Sirisak “Ton” Chaited
Human rights activist for equality and visibility of LGBTQIA+ community, as well as sex workers
Why are you campaigning for sex workers?
One of my life purposes is to be a human rights activist, especially for equality for the LGBTQIA+ community and sex workers. I have been campaigning for them for decades. I am also an independent sex worker.
We are the fuel that drives Thailand’s GDP and the tourism industry. Tourists visiting Thailand desire to experience our speciality. On the flip side, when the country is in trouble, we are the first ones that the state and society blame. We understand that our job involves physical activities and we are willing to take a break. But why are we now neglected by everyone?
What are your demands?
They can be divided into two stages. For our lifelong quest — which I and others have been advocating for decades — is the legalisation of prostitution by abolishing the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996). It has been a stumbling block for us for years, preventing us from accessing the social welfare and help we deserve. Many people may label our profession as shameful or immoral, but, actually, sex workers aren’t that different from those so-called ‘honourable profession’. We all go through an interview process and experience office culture like timestamp attendance.
When the government shut down our places, we were left for dead. Although soapy massage parlours and entertainment venues are legal in Thailand, we sex workers are still labelled as illegal.
We put on our high heels and brought our bikinis to the Government House on June 29 as a symbolic gesture to call for monthly handouts of B5,000 in cash. Why cash? Because those e-wallets on the application provided by the government are impractical. There are still some expenses that those applications cannot cover like monthly rental fees and utility bills.
Has the government responded?
‘We will consider [your demand] and find a solution as soon as possible’, is what we were told. We have heard this kind of response every time we submit petitions to government administrations. What pisses me off more is that they ended our conversation with ‘Let’s go back to rest and go back to work.’ What the heck? Are you even listening to what we just said? We are jobless!
Are you going to stop?
We are exhausted, but the show must go on. We have to raise our voices to make them aware of our existence. We delivered a petition on June 29, wishing that our request will be a topic at the next House meeting, but the meeting had to be adjourned due to the lack of a quorum of MPs on June 30.
How can the public help?
All we want right now is encouragement. Please see us as human beings and recognise our career as one of the alternative professions. We are also collecting 10,000 names to abolish the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act. You can support us on the iLaw page via this link bit.ly/3Aom4KX. Or make a donation to the Empower Foundation at fb.com/empowerfoundation.cm.