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The Internet and Web, as communication tools, enable men
to merge the role of predators and pimps. They extend their experiences of buying women
and children by writing about it and sharing it with other predators. Texts, images and
videos that describe or show the exploitation or abuse of a woman or child can be shared
online with the world. No longer isolated, men can reach out to find a community of
like-minded predators on the Internet. Through this online community, they can share their
experiences and gain validation for their behavior. They can engage in amateur pimping by
advising others on how and where to prey on women and children all over the world.
Venues on the Internet for reporting and engaging in the non-commercial sexual
exploitation of women and children are newsgroups, web pages, chat rooms and live video
teleconferencing.
Predators Report on Their Exploitation of Women
and Children
The oldest forum on the Internet for promoting the sexual exploitation
of women and children is the newsgroup alt.sex.services (renamed alt.sex.prostitution).
Its "aim is to create market transparency for sex related services" (Atta
and M., World Sex Guide, June 1997). Postings from this newsgroup are archived into
a World Wide Web site called The World Sex Guide, which provides "comprehensive,
sex-related information about every country in the world." The guide includes
information and advice from men who have bought women and children on where and how to
find and buy prostituted women and children in seventy countries from seven world regions
(Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and
South America). For each country, if known, the age of consent is reported. The slogan of The
World Sex Guide in 1996 was "Fuckers of the world unite!" It became "Where
do you want to fuck today?" in 1997; and in 1998, took on the more pretentious
title of "A research project about prostitution worldwide."[4]
The World Sex
Guide
Where do you want to fuck today?
The men write about their experiences buying women and
children in prostitution, often while they were traveling on business or holiday. Many of
the men’s prostitution tour reports begin like this:
"I have a good knowledge of brothels in Brazil,
due to my frequent journeys during the last 5 years"[5]
"Having some experience with the scene in New Zealand I would like
to offer the following advice"[6]
"Another of my ‘catching up’ reports on present
knowledge of hot spots around the globe, this time from Bristol, England"[7]
"This three day trip happened in June 1995. On the flight I read all the
information I had printed out from The World Sex Guide-I had a lot of expectations of the
City of Angels [Bangkok]"[8]
Details of the men’s reports of their buying
experiences include: information on where to go to find prostitutes, hotel prices,
telephone numbers, taxi fares, cost of alcohol, the sex acts that can be bought, the price
for each act, and evaluations of the women’s appearances and performances. One man
includes a rating scale on the likelihood of getting mugged in that neighborhood. The men
go on to describe, often in graphic detail, their experiences of drinking and using women.
These are not sexual fantasies as can be found in other alt.sex newsgroups
on the Internet.
In the men’s writings, the women are completely objectified and
evaluated on everything from skin color to presence of scars and firmness of their flesh.
Women’s receptiveness and compliance to men buyers is also rated. The men buying
women and posting the information see and perceive the events only from their
self-interested perspective. Their awareness of racism, colonization, global economic
inequalities, and of course, sexism, is limited to how these forces benefit them. A
country’s economic or political crisis and the accompanying poverty are advantages
which produce cheap available women for the men to buy. Often men describe how desperate
the women are and how little the men have to pay.
For example, although the United States has had a trade embargo against Cuba for 36
years, and the State Department discourages Americans from traveling to Cuba, "some
find the taboo of prohibition alluring," and in 1998, 50,000 Americans visited
Cuba.[9] The following are several excerpts by men who recognize that the women in Cuba
are not engaging in prostitution by choice, but buy them nonetheless and brag to other men
about how inexpensive they were.
Cuba Report These women are not whores by
choice, nor are they doing it just to buy jewelry. Because they are average women caught
in circumstances beyond their control it is all that much easier to fall for them--and
even harbor the idea of marrying one of them and bringing her back with you. At the same
time, a guy with enough hard currency can have the time of his life in what is probably
the most romantic city in the world. … In ten days I met and entertained five women;
four were 18 or 19 years old.[10]
Cuba Bits Bring little gifts like panty hose and perfume and
you’ll be treated like a king.[11]
Prostitution in Cuba Some of the girls never asked for money.
