| A Different Kind of Thai Sex Bar |
| Written by Mark Fenn | |
| Friday, 19 October 2007 | |
|
At the Can Do bar in northern Thailand the sex workers are the owners
Bar manager Ruchaneekon
U-para, or Lek, middle.
At the small Can Do bar in the northern city of Chiang Mai, sex workers are using their brains as well as their bodies in an experiment aimed at tackling exploitation. The bar is owned and managed by a collective of women from the Empower Foundation, a support group for sex workers known for its “sex positive” stance on prostitution.
The country’s first so called experitainment bar aims to provide working girls with a safe and fair working environment.
The bar, which complies fully with Thai labor laws, has just celebrated its first birthday and is proving successful on both “a political and an economic level,” said Liz Hilton, who works with Empower. The bar has won acceptance, Hilton says, for providing decent working conditions for the women who work there.
“The women who came up with the idea and started putting it together had been working for many years and never had good conditions,” she said.
Now that has changed. Bar manager Ruchaneekon U-para, or Lek, says she is happy in the job because of the “freedom and good money” it offers her. The 36-year-old, who has two daughters, has been a prostitute for five years.
Before sex work, she said, she worked long hours in a beauty salon for a small salary. Working in bars has given her the freedom to do other things, and the money to pay for her daughters’ schooling, although she hasn’t always enjoyed such comfortable working conditions.
Estimates of how many prostitutes there are in Thailand range from around 150,000 to a whopping two million, out of a population of 65 million. The figures are difficult to calculate because many prostitutes work part-time or only occasionally, and move around the country. However, few dispute that prostitution is big business, or that with it come social evils such as trafficking in women and children. Go-go bars and hostess bars catering mainly to Western men are only the tip of the iceberg, but are the most visible part of the industry to foreigners.
The majority of women working in these bars face unfair and, in some cases, degrading conditions, with long hours and few days off. Often, they must persuade customers to buy them a certain number of “lady’s drinks” to make money for the bar, or meet a quota of “bar fines” paid by customers wanting to take the women to bed. They may be pressured to sleep with customers, and if they don’t, their salaries may be cut.
But in a country where a waitress may make between 4,000 and 6,000 baht a month and a prostitute can make that amount in two or three nights, there is no shortage of women attracted to the sex industry. Many have limited educations and few other opportunities.
The Empower Foundation as its name suggests – aims to educate sex workers and it treats their jobs with dignity. The Can Do bar is one of many projects it runs in different parts of the country. It opened last year after around 50 sex workers – including migrants from neighbouring countries such as Burma, Laos and Cambodia contributed to a community fund. They each bought a share in the bar for between 1,000 baht and 50,000 baht, together raising a total of one million baht, or around $31,000.
This was used to rent and renovate a three-story building which houses the bar downstairs. On upper floors are a meeting room and an information room for staff and visitors, with books and reports on prostitution and safe sex in Thai and English. There is also a classroom where migrant workers and those from the region’s hill tribes can study Thai.
The bar employs three permanent, full-time members of staff, including Lek. Other sex workers – whether shareholders or not can also register as staff and join the government’s social security scheme.
Hilton says workers in bars and other entertainment places are not usually covered by Thai labour laws, which are strictly enforced at Can Do.
If the women working in the bar wish to leave with a customer, that is considered a private arrangement between them, with safe sex strongly encouraged and free condoms and lubricant provided by the bar.
Unlike in virtually every other bar, the women are encouraged not to drink alcohol. “We need to save our bodies for when we go out with customers,” says Lek, matter-of-factly. “When we are drinking, we cannot service customers.”
Workers, including ladies who do part-time shifts, receive a commission of 30 baht on each drink bought for them.
Lek says between five and 10 women usually work at the bar each night, dancing, singing karaoke and talking to customers. The number of visitors fluctuates – in the tourist season, the bar is often very busy. During the low season, however, it receives fewer visitors and only opens on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Not surprising Hilton says the bar is popular with staff from NGOs, who come to study how it works and the conditions it offers its workers. The walls are covered with messages of support from visitors. “I love you more than I can pay,” reads one.
Sai Pilachan, 24, and Arya Ma-yut, 22 work together at Can Do. Sai, a founding member of the bar, says she enjoys working there because it is fun, it gives her freedom, and it supports the workers when they are sick.
Sai has been a sex worker for about four years, and says the job allows her to support her family. They have no problem with what she does for a living, she says, but they don’t talk about it much. Sai, whose first language is Akha, the hill tribe the sisters belong to, also works as a volunteer Thai teacher, helping foreign and hill-tribe workers at the bar. Her sister Arya says she also enjoys working there as it’s “sanuk” (fun).
Lek says she and the other women are proud to be sex workers, and proud to work in the bar. “We don’t care what people say,” she said. “This is my life. We are not shy. We don’t care.”
