"I just want to find someone to love me", the pretty 23 year old bar
girl expressed earnestly.
Having traveled in Thailand and been jarred by the large number of
prostitutes I saw hanging out at the myriad bars we passed, in
Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Koh Samui and Koh Phangnan I had questions. How
could an entire country seeminlgy support such overt prostitution?
After doing some research I discovered that prostitution in Thailand
has been illegal since 1960, however this law is neither enforced nor
implemented. Mostly due to the support of Thai men from all levels of
society, especially government officials who actively promote and
protect the sex industry. Direct proof of this attitude towards women
is described by MP Thirachai Sirikhan, informing The Nation newspaper,
"To have a mia noi (mistress) is an individual's right. There should
be no problem as long as the politician causes no trouble to his
family or society".
This attitude has its roots in the time of the Khmer Empire when it
was customary for emperors to have as many as a thousand concubines.
As a result, it was also common for men to have multiple wives and mistresses.
Consequently, women expect their husbands to cheat. However, this does
not seem to distress them; to the contrary, Thai women were cited as believing that the availability of these prostitutes will actually decrease the
incident of rape. In modern times, the continuation of this phenomenon
was enacted by the uneducated, rural women that served the sexual
needs of the large numbers of US troops passing through the area
during the Vietnam War.
"It's quick and easy money" my interviewee said to me with absolutely
no embarrassment. "I was a hairdresser in my village and it was boring,
I prefer it here on the islands, there is the beach, better shopping and
I make good money and have fun at the bar". This young lady sends
money home to her family and is saving up her cash to someday be
independent. Her parents know her profession, yet say nothing, as her
earnings support them and their agricultural existence.
How does the system work? The bar girl is one of many that service
a particular establishment. She encourages customers to drink and gets
a commission of 40 baht per drink. If the customer wants to take her
back to his hotel, he pays a "bar fine" of anything from 250 - 700
baht. Additionally, he negotiates a price with her. Typically, costs are
approximately 1000 baht for a "short time", generally one hour, and
can rise to 3000 baht for "long time," which is the whole night. Please
note that $1 is equivalent to about 33 baht.
The age of sexual consent is 18 in Thailand and due to the large numbers of sex workers, an estimated 2 million women, and 10 000 on the small
island of Koh Samui alone, it seems that the government has instituted
systems to monitor sex workers and control sexually transmitted
diseases rather than do anything to prevent this "sex tourism
industry" that Thailand has become infamous for. Girls get checkups
every three months or face fines.
These girls aim to have a Western boyfriend or sponsor that sends them
regular cash or pays their rent. Sometimes, they have multiple
financial supporters. In fact, private investigative firms have sprung
up that claim to checkup on a bar girl and ensure she is being
faithful and staying away from the "call of duty".
I found there to be such a marked difference to these ways of thinking to
the Jewish value system that I have been striving to learn for the last few years.
Judaism teaches us that our bodies are temples and should be used for
holy purposes and in the service of God. Although in Jewish history we
have also had incidents of Kings with over a thousand concubines, and
men with multiple wives and we, too, have very poor neighborhoods where people are starving and suffering economic hardship, we have never had and never will have such an open and accepted level of prostitution.
Why?
The sexual act in Judaism is a holy one, meant to be shared between a
husband and wife. Our belief is that this holy union is the most
intimate two people can get. Putting a dollar price on such an act reduces
its priceless value and makes it cheap. Jews place the highest
emphasis on family life. Only through marriage and a family can we as
individuals truly fulfill our potential in this world and grow as
people. Our moral value system restrains us from walking a path of
careless, crass disrespect of our own bodies and souls.
Although Jewish and Thai culture have similar histories in terms
described above, over time, there has been an obvious divergence.
However, over 1000 years ago a Jewish ban on multiple wives was
instituted and the role of women changed significantly. The focus
became the family unit, and each member had valuable input. In the
Thai culture, the focus was survival at any cost; women were accustomed
to using their bodies for economic gain which then became accepted
and popularized over the years. Therefore, we have reached such
different platforms today.
