Thailand
Intimacy & Healthy Sexuality Research Report
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First of all the moral and traditions of Thailand are so different that some people think using the word prostitution is such a loaded term that it doesn't really relate to the adult companion and entertainers of Thailand that do not see their work as any moral issue or anything negative. The traditions and religious issues related to Buddhism are discussed in other sections.
As I reported in the traditions section, in The Prostitution Suppression Act of 1960, customers are protected since they have a right to buy sexual satisfaction as part of long-standing Thai tradition. There was no penalty for customers and only a minor penalty for the prostitute.
This law was passed in 1960 partly as the result of UN pressure. The Act replaced the Contagious Diseases Prevention Act 1908, which aimed to control prostitution. The Act provided that convicted prostitutes should be reformed through medical treatment and a period not exceeding one year in an assistance centre where they were to receive vocational training. [Caye, 1995: 1-2]
The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996
a very strict law was enacted that makes it a serious crime to engage a prostitute
if she is under age 18.
"Safeguarding the welfare of Thai women and children is a national priority for the Government of Thailand.
Of particular concern to the Royal Thai Government is the exploitation of children for the purpose of commercial sex. Young girls and boys too often are lured or forced into working in brothels and other sexually oriented establishments by profiteers."
This 1996 act adds a provision for the first time it seems that goes after the
customer, but the only penalty is a maximum of 1000 Baht ($US25):
Section 5. Any person who, for the purpose of prostitution, solicits, induces, introduces herself or himself to, follows or importunes a person in a street, public place or any other place, which is committed openly and shamelessly or causes nuisance to the public, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand Baht.
But it seems the offense must be committed "openly and shamelessly or a nuisance to the public" I would assume it would be hard to prosecute someone who does this privately with a bargirl in a privately owned bar, as opposed to yelling the offer on the street.
The definition of prostitution is also interesting:
"prostitution" means sexual intercourse, or any other act, or the commission of any other act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner (my emphasis) in return for earning or any other benefit...
It does not define "promiscuous manner" and the fine is very small with no jail time option.
But it then adds:
Section 6. Any person who associates with another person in a prostitution establishment for the purpose of prostitution of oneself or another person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding one thousand Baht or to both
Here the one month in jail is a bit scary... but that is the maximum penalty plus only 1000 Baht.
What is a "prostitution establishment" ?
"prostitution establishment" means a place established for prostitution or in which the prostitution is allowed, and shall include a place used for soliciting or procuring another person for prostitution;
Now if in Western terms a procurer acts as a pimp it gets worse:
Section 7. Any person who advertises or agrees to advertise, induces or introduces by means of documents or printed matters, or by any means makes known to the public in a manner apparently indicative of importunity or solicitation for the prostitution of oneself or another person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of six months to two years or to a fine of ten thousand to forty thousand Baht or to both.
Note that the above provisions apply regardless of age. I wonder if anyone can provide any news articles or factual reports if anyone is being arrested under these provisions and under what circumstances?
Now here is where the "safe" age 15 under the prior law is increased to age 18:
Section 8. Any person who, in order to gratify the sexual desire of oneself or another person, has sexual intercourse with or acts otherwise against a person over fifteen but not over eighteen years of age in a prostitution establishment, with or without his or her consent, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of one to three years and to a fine of twenty thousand to sixty thousand Baht.
Ouch, no thanks. I have no interest in anyone under 18 anyway. Yet as I will discuss next, under the The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 this this may only apply to a brothel, not "special services' offered at "Entertainment Establishments". But under that apparently separate act the minimum age to be "safe" is also age 18. This is probably why entertainment establishments require proof by national ID that any bargirl or entertainer is at least age 18.
If under 15 it really gets bad for the prostitution establishment:
If the prostitution business or establishment under paragraph one has, for prostitution, a child not over fifteen years of age, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of ten to twenty years and to a fine of two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand Baht.
Note that the MINIMUM penalty is 10 year in jail!
The Entertainment Places Act of 1966
From: http://wildcomputercontrol.com/thaisex.htm (sadly
link now broken)
It was not until 1966 that the act of Service Establishments was passed which made it possible for Thai women to render "special services." This is done, for example, by establishing such places as massage parlors where men come and look at women, who are sitting separated by a glass wall, and can pick and choose who they want. The women come to the men's hotel room and 'massage' them, but, in reality do more than that. It is usually left for the customer to decide what kind of "special service" he really wants, and because of that, they are able to participate in this industry without any legal action being taken against them.
While the existence of prostitution is legally suppressed and deformalized, entertainment places (pimping) became formalized to protect owners and customers. This shift of emphasis made it impossible to enact anti-prostitution legislation, except in the case of street soliciting. It also drove women into entertainment places. Since having these two acts passed as legislation, it has become much more feasible for both women and entertainment establishments to render sexual services, under the guise that only "special services" will be performed. It has become a lot easier for business owners to operate their companies because the owners can employ prostitutes as special services girls' under the conditions of the labor code governing service establishments
And ultimately, the female employees end up turning their 'services' into prostitution, rather than only "massaging" a customer. Raids on brothels and other lucrative sex businesses are highly publicized when successful, but are very random and irregular. Even in those few cases, the owners are likely to pay off the police and other government officials to avoid being prosecuted.
According to the Thailand Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997, which was released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, "brothels operate with the protection of local government representatives and police." Even corrupt Thai police and other government officials participate in this lucrative industry and facilitate the opportunities for prostitution to continue, without enforcing the laws which they are representative of.
