Legal Prostitution: Turkey and Thailand - Research Paper Example

Prostitution Turkey Prostitution is legal in Turkey (procom.org.)The website further states brothel ownership has limited legality, only in the country’s 56 state supervised “general houses. Pimping is illegal unless one considers the state itself as a pimp for collecting fees from registered sex workers ostensibly to provide health checks for STDs ass often as twice a week. There are 15,000 registered prostitutes in Turkey of whom 3,000 work in the state brothels, and an estimated 100,000 unregistered in the country.

For some unknown reason, curiously sex workers cannot be married and their children are barred from occupying high rank in the army or police or marrying persons of such rank. However while prostitution is legal the current state tolerance for it is diminishing with the election of the Islamic AKP party. (Susaman 2012) Their anti prostitution ideology promotes the notion of family values at the expense of women’s rights including that of working in the sex industry if they wish. The granting of brothel license4s and registration of prostitutes at first slowed but in the last 3 years stopped completely.

With inadequate education and employability skills in other fields, this has forced many to work illegally without registration, Even at $15-$30 per client a decent living in the Turkish sex industry is possible.. Brothel licenses are not being renewed under the guise they must be closed for redevelopment and/or they are incompatible with schools and mosques in the neighborhood and street –workers are being hassled by police under various laws such as ”interfering with traffic” or “behavior against public order”.

Thailand In Thailand prostitution, brothel ownership and pimping are all illegal and have been so since 1928. (ProCon.Org) Yet it is an omnipresent part of the society, tacitly accepted and toleratedwith brothels in the countryside and at Bangkok’s garish girlie bars and massage parlors. The industry is estimated to account for 3% of Thailand’s economy or about US 4.3 billion a year. Of course because prostitution is illegal brothel owners likely don’t feel compelled to minimize sex workers’ risk of STD infection by facilitating regular health checks.

Also competitive pressure and a demand for unprotected sex not only promote cheap rates but also deter condom use. Mensendiek (1997) postulates in her article that the economic development policies of the Thai government are unwittingly promoting Thailand’s sex industry both on the supply and demand sides. On the supply side she argues that contact with Indian and Chinese patriarchal cultures has shifted rural Thai women from being matriarchal, at the same time while still having traditional responsibilities to care for their aged and younger siblings..In other words, they have lost their ability to take care of these responsibilities from farm income because they have been taken over by government sponsored large-scale farms, tourist resorts and national parks.

This has resulted in these women turning to prostitution especially in urban areas to meet their domestic obligations. On the supply side tourism (not specifically sex tourism of course) has been promoted by the government to bring Thailand out of debt. However the spin off effect of resort, trekking and golf tours in addition to the specific sex oriented tours fuels the sex industry. Finally, not only women but also children and men have been recruited to satisfy these market demands. Comparison Turkey and Thailand History has shown there will always be a demand for prostitution whether legal or not.

Historically the Turkish model of registering prostitutes and allowing government supervised brothels permitted some degree of safety both in the health and physical safety of sex workers by the use of the requirement of mandated health checks limiting the risks of STDs and protection from unruly patrons by coworkers and security guards in brothels. Unfortunately in my opinion Turkey is now moving in the wrong direction. Although prostitution still flourishes illegally, protection for sex workers has been virtually eliminated.

Even though the ideology and some of the legalities differ, the situation in Thailand is essentially similar, that is both countries now have huge illegal sex industries offering little protection for their workers. In my opinion, prostitution should be legal and government supervised in both countries, but in addition females in particular should have greater educational and employment opportunities so that they can make meaningful choices about what kind of work they wish to pursue. Works Cited1) Mesendiek, Martha “Women, Migration and Prostitution in Thailand” International Social Work 1997 40.

163 retrieved from http://isw.sagepub.com/content/40/2/163.refs.html.2) Susaman, Amy “Turkey. The Brothel Next Door” Pulitzer Center on Crises Reporting May 15, 2012 retrieved from http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/turkey-sex-trade-workers-prostitution-government.3) ProCom.Org “Prostitution December 23, 2013” retrieved from http://prostitution.procon.org/viewresourcesphp?resourcesID=000772.