prostitution suddenly news
Sunday, December 16, 2001
Prostitution has certainly been making the news recently, which leaves one wondering why this sudden flurry of interest.
The Nation had a piece on male prostitution on December 6 which seemed to be shocked to discover that it was not just women that sold their bodies, there were actually males doing it as well, and in Chaing Mai no less, and many were illegal immigrants.
They followed up with with a piece on child prostitution on 14 December, and Purachai of course was going to crack down on this illicit activity.
The Bangkok Post also had a Perspective article on 16 December that again focused on the plight of illegal immigrants, again mostly male, lured into prostitution in Thailand.
The Post article and the first Nation article were published at a time when the media was focused on illegal immigrants because of other events, and the other Nation article was in response to the United Nations report on child prostitution, but all three articles painted a fairly lurid picture of the flesh trade in Thailand, which will certainly help Purachi in generating public support for the crackdown on prostitution - though the Nation article on 14 December had some interesting estimates of the financial importance of the flesh trade which Purachi may be wise to consider!
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