Give them something anyway. Bring SOME OLD CLOTHES. SMALL PRESENTS are quite welcomed.[12]
Men who have bought women and children in prostitution write-up their
experiences for postings on the alt.sex.prostitution newsgroup and its archive The
World Sex Guide. They do not appear to have a commercial interest in the prostitution.
They are writing for a peer group of men who buy women and girls in prostitution. They
share their experiences and give each other advice and information on where to go to find
women and girls and what they might expect in that particular city or establishment.
The men’s guides include everything from currency
exchange rates to how to run a bar tab. The names, addresses and phone numbers for 150
hotels where men will feel comfortable are listed.[13] All the city sections and their
sexual specialties are listed and described, such as massage parlors, discos, escort
services, Japanese clubs, short-time hotels, and blow job bars. There are detailed
descriptions on all of them. At these Web sites the men present an etiquette and
buyer’s guide on how men should behave and solicit in all of these places. The
graphic descriptions of men’s buying experiences are also a form of pornography on
the Internet. The scope and detail of this exchange is completely unprecedented.
Some of the men posting information on the alt.sex.prostitution newsgroup are
quite straightforward about their misogyny and sadism. Some men claim to "love"
prostitutes, but their words reveal their true hatred of women. The descriptions of the
women are usually callous, with disregard for the women as human beings. To these men the
women are literally sexual objects to be bought for a few minutes at the cheapest prices
they can bargain for. While listing the prices for services one man says, "The
price listed is the normal price, not the dying-for-some-crack price. If she’s a
substance abuser doesn’t matter, I guess most are." One older woman in
Canadian who had lost her teeth was described as "good for blowjobs."[14]
In Juarez, Mexico the women were described as "mostly pretty ugly."[15]
The prices men pay in many cities throughout the world show that the women must be
desperate to engage in these sex acts for so little money and they cannot be making much
money-maybe enough for basic survival.
The following are a few examples of the types of
postings men make to alt.sex.prostitution. Although the postings selected are
sexually descriptive, I have not included material that is highly graphic. I have omitted
names of establishments because I do not want to further advertise places where women and
children can be bought.
The following is an example of the advice men give to one another on
how to go about buying a girl or woman in a bar in Bangkok, Thailand. In the following
man’s posting, he mentions that the women in bars are not identified by names, but by
numbers pinned to their skimpy clothes, reducing the woman or girl’s identity to a
number. The "tough boyfriends" referred to are the pimps and bar owners who
collect the money from the women, often giving only a small percent of it to the women.
Thailand Scene "The Procedure [in Bangkok]: This is for
the most part very simple. If you are in a bar and you see a girl that you like, you can
either send for her (they wear numbers), go to her when she is not dancing or just try and
catch her eye. In a crowded bar this last method often will be unsuccessful. Again many of
the girls are very shy and will not look you in the eye or they will not chance coming
over because if you turn them down they will lose face in front of their friends. But once
you are with them, buy them a cola-$3-4 - they get part of the proceeds and this will put
them in a good mood. Try and get a feeling for their personality. Most of them will speak
very little English beyond "Where you from?" "How long you stay in
Thailand" "Where you stay?" and of course they are quite good with amounts.
A surprising amount though do speak decent English as it is taught in a number of their
schools and many have had farang [Western] boyfriends. If you decide that this is the girl
that you want to spend some time with - the negotiations begin. Do you want "long
time" (all night) or "short time" (usually one cum). Do your best to come
to an agreement on price. This can avoid much aggravation later on. Many of the girls
won’t give a price for fear that you will refuse, so they say "Up to you."
Depending on your generosity they will later on be satisfied or pissed off. Unless
you’re a real cheap bastard the girls will usually be happy with what you give them.
O.K. you have agreed to leave together and now you find out there is a "bar
fine" - an amount charged by the bar for the girl to leave - usually it ranges from
$12-16, but it keeps going up. Oh well, you’ve come this far so you pay the bar fine.
