chapter 6. other concepts relating to sex - Windward Community ...

and respect. But parents have mixed feelings about daughters going to Bangkok. They are proud
for their help and income, but they worry for their safety and virtue. There are fewer such
conflicts about sons since it is more expected that sons will squander money, take off for days,
and indulge in sex, cigarettes, and liquor. Additionally, because daughters traditionally stayed
close to home, the loss of a daughter to the city is a loss of labor for the family and a loss of
continuity in the village. Daughters, through their caring for parents and regular participation in
religious activities, provided connectedness and stability in villages (Lefferts, 2003, personal
communication). Young women head to Bangkok in search of wage labor and usually end up in
factories, as domestic servants, or in the sex industry. Young men also find work in Bangkok.
Many of the taxi drivers are from the Northeast, particularly Roi-Et. Roughly half the taxi drivers
I spoke with during my various trips to Bangkok were from Isan, most from Roi Et. Both men
and women sometimes end up working in the bars, brothels, and sex clubs of Bangkok and other
provinces. Money sent back from city jobs not only goes toward subsistence, but also towards
improving status, both the worker's and his/her family's. An article in the Bangkok Post
(Raksakul, 1994, Changing) quotes Dr. Preeda Prapertchob of the Khon Kaen Research and
Development Institute as saying,
The gap in villages between families who have children working in Bangkok and
families who have none is another reason why household heads support their
children migrating to the cities….Some families gain a higher income, better
living standards and use modern luxury items bought with money from their
children. The gap caused by the new consumer culture encourages people's desire
to send more and more of their children to work in Bangkok. (p. 21)
The education that SWU students receive ensures them and their families that they won't
end up working in a factory or brothel. But, the specter of migration touches students just the
same. They are not very far removed from these situations and their sometimes terrible
consequences. Many students have friends who have worked in low-paying, big city jobs.
Manisa, a second year student, has a friend who was very poor and had to leave school early to
work; so Manisa lost touch with her. Later, she heard that the girl had AIDS. When she returned
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