Title
I spent two weeks in Bangkok,
Thailand documenting the sex industry. I was not on assignment,
I was just shooting for myself. Friends had invited me to stay
with them, which spurred me to go.
Friendly
people were the norm, although being a westerner evoked constant
solicitations of all kinds, especially aggressive salespeople
in the streets.
Even more
interesting though, was watching the women "devour"
my male buddies as we would walk past. I've never been in
a situation where the gender roles were so dramatically switched.
They would eye them, sometimes grab them and try their best
to seduce them to get their business as clients.
I stayed
in the clubs and on the streets late into the night, sometimes
until sunrise, and I never felt unsafe. (Maybe because the
men were being sexed?)
Many of
the Western men (at least in my age range) with Thai prostitutes
would quickly glance away from me, and a few accused me of
being a spy. Some seemed to be ashamed, almost as if I had
access, to their dismay, to their secret men's club. But on
the whole, I sensed no stigma in this culture toward prostitution.
It is just a way of life.
Our hotel
was between two prostitution districts, and after evening
arrived, prostitution flourished. The women are beautiful,
and every man I spoke to said the temptation to sleep with
them was intense. Some did it, others said they were too fearful
of disease. And rightly so, AIDS is no stranger to Bangkok.
My feelings
toward the plight of women there wavered from feeling great
empathy and despair for their unfortunate situations, to feeling
like they are good at seducing and manipulating the men to
get what they
want. I guess I saw some of both.
Most of
the women I spoke to are mothers, some are married. One woman
told me she sends money to her mother, husband and children
living in another town who believe she works in a factory.
Many of
the women were leary of having their photograph taken because
they feared exposure on Internet, which is one of the many
factors that made photographing the sex industry tricky.
Only a
couple of my shots were taken covertly or really fast so people
wouldn't notice. Most were of people that allowed me to be
there.
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Sometimes
I worked on my own, other times I went out with my male friends.
Sometimes I worked to get in and hang out with groups of guys
that were there for a good time. Each situation had it's own
unique advantages and disadvantages.
Final
observations:
There's lots of old western men with these young beautiful
women. The little girls who sell roses to the men wandering
the sex clubs don't go to school, are out all night, and see
things they shouldn't. I became close with a couple of them,
and it made me really sad. I'm glad I went. I learned a lot.
Loretta
Rae
Loretta
is a freelance photographer from Orlando, based out of New
York City. Portraits and documentary work are her specialities,
but she enjoys working on all kinds of projects.
Loretta
earned a master’s in mass communication/
photojournalism from the University
of Florida. Loretta was also a student at the Eddie
Adams workshop, and credits it with introducing her to
many great minds in photography early in her career.
She has worked at a newspaper in Jackson Hole and has worked
with some of the best photographers around, including Eddie
Adams, Heinz Kluetmeier and Martin Schoeller, to name a few.
Loretta
has recently joined Corbis
as a contributer and you can also check out her work at
Loretta's own site.
--Loretta
Rae
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