A survey in Chicago revealed the following: Most men said they viewed
their interaction with prostitutes as a business contract in which
payment entitles them to treat the women any way they like. Women
surrender the right to say no to anything once they accept a
customer’s money many said. “Prostitutes are a product, like cereal,”
said one man. “You go to the grocery, pick the brand you want and pay
for it. It’s business.”
Seeing a human being as a product on the shelf with no soul, feelings
or potential is the consequence of being able to buy another's body
for your own pleasure. This leads directly to the loss of respect and
value of the women involved. Once the woman is seen as "only business,"
any evil intent including murder can be justified. The deterioration of
morality and collapse of decency is bound to result from the mindset
of “every person has their price.”
Rabbi Tzvi Fishman states: "If sexual sins become rampant on a
national level, this can cause a total blockage, or the drying up of
the channel of the Yesod (the spiritual channel that brings Divine
illumination and blessing into the world), bringing destruction and
exile to Am Yisrael (the nation of Israel.) When the Yesod was damaged
Above through Israel’s transgressions, it was only a matter of time
before the enemy succeeded in destroying its physical counterpart
embodied in Zion and Jerusalem below."
So in conclusion, women of Israel, remember that you are daughters of
the King (bat Melech). We must guard our bodies and sexual conduct
vigorously. We could call destruction upon ourselves and our entire people from on high. The answer... learn and practice the ways of modesty instead of succumbing to the social pressure of free love and flippant intimacy.
We have been given the gift of choice and the luxury of a strong value system that can guide us. We owe it to ourselves to respect ourselves, our mission, our blessings and the world we live in.
References:
http://womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/men-would-stop-using-prostitutes-if-they-thought-they-might-be-caught-and-prosecuted-say-90-of-men-interviewed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Thailand
http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/judaism/concepts_in_judaism/
microcosm_of_the_world.aspx?id=8120&language=english
girl expressed earnestly.
Having traveled in Thailand and been jarred by the large number of
prostitutes I saw hanging out at the myriad bars we passed, in
Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Koh Samui and Koh Phangnan I had questions. How
could an entire country seeminlgy support such overt prostitution?
After doing some research I discovered that prostitution in Thailand
has been illegal since 1960, however this law is neither enforced nor
implemented. Mostly due to the support of Thai men from all levels of
society, especially government officials who actively promote and
protect the sex industry. Direct proof of this attitude towards women
is described by MP Thirachai Sirikhan, informing The Nation newspaper,
"To have a mia noi (mistress) is an individual's right. There should
be no problem as long as the politician causes no trouble to his
family or society".
This attitude has its roots in the time of the Khmer Empire when it
was customary for emperors to have as many as a thousand concubines.
As a result, it was also common for men to have multiple wives and mistresses.
Consequently, women expect their husbands to cheat. However, this does
not seem to distress them; to the contrary, Thai women were cited as believing that the availability of these prostitutes will actually decrease the
incident of rape. In modern times, the continuation of this phenomenon
was enacted by the uneducated, rural women that served the sexual
needs of the large numbers of US troops passing through the area
during the Vietnam War.
"It's quick and easy money" my interviewee said to me with absolutely
no embarrassment. "I was a hairdresser in my village and it was boring,
I prefer it here on the islands, there is the beach, better shopping and
I make good money and have fun at the bar". This young lady sends
money home to her family and is saving up her cash to someday be
independent. Her parents know her profession, yet say nothing, as her
earnings support them and their agricultural existence.
How does the system work? The bar girl is one of many that service
a particular establishment. She encourages customers to drink and gets
a commission of 40 baht per drink. If the customer wants to take her
back to his hotel, he pays a "bar fine" of anything from 250 - 700
baht. Additionally, he negotiates a price with her. Typically, costs are
approximately 1000 baht for a "short time", generally one hour, and
can rise to 3000 baht for "long time," which is the whole night. Please
note that $1 is equivalent to about 33 baht.