Now you can either go back to your hotel or one of the short-time hotels that will be
close by. This decision might depend on how discreet you want to be in bringing a girl
back to your hotel. The short-time hotels are pretty cheap I think - $10 at most -
I’ve only used them twice a long time back. If you go back to your hotel you either
have to check her in with the front desk (and in the top hotels charge another $20 extra)
or in some hotels - my preference - just go up to your room. Once there, you will both
take showers separately and then get down to business. Only pay as the girl is getting
ready to leave. Never pay first. No girl actually has ever asked me for payment up front.
This of course leaves them open to farangs cheating them by not paying them or paying less
than the agreed upon price. Believe me, I have heard many farangs boast about this. I
think it is a lousy thing to do and these girls will spread the word as quickly as
possible about what you did and you may find it difficult to get another girl. Also, many
of these girls have very tough boyfriends who will come looking for you." [16]
The following is an excerpt from a man’s report on his prostitution tour to Boca
Chica, Dominican Republic. He describes his use of the World Wide Web search engines to
find a destination for his inexpensive holiday of buying women.
Boca Chica Travel Report "There’s
good news in the Caribbean ! Most of the rumours about Boca Chica are true !! The
following is a detailed report about my trip to Dominican Republic, which I took around
Thanksgiving last year [November, 1995]. I decided I wanted to go on vacation, but with
that decision, there were two things I had to consider: first, that I didn’t have
alot of money to spend on such things, two, that availability of sex was VERY important !!
On the money side, the Caribbean made sense: It’s close, so it doesn’t cost alot
to get there. With that decision, though, there are alot of islands to choose from !!
That’s when availability of sex came into the picture. I started with doing a search
in Netscape. The two keywords were "SEX+VACATION." The results of that search
spanned the globe from Thailand to Dominican Republic, to Amsterdam. After coming across
quite a few articles about Dominican Republic, I bought a couple of books about Dominican
Republic in general: the people, the country, etc. I went to the travel agent, and got a
pretty good deal: $747.00 (all prices are quoted in $US) for 5 nights, 6 days in the
________ RESORT including all meals (3 a day) and drinks (!), and included airfare. Upon
getting to the airport in Santo Domingo, getting through customs was easy, quick, and
painless. As soon as you get through customs you exchange your bucks right there. Then,
with a 30 minute taxi ride (which costs about $11.00), I went to resort. The _______
Resort was fabulous ! Large clean rooms (with AC [air conditioning]), good food, and
pretty good service. Boca Chica is a very small beachfront town, whose only income comes
from tourism. There’s only one "main drag," which runs parallel to the
beach for about 3/4 of a mile. It’s amazing how many bars, souvenir shops, and girls
can be crammed into such a small area ! Since it was my first night, I decided not to
spend any money yet: just walk, and take it all in. I got more propositions in that 3/4 of
a mile, than anyone could imagine !! And, the women doing the propositioning ! The range
was from absolutely stunning, to "okay." I found no unattractive girls
whatsoever. This is a very rough estimate, but I would say there were (between the
streetwalkers and girls in the bars) about 150 women in that small stretch of street. The
only small surprise was that the girls were darker than I expected, but color was also
very wide-ranging. The age range was basically 16 (some), to 20’s (most), to
30’s (some). Another very noticeable thing was how friendly all the girls were. There
was none of that "hard ass" attitude, so commonly seen here in the states. Most
of the girls speak a little English, but even if you don’t know very much Spanish,
you (and they) can pretty much get the point across. The prices are pretty good: generally
around $20.00 - $40.00, depending on the girl & what you want. Once, I had 2 BEAUTIFUL
girls (ages about 17 & 19) for a total of $65.00. Most of the girls use small, cinder
block built "motels" dotting the street and the "room charge" is about
$10.00. The prices I’m quoting are for "get in, do what you have to do, and get
out". That’s not to say I was ever hurried by anyone in any way ! One thing I
read was to negotiate prices BEFORE doing anything, which I did, so I don’t know what
would happen, otherwise." [17]
United States military personnel turned Pattaya,
Thailand from a small fishing village into a prostitution center. After the initial visit
by US soldiers in June 1959, it became a "rest and recreation" center for many
soldiers during the Vietnam War, and in the early 1990s it serviced the same function for
United Nations peacekeeping troops deployed to Cambodia. Today the beach resort has an
estimated 3,000 prostitutes, 800 bars and 30,000 hotel rooms. The following man’s
description of buying women in Pattaya, Thailand describes several types of bars and
specialty services that are offered. The man mentions Thai Kick Boxing as a form of
entertainment in the bars. Women are often coerced into performing this form of
"entertainment," which causes bruising and injuries to the women.
