Thai sex workers heard

Just over a month ago I published some facts about sex workers in Asia that conflict with many Westerners’ understanding [“Foreign fuck,” Sasha, Feb. 2]. I received a lot of mail about this. People were outraged that I would even think about putting a positive face on third world prostitution, even without considering some of the genuinely terrible and involuntary situations women and children find themselves in. I sent some of the response along to Empower, a sex worker rights organization in Thailand. Here are some of their thoughts:

We read Sasha’s article and we read some of your responses. Unlike Sasha’s article that includes our voices, your responses do not. What is it that makes you so confident to speak on our behalf? Is it that we aren’t white? Is it that English or French are not our mother tongue? Is it because our country is not as rich as yours? Is it that we are smaller than you? Whatever the reason, we never said we needed you to be our heroes, we didn’t fight patriarchy to have it replaced by matriarchy, so just stop it.

We are not little children in need of your protection. We are adult women who need our rights. Our right to speak for ourselves, our right to work in safe and fair conditions at whatever work we choose, our right to make our own decisions, including the right to make bad decisions just like you, and the right to improve the conditions in our industry. You don’t have the right to judge our decisions. You have no right to tell us who to be with. You don’t like to see us with rich American or European men, so who do you want us to be with? Are we meant to only be with poor Asian men?

Trafficking is a social problem that we sex workers are more than willing to help society solve, but we can’t solve it alone and how can we help you when you relegate us to the role of victims who are so stupid we don’t even know we’re victims? Most working women in the world do not have multiple options of what work they will do. We work to put food on the table and to build a good life for our families. Most women are not academics, astronauts and businesswomen. Most are cleaners, factory workers, sewers, nurses, hawkers, cooks, sex workers and waitresses. Yes, there aren’t enough options, and let’s change that together, but removing one option does not increase the options. Quite the opposite.

As for poverty, can you imagine the number of sex workers there would be if every poor woman in Asia sold sex? For customers and all those concerned about our welfare, support our call for recognition of our rights as workers, like protection under labour laws and social security, occupational health and safety standards and decriminalization of adult sex work. That’s it, no heroics required. Give us our rights and we will do the rest!

There you have it, straight from the whore’s mouth.

» Sasha

Mirror anti-Conservative!

Every week you have a section called “Angel & Insect,” apparently pointing out what you consider to be the good and bad events of the past week. The April 6 Insect is “Harper’s domestic agenda.” You criticize the Conservative agenda for including “tougher prison sentences for gun crimes, tighter parole rules, stronger controls on child pornography and an expanded DNA database of convicted criminals.” How can anyone criticize these necessary reforms? Is the Mirror automatically opposed to all measures brought in by a Conservative government?

» Barry Merson

Fringe noise

Although I’m not too fond of the way that the Fringe (TM) has been running their Montreal Fest in the past few years, I have to agree with them in the case of the noise complaints on the main [“Fringe collision, March 30]. If you buy an apartment/condo on St-Laurent, don’t expect it to be quiet. Move to Westmount if you want quiet.

However, I do find it odd that [Fringe artistic director] Jeremy Hechtman claims that the whole Fringe festival is in trouble because of the loss of beer revenue when they have a budget of $300,000. I know that the Infringement Festival operated with about $750 last year, had over 65 acts and 13 venues. Surely they can operate with even a fraction of their $300,000

But even though I don’t see it as the great tragedy that Jeremy Hechtman is painting it to be, I’m with him in this case because frankly, these complaints are pretty absurd.

» Jay Lemieux, Montreal Infringement Festival

Indian inspires

Great review of Bombay Choupati by Mark Slutsky [“A dose of dosas,” Resto, March 30]. I also heard about it through a friend about two years ago (who the hell would see that place next to Shooters and the XXX video store?), and no other Indian restaurant has been able to compare since. Mmm, I could go for some naan right now... Thanks for continuing to be an informative resto source, and a dozen compliments to the chef(s) at Bombay Choupati!

» Antonella F.

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