ANOTHER REPORT ON The Entertainment Places Act of 1966
says:
This Act was designed to pave the way for brothels to be legalized in the guise of massage parlours, bars, night-clubs, tea-houses etc. It was enacted at a time when the Government sought to increase state revenue from the "Rest and Recreation" activities of the US armed forces stationed in Vietnam. The Act defines the various kinds of "Entertainment Places" and allows such places to operate only under a license to be obtained from local police stations. The use of licensed establishments for prostitution is illegal. The Act sets 18 years as the minimum age for women to work in such establishments but the penalty for employing under-age women in only baht 2,000. [Caye, 1995: 2]
REFERENCE
Caye, Jasmine, 1995. Preliminary Survey on Regional Child Trafficking for Prostitution in Thailand. Commissioned by UNICEF-EAPRO August-November.
THIS ACT IS STILL IN EFFECT - The
Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996
repealed
The Prostitution Suppression Act of 1960, but not the The Entertainment Places Act of 1966.
This 1966 act is still in effect which is whyt gals are so
unconcerned about the legal issues.
Some are so brazen, especially in Pattaya that they have an all inclusive 1500 Baht fee which even includes the room upstairs. Since the small room only has a large bed and a shower, it seems quite obvious the "special service" isn't to play pool!
soc.culture.thai discussion of Laws vs. West vs. Eastern morality being forced on Thailand and my reaction of how cleverly the Thai's wrote their laws to say "Prostitution is Illegal" but not interfere with the huge economic engine of sex tourists nor interfere much with Thai sexual traditions:
The Ancient Mariner from Thailand wrote:
The East's sense of ethics, morals and such like is rather different from that of the West. Most westerners have difficulty in comprehending this and try to impose the West's sense and sensibility to the East. They have even succeeded in brain-washing many of the East, resulting in a lot of mixed-up people and society.
Laws is one things. What people are allowed to do is another. Prostitution may be illegal in Thailand, but everybody is doing it, mates.
Thai people and many others in the East are hypocrites. While hypocrisy is a vice in the West, I am beginning to think that it is a virtue in the East (and I am not being sarcastic).
Dave replies:
After finding more research on the Thai laws I have great respect for how in their infinite wisdom the East (Thailand at least).
They may have reluctantly met some of the demands form the West but in such a clever way that it made no real difference to their traditions
or economic benefits.
From my limited understanding (and interested in learning more) Thailand was probably very much under attack by Western groups and feminists over the The Prostitution Suppression Act of 1960 that was the "law of the land" for
36 years. It only carried a modest 2000 baht penalty for a prostutute and no penaltiy for the customer based on the idea that men had the right to have sexual satisfaction (not a bad idea I wish we would learn in the U.S)!
It also only provided penalties for children sex if under 15 which is/was the age of consent.
The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 then followed which basically exempted all bars, gogo's and massage places from the definition of prostitution establishments and made it legal for them to offer "special
services." When I was in Bangkok and Pattaya 2 weeks ago and when looking for just regular therapeutic massage for my tight neck from hotel massage women etc, they all offered me "special services" I didn't realize the legal importance of that term until I returned and found that
wording related to the 1966 Entertainment Places Act.
Then I bet due to the outcry of feminists and "child protectors" and pressure from the United
Nations, in 12/96 Thailand passed The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996,
a very strict law that makes it a serious crime to engage a prostitute if she is under age 18.
And to sound nice to the West and the feminists the Thai government says:
"Safeguarding the welfare of Thai women and children is a national priority for the Government of Thailand. Of particular concern to the Royal Thai Government is the exploitation of children for the purpose of commercial sex. Young girls and boys too often are lured or forced into working in brothels and other sexually oriented establishments by profiteers."
But the real clever part is...other than brothels most bargirls, massage providers, and gogo's are still exempt if they full within the "special services" provisions of the Entertainment Places Act which was not
repealed in the 1996 Act. It seems to me that this only left brothels with potential problems.
BUT...assuming the provider is over age 18 what is the penalty?
This 1996 Act adds a provision for the first time that goes after the
customer. But the only penalty is a maximum of 1000 Baht ($US25). It
reduces the penalty for the prostitute from 2000B under the repealed 1960 Act
to 1000B
But it seems the offense must be committed "openly and shamelessly or a nuisance to the public"
And what is "prostitution" as defined by the law?:
"prostitution" means sexual intercourse, or any other act, or the commission of any other act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner in return for earning or any other benefit..."
It does not define "promiscuous manner" and the fine is very small with no jail time option.
Another provisions says: Any person who associates with another person in a prostitution establishment for the purpose of prostitution of oneself or another person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding one thousand Baht or to both
Here the one month in jail is a bit scary... but that is the maximum penalty plus only 1000 Baht.
What is a "prostitution establishment" ?
"prostitution establishment" means a place established for prostitution or in which the prostitution is allowed, and shall include a place used for soliciting or procuring another person for prostitution
But remember under the Entertainment special services exemption all except "brothels" seem exempt anyway. Maybe that is why there are tens of thouasands of tourist entertainment places and no brothels for tourists. The brothels seem to take a very low profile and mostly only cater to Thai's. Some bars in Pattaya however for one fee, typically 1500 baht ($47US) provide both the girl and the room upstairs and they don't seem concerned about the law.
So.. it seems to appease the Western moralists trying to impose their morals on Thailand, the Thai
government very cleverly can say "Prostitution is illegal in Thailand". Yet the law is written (even if enforced) as to protect the
activities that bring in so many billions of baht to the economy which
supports so many families, women and children, and does little to change the sexual traditional morals of Thailand!
To a Westerner like me, that was very wise thinking!