Pattaya Story "This is an account of
Pattaya, a city south of Bangkok. Pattaya has about 50% of its population working as bar
girls! Here there are beer bars. The beer bars are exposed, outside bars that seat maybe
25 people and are staffed with perhaps 10 girls. Up and down Pattaya beach, there must be
500 of them total! Some are more major attractions which put on some entertainment like
Thai Kick Boxing. The common ground is the bargirls. To put it in perspective, Pattaya is
the most favored shore leave for ALL the world’s navies! They say that when the 7th
fleet is in town, all hell breaks loose. Comparing Pattaya with Bangkok I found a more
laid back atmosphere, lower prices, and a less sophisticated lady. While Patpong women
tend to make up and dress in a Western style, these gals seem more "local."
Perhaps, that made them a little less attractive to me. But the focus of this part is on a
bar I ran into in Pattaya! In Bangkok they have what is called "no hands"
restaurants where your party is fed by waitresses sitting on your laps. All night long you
can use your hands elsewhere, instead of worrying about putting food and drink into your
mouth. I discovered an "upstairs" bar which only had 8 barstools. The bar itself
was chest high and had semi-circular cut-outs at each barstool. Upon entering, one was
approached by a bargirl, the massage started on the neck, and a drink bought. Only then
did my eyes become accustomed to the subdued lighting. The "special services"
offered were accomplished by the bar girl going around to the inside of the bar, kneeling
down under the bar, parting a curtain, pulling down your pants, and applying her mouth to
ones swelling member! The "special service" was accomplished for the mere sum of
250 Bhat ($10)!! WOW now that "service" would be welcome just about anywhere.
The incredible scene around one was one of XXX videos on the tube, 6 or so guys leaning on
the bar in their own cut-outs, with the wildest expressions on their faces! A sign on the
bar top said, "when pants are down around ankle, please to put valuables on top of
bar."[18]
One page on the World Wide Web promotes special shows in Bangkok where
men can pay to see women smoking cigarettes with their vaginas. The next Web page provides
a description of the razor blade show in which a woman dances and pulls two dozen razor
blades connected by a string from her vagina. A color photograph of the act is shown.
Another man describes a show in which a woman dances with two pythons and inserts the head
of one into her vagina.[20]
Predators Take Turns with One Woman
This rapid publishing electronic medium has enabled men to buy
individual women. Men can go out at night, buy a woman, go home, and acting like amateur
pimps, post the details on a newsgroup. By morning, anyone in the world with an Internet
connection can read about it and often have enough information to find the same woman. For
example, in Nevada, USA, where prostitution is legal, a man bought a woman called
"Honey." He wrote about his experience and told other men the name of the
brothel where "Honey" could be found. Within a couple of weeks other men went
and bought "Honey" themselves and posted their experiences to the newsgroup.
Within a short period of time men were having a cyberorgy of male bonding by describing
what each of them did to her. Men are keeping a special Web site for men to post their
experiences of buying this one woman.[21] Additional Web pages have been created for
"Monique" and "Katherine," who can be bought at legal brothels in
Nevada. To my knowledge this public documentation and exposure of buying an individual
women is unknown before Internet communication. The implications for this type of exchange
in a fast-publishing, easily accessible medium like the Internet are very serious for the
sexual exploitation of women in the future.
Non-Commercial Use of the Internet
for Sexual Exploitation, part 2
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