America’s sex war

In Sunday July 22’s Loser/Winner column, it was sad to see the Thai Minister of Social Security and Human Development Anataporn Kanjanarat so eager to improve Thailand’s ranking in the US State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. More countries are resisting the TIP and refuse to do the bidding of the United States regarding issues of sex. Those that don’t cooperate don’t make the news, beyond their own country’s borders.

Countries have their own sex culture just as they have unique culture of music or art. For 18 years, since the election of George W Bush, very conservative Christians have had significant influence on the US government. Using the TIP as their tool, these American influences are proselytising very conservative American sexual values throughout the world. When you read widely about trafficking, it quickly becomes clear that stories are often exaggerated and used to attack the sex trade, not the trafficking of people. At the same time, Thailand is undergoing rural to urban migration and sex work is a very portable skill during that transition. All over the world, poor people resort to sex work and all over the world those same people are desperate to move across borders to where the same work earns more money. Not taking guidance from the US State Department is a good first step to treating sexual issues as migration and human rights concerns, and not just criminal concerns for America. America’s War on Sex has become their new War on Drugs. JOHN KANE