BANGKOK: The Red Light District in Bangkok is one of Thailand's most seedy areas, where foreign men come in search of their next pleasure. In recent months, however, reports of Europeans arriving in the Thai capital to purchase women for their travels has shocked the local community and has women's rights advocates demanding that the government do more to regulate and ensure the safety of sex workers in the country. According to S, who told Bikyamasr.com that she has been “purchased” on three separate occasions by European male travelers, the situation facing women in the country's sex industry is growing worse every day. “What happens is that the men will come and watch our show, then they will go and ask the owner how much we cost. They will negotiate the price and then we are their sex toys for however long,” she said. Her last “companion,” as they are referred to, traveled with her throughout his stay in Thailand. “I was a live performer only for my first two years, but then they said that if I wanted to continue, I had to be an escort. Now I am being purchased for weeks at a time,” S continued. During the two weeks she was hired out, her companion would travel to a new beach or resort and then force her to remain in the bedroom while he went out. “He took all my belongings, all my clothes and would go out to do whatever he wanted as I waited, naked until he got back.” She said that although it “was a fetish for me to be naked and he never hit me or anything, it was degrading so much.” For S, life has changed and he said that her specific club in Bangkok, “women are sold daily by our boss for travelers to do whatever they want with us. We are not paid any extra and it is a form of sex slavery because if we don't do it we lose our jobs.” Tourism Ministry officials, when contacted by Bikyamasr.com denied that this occurs, saying that these are stories “being made up in order to scare travelers from enjoying the great country we have.” But for women like S, who willingly joined the sex world of Bangkok, their situation has become dramatically different as more and more tourists look to hire and “escort” during their travels. “I had no problem doing the sex shows. It was my job and I chose to do that because the money was good, but I did not want to be hired to be someone's sex slave. This is the problem.”