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(19)
 written by alf , January 09, 2010
well it must be differend wen you pay for sex,becose i do all the work and the so call sexy thai women lei like a log of wood and love to get wet. so where the randy teachers
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written by Pakboy , December 28, 2009
Hi there . I passed through bangkok whilst going to Hong Kong and back to Pakistan. I never felt like this when I read all above comments. I sure that I will must mak a week stop over in thailand in my coming holidays. Dear thai girls please keep ready and clean I am coming soon there. Pay my best wishes ti Atif Chaufhry, Asghar Choudhry , Hakeem M suleman and all other friends.
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written by Pakboy , December 28, 2009
I passed bangkok as a transit pessenger many times going and back from Hong Kong. I read allabove comments keenly. So I definitely be stain Thailand in my coming holidays......... I am coming thai girls ... be ready OK
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written by Jnathan , August 11, 2009
Thai girls are one of the best in the world when it comes to please men.
Votes: +1
They can give best BJ, HJ, And Anal. They are the pioneer in the sex industry. report abuse
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written by laxman , June 05, 2009
hi i love tha sex.its vry safe,i lve lb..its eautiful counrty,nice ppl.innocent ppl.,i love it.shemale or ladyboy.vvy kindly they are.keep it up
Votes: +4
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written by Sean Collins , September 28, 2008
In my experience, having lived and worked in Thailand for almost 10 years, despite what many foreign tourists seem to think, common standards of decency regarding sex and prostitution are as prevalent here in Thailand as anywhere else. People shouldn't mistake tolerance for approval. There is a world of difference between the poor and uneducated girls working in the bars and most of the rest of the general female population who would never even dream of working as a prostitute. Sure, many feel, because of their circumstances, they have no choice but I doubt pride has anything to do with it. On the contrary, many women from that same set of circumstances would rather work long hours in low paying jobs than submit to the degredation and social stigmatization that prostitution entails. If you ask me the whores and the whoremongerers deserve each other.
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I have been to all of the hot spots in Thailand and beyond. You should check out my site, I have tons of pictures and videos. http://www.hotasianadventures.com
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I think that these women should put some pictures up on http://thaibargirlreview.com so we can see them. Great idea for the labor improvement.
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Proud to be sex workers? Well, you can see everything these days, after all it is the oldest profession, isn't it :-)
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 written by Jacks , March 16, 2008
Thai girls are so nice in bed, they are absolute fun, Having 100% respect for them, I can say that they can satisfy you like no one else.
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thanks for your comments...see we sex worker are high tech too and not ugly just funny photo...come see for yourself! ...linsi its not my job to solve social problems like unfaithful men or family problems. If the husband is sleeping only "in virgin forests and the lulls of illuminating fireflies and breeze" then he won't see me...I never go there..he comes to me..not the other way around. Everypne can you help me understand where is the virgin forest and where is the sex worker forest!??!
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 written by hyde , October 24, 2007
an exellent example of filling a niche in the market that maximizes net social benefts...the paradox is that the Can Do social venue is antithetical to the neo-puritanism espoused by Americans (U.S. variety) and (some) do-gooder Euros...
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 written by interested , October 20, 2007
bit ugly though, aren't they?
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 written by photo_journ , October 20, 2007
This is a fantastic approach to the exploitation many of the people who work in the sex industry face. One can only hope that the owners of this venture have the necessary connections to ensure that underworld elements don't force them out of business. It's a pity some of the more so-called "socially concerned" NGO's haven't stumped up the seed money by way of no-interest loans to allow more of this type of thing to happen, rather than attempting to pass judgment and force Western/Christian values on people.
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And i quote:"Lek says she and the other women are proud to be sex workers, and proud to work in the bar. “We don’t care what people say,” she said. “This is my life. We are not shy. We don’t care.”
Votes: -1
To imagine a place without sex bars, only virgin forests and the lulls of illuminating fireflies and breeze send husbands and workers to sleep at home with their wives an children with a drink after a hard days work would give peace and harmony to the household. Compare it with a place with sex bars where a father oftenly go there to spend his money and time with other women,risking all security and well being, the mother and children care-, they care. I am not leaving an opton to sex workers, nor do i condemn or judge specially when they earn legally what i wanted to say is i care too- or i could say it is a wishful thinking--- report abuse
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|
When the words “bar” and “sex” are put
together in Thailand, one doesn’t usually think about
progressive labor relations or stuff like profit sharing. But in at
least one small corner of the country’s huge sex industry, a
few women are trying to get a better deal for themselves out of
giving pleasure for money.
The staff members work a maximum of eight hours
a night, with a one-hour break, and have one day off a week —
in other bars women get only two days off a month as a rule. They are
also entitled to paid sick leave and 10 paid holidays a year, plus 13
public holidays.
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