The age of sexual consent is 18 in Thailand and due to the large numbers of sex workers, an estimated 2 million women, and 10 000 on the small
island of Koh Samui alone, it seems that the government has instituted
systems to monitor sex workers and control sexually transmitted
diseases rather than do anything to prevent this "sex tourism
industry" that Thailand has become infamous for. Girls get checkups
every three months or face fines.
These girls aim to have a Western boyfriend or sponsor that sends them
regular cash or pays their rent. Sometimes, they have multiple
financial supporters. In fact, private investigative firms have sprung
up that claim to checkup on a bar girl and ensure she is being
faithful and staying away from the "call of duty".
I found there to be such a marked difference to these ways of thinking to
the Jewish value system that I have been striving to learn for the last few years.
Judaism teaches us that our bodies are temples and should be used for
holy purposes and in the service of God. Although in Jewish history we
have also had incidents of Kings with over a thousand concubines, and
men with multiple wives and we, too, have very poor neighborhoods where people are starving and suffering economic hardship, we have never had and never will have such an open and accepted level of prostitution.
Why?
The sexual act in Judaism is a holy one, meant to be shared between a
husband and wife. Our belief is that this holy union is the most
intimate two people can get. Putting a dollar price on such an act reduces
its priceless value and makes it cheap. Jews place the highest
emphasis on family life. Only through marriage and a family can we as
individuals truly fulfill our potential in this world and grow as
people. Our moral value system restrains us from walking a path of
careless, crass disrespect of our own bodies and souls.
Although Jewish and Thai culture have similar histories in terms
described above, over time, there has been an obvious divergence.
However, over 1000 years ago a Jewish ban on multiple wives was
instituted and the role of women changed significantly. The focus
became the family unit, and each member had valuable input. In the
Thai culture, the focus was survival at any cost; women were accustomed
to using their bodies for economic gain which then became accepted
and popularized over the years. Therefore, we have reached such
different platforms today.
A survey in Chicago revealed the following: Most men said they viewed
their interaction with prostitutes as a business contract in which
payment entitles them to treat the women any way they like. Women
surrender the right to say no to anything once they accept a
customer’s money many said. “Prostitutes are a product, like cereal,”
said one man. “You go to the grocery, pick the brand you want and pay
for it. It’s business.”
Seeing a human being as a product on the shelf with no soul, feelings
or potential is the consequence of being able to buy another's body
for your own pleasure. This leads directly to the loss of respect and
value of the women involved. Once the woman is seen as "only business,"
any evil intent including murder can be justified. The deterioration of
morality and collapse of decency is bound to result from the mindset
of “every person has their price.”
Rabbi Tzvi Fishman states: "If sexual sins become rampant on a
national level, this can cause a total blockage, or the drying up of
the channel of the Yesod (the spiritual channel that brings Divine
illumination and blessing into the world), bringing destruction and
exile to Am Yisrael (the nation of Israel.) When the Yesod was damaged
Above through Israel’s transgressions, it was only a matter of time
before the enemy succeeded in destroying its physical counterpart
embodied in Zion and Jerusalem below."
So in conclusion, women of Israel, remember that you are daughters of
the King (bat Melech). We must guard our bodies and sexual conduct
vigorously. We could call destruction upon ourselves and our entire people from on high. The answer... learn and practice the ways of modesty instead of succumbing to the social pressure of free love and flippant intimacy.
We have been given the gift of choice and the luxury of a strong value system that can guide us. We owe it to ourselves to respect ourselves, our mission, our blessings and the world we live in.
References:
http://womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/men-would-stop-using-prostitutes-if-they-thought-they-might-be-caught-and-prosecuted-say-90-of-men-interviewed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Thailand
http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/judaism/concepts_in_judaism/
microcosm_of_the_world.aspx?id=8120&language=english
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