, believe that prostitution is “wrong”. These women – and men – provide a service for which there is an uptake but, much like a clothes shop, I do not expect the assistants to scream at me everytime I pass their shop, or attempt to pull me in regardless of whether or not I was interested. I have a much higher regard for someone – be it a shop assistant, indian tailor on sukhumvit, deaf stall owner, prostitute, restuarant owner or begger – if thy show the slightest regard for the fact that if I want their services, I will be happy to engaged in contact with them.
You can see the level of ignorance shown by these prostitutes in many ways. If I walk past with my (western) girlfriend, I still get shouted at and she gets dirty, sly looks. A gay friend of mine walked past with his boyfriend… and got his ass grabbed. Pity? Compassion? I think not.
As for showing a bit of sympathy? Well, I have lived around here for a year now and it started off as funny, then normal, then invasive, then annoying. Give me one real reason, other than my saintly interests (of which i have none, I might add) why I should show sympathy for these girls now? I mean, seriously, everyone else around here recognises me as a “local” – why can’t the prostitutes? I now choose to wlak down Soi Cowboy instead of along Asok because, frankly, if I am with my g/f, the girls on SC have the respect(?) / intelligence to actually leave us alone to go home in peace.
As an aside, the girls have proceeded to move into make-shift bars inside the demolished site. It gets them off the street, sure, except for one opening. The other night I saw an unfortunate western man, in a suit, with a suitcase looking as though he was on his way home from a trip, literally get grabbed and pulled as he tried to walk down the street. Why should anyone have to put up with that?
Perhaps a quick self-introduction is in order: My cyber nom de plume is Cogito, or Cog, for short. I am new (newbie, noob, whatever) here at Metroblogging Bangkok. I don’t maintain a blog of my own, nor do I wish to… I do, however, have a bizarre voyeuristic impulse to read the various blogs and perspectives of others, as it relates to Thailand. After all, I consider myself Thai.
Like I said, I wasn’t trying to be argumentative, nor was I trying to convert anyone’s way of thinking; all of your views and opinions are respected. My own empathy towards Thai prostitutes stems from the fact that – given a differing set of circumstance, I wonder whether I’d be fVcking for a living.
“I consider myself Thai” implies that to some degree, a Thai wouldn’t consider you to be so?
I don’t think anyone considers you to be argumentative – if we did, or if we thought you were a troll, I’d hope noone had replied to you… :)
Him: You are correct in your assessment. I find myself being labelled by friends and family as either: too American to be fully Thai, or, too Thai to be fully American. I like to think that I am able to transcend both “cultures”, but in all reality, one will most likely find me deeply entrenched within the bowels of cultural limbo…wearing a dunce hat. :-)
I’m glad I’m not a Troll, but I do have a tendency to eat goats on occasion, mind you.
“The ones that formerly occupied this area really are the dregs of society – not even decent enough to occupy a place in the higher sections of the prostitute social hierarcy.”
I understand what you’re saying and I found walking past there annoying, even as a tourist, so I agree – good riddance.
But I was surprised to have had a good night or two in there. A Soi 33 lass took me there to play pool with a couple of her former co-worker-cum-entrepreneurs who opened an Asoke bar. Pleasant, pretty hostesses, and they didn’t chase after farang on the street. So, while I’m glad no one will be harassed on that corner any more, I’m sorry about whatever investment these girls may have made. Just like the folks on the long since nuked bar areas around Soi 10 and Clinton Plaza.
It’s the clients that should be thrown out of the country.