Notice: there is content in this blog that is not appropriate for children.
Prostitution is rampant in Bangkok. It’s estimated that there are 40,000 people working in prostitution in the city. 40,000 in one city. Think about that.
Would you believe me if I told you prostitution is illegal in Bangkok? Yes, it is. But you’d never know that, because it happens everywhere. It’s estimated that sex tourism brings in about 60% of the city’s income. Of course the government doesn’t want to shut these bars down. Doing that would shut the city down.
This month we've been in the thick of this environment. A couple times a week we went to the bars to reach out to the workers. DtonNaam reaches out primarily to ladyboys. Let me tell a little about this.
The third gender is common in Thailand. They believe everyone has a spirit inside of them that determines their gender. Many young boys are told they are females from a young age. They are given girl names and raised as daughters. When they reach their teenage years and into adulthood they take horrendous amounts of hormone pills (I heard about one who would took a whole month’s worth everyday) and many have sex change surgeries.
Many of them come to Bangkok to work in the bars because it’s a good paying job. The ladyboys we’ve seen in the bars would fool you for women. It’s hard to tell they are actually men. There are bars that are advertised as ladyboy bars. These are the ones we would go to during bar outreach.
Walking through the red light districts at night- streets that have nothing but bars and strip clubs on them- we saw bright neon signs flashing from the buildings advertising dancing, ping-pong (don’t be fooled, it’s not the game), and sex shows. Scantily clad women stand out on the street, luring customers in.
Once inside, the customer can sit and have a drink with the women and watch the dancing. He can then choose a woman or ladyboy to buy for the night to take back to his hotel. The cost for a person for one night is 600 baht. Twenty dollars. And these women do this night after night after night for years with only two nights off a month.
One of the things that's been hardest for me to see is the men who come in to these places. Some are Thai men who justify what they do by saying they are supporting the local economy and the women in the city. Many are foreigners who travel to Bangkok for sex tourism. It’s hard for me not to look at every man walking down the street in the red light district with disgust and a burning anger and a strong to beat some sense into them. “What are you thinking? Don’t you have any shame in what you’re doing??”.
This has been something I’ve had to pray about often and ask God to give me His love for them because I sure can’t show them that on my own. God reminded me that these men are broken, lonely, and have been hurt in their past, and are searching for fulfillment. Unfortunately, they’re looking in the wrong places. But God still loves them and wants them to love Him back. This helped me a little with the burning anger part but still doesn’t make the whole situation okay. It’s still hard for me as I see all this happening.
This is a spiritually dark and heavy place. We would cover ourselves in prayer before and after we went into one of these settings and would never go more than a few nights a week because of the intense environment. It's disheartening to see so many living life like this.
I hope that the relationships we built with these ladyboys will make a difference and that God will continue to work in their hearts long after we're gone. Say a prayer for Bangkok today and all who are engulfed in the city's sex industry.
Kendall and I with some of the ladyboys from the bar. Told ya they'd fool you for women!
