It’s so easy for us Westerners to criticize isn’t it?. We have our safeguards like government welfare programmes that protect us should we lose our jobs. We have our pensions when we grow old and retire. We need never find ourselves without a roof over our heads if things really get that bad even.
We also enjoy free education and advanced healthcare. We can afford to go abroad for our annual holidays to tropical destinations if we want to and we can enjoy the luxury of our own homes if that’s what we desire.
But for most Thais, society offers none of the things considered normal in our part of the world. If Thais don’t work, they don’t eat. It’s that simple. Nobody will provide them with shelter and welfare institutions simply don’t exist. What’s more, children are expected to provide for their parents from a very early age even though wage levels are abysmal by Western standards.
Look around you the next time you go to Thailand. How many Thais do you see dining in even cheap restaurants? And by cheap, I mean around 100 Baht for a main course. At current exchange rates, that’s about 2 Euros or US$3. I’ll tell you: that figure is a big zero. Why? because 100 Baht is too expensive when the minimum wage is only 280 Baht a day. That’s what the Thais you see working as chambermaids in hotels earn, as do farmers and factory workers.
So before you criticize Thai women, place yourself in their shoes for a moment. Bar girls earn on average 8000 Baht a month for a 48 hour working week. They can supplement their income further by selling so called “Lady drinks” for which they receive 40 Baht a time on average. During the peak season, they might sell 10 drinks a night, but even then, their monthly income is still only 18,000 Baht. Divide that by 45 to convert to Euros, or by 33.1900 for US$. So how does the idea of living on 400 Euros a month grab you?
In addition, out of that final figure, they’re expected to give a substantial proportion of their income to their parents. Family ties are very strong in Thai culture and children are taught; brainwashed even if you like, to feel indebted to their parents for bringing them into the world and caring from them until they reach the age when they can begin to repay that debt. The fewer children in the family, the more the unfortunate individuals are expected to cough up.
Since it costs 5000 Baht a month to rent a room in places like Patong Beach, these girls will exist on little more than subsistence level if they don’t find an alternative source of income. They will never go abroad on holiday and most of them won’t even have a passport.
Prostitution provides a means of bringing them in contact with affluent men whom they are otherwise unlikely to meet. Their primary goal is to try and develop a relationship with someone who will provide for them for the future. Also, more often than not, they will have children of their own who have been left without a father after he skipped the nest as soon as he discovered his girlfriend was pregnant.
Most of the girls who work in the sex industry were born in the northern Province called Isaan. Isaan is farming country and the source of Thailand’s biggest export which is rice. There isn’t any other prominent industry in the region which offers an alternative means of employment.
So the girls come south to Bangkok, Pattaya and beyond and are attracted to men who they perceive to be wealthy and therefore potential partners.
Men in the 18-30 age group who flock to Thailand every year view these women as little more than sex objects to be enjoyed and then left to fend for themselves. And preferably for as little outlay as possible.
From the girls point of view, the 50+ age group is a much more attractive proposition since these men are perceived to have accumulated sufficient wealth by that age. That’s the main reason you see older men with younger women in the main tourist resorts like Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. Older men are also likely to be a lot more caring since they will have passed the wham, bang, thank you ma’am era of their youth.
Yes there are a few bad eggs among them in the same way as there are men who will exploit them, but given their circumstances, I for one would never criticize them in the manner of some of the comments I’ve read in this thread. Their lot in life is a pitiful one with very few prospects for the future especially if they’re single parents themselves already. Yet they will always project that warm smile towards everyone they meet.
I love each and every one of them, bless their little hearts, Terry
This was a comment to “Do Thai girls really like older men?” but we posted as a post since it was very well written and fun. Please comment of your view on this never ending subject.
Well i have mixed feeling about this, if you had no money and i mean none i really doubt that she would take you in.
Yes it is very strange when Thailand is suppose to be very Buddhist when it come to pictures of Buddha and statues.
These girls you talk about are prostitutes who are first and last abused by the Thai elite (current government and Bangkokians).
Prostitution is against the law in Thailand, remember, so places like Pattaya are not real.
Generally Thai people around the country feel a lot of shame when you mention places like Pattaya because they think they are degrading.
The problem is, like you mention, poverty, but this problem is not a problem for the elite because they benefit most from the sex industry.
Thai mafia, policemen and corrupt officials benefit hugely by these girls coming to Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok to rent out their bodies. They depend on them for their income.
Thaskin, the former ousted PM, gave the poor identity and acknowledged their existence. That was the first time they had been acknowledged as a part of Thailand (actually they are the majority).
So the core problem is class distinction, corruption and greed among the ruling elite. Turning the poor girls to prostitution and making them (instead of the government) responsible for taking care of their parents financially is the true crime.
Some of the older men in places like Pattaya er gentlemen but most of them are plain scum who take advantage of these girls to inflame their already damaged ego´s.
It´s hard to have sympathy for the girl´s as well because they become very street wise and soon learn to protect themselves and take care.
They become greedy and out of touch with their origin and always want more. The Pattaya lifestyle brings them more joy then the lifestyle they had in Isaan.
The Thai´s live in a illusion about their own country and it´s ethics. They don´t even know true Buddhist behavior and the Dharma Buddha tought.
The Buddha´s teachings, the Dharma, has been taken out of context and distorted by the elite to turn the people in to ignorant slaves for the Elite and the corrupt. So they have no true solution for their sufferings and wander around in the dark, trying to figure out what is wrong.
The problem in Thailand are the same problems Buddha described when talked about suffering and their origins.
1. Anger
2. Greed
3. Ignorance and illusion
If you compare present Thailand to a person you could describe it/him like this:
He is greedy, angry and ignorant and his life is one big lie because he can´t face seeing the truth about himself because it could probably kill him if he had to face the truth.
His live is full of double standard and his view of the world in general is very nationalistic and disturbed and disfigured by wrong information he has been fed through the incompetent educational system and parenting.
He confuses true Buddhist religion and action to good luck lottery religion where total belief and devotion to the Thai King considered good and increases merit. The King becomes god or Buddha which is worse.
Etc.
Terry, Well said and so accurate.I am one of those older blokes with a young thai partner, she is 26 i am 63 she has a better education than me, we also have a 4months old daughter, could not be happier, she is from issan, parents had a pig farm, the money they made put her through university, it is good to see people like you say it, as it is.My country has no idea about the hardship these great people endure, no job? no problem, go to social security,sick no problem, medicare, here borrow off your family if you can!!