The following article is condensed from the book The Lonely Sex Tourist in which John Kane attempts to describe a more complex picture than just abuse of children and abuse of women.
There are those who will tell you that the world is involved in a War on Sex. History will tell us that it is US President George W. Bush’s war. Early in his presidency (2000) he was responsible for the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) program in which most countries are still pressured to report to the United States on various aspects of their culture of sex under pressure of economic sanctions if they don’t do their part in this War on Sex.
Second, President G. W. Bush passed the President’s Emergency Program For Aids Relief (PEPFAR) program that should his greatest legacy, a humanitarian effort to irradicate HIV/AIDS. Initially 15 billion dollars was set aside for medical research to attack HIV/AIDS. PEPFAR, unfortunately, is also a shocking example of political extortion. Before a country can get a share of that money from the United States, they must accept a written pledge to aggressively attack prostitution in their country. This was the end of many existing programs to distribute condoms, a very important program to reduce HIV. Brazil turned down several millions of dollars offered under PEPFAR because Brazil had great success working with organized Brazil sex work groups.
Recently a report said that the PEPFAR program is still fully functioning and has had over 70 billion US tax dollars at its disposal since 2000 with no clear distinction between that which was used for HIV/AID research as opposed to conducting aggressive attacks on sex around the world.
Non-Government Organization (NGOs) in the United States and around the world bid for grants. To understand that process you might read the story about Somaly Mam, an NGO leader in Cambodia and her husband (easy to Google) who explained to us that all NGOs working in this field know to tell their most emotional stories to rack in donations in competition with all the other NGOs. The Somaly Mam story teaches us that in this process, the truth is the first victim.
In a public meeting, the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) of the United States Embassy in Bangkok told us that ten agencies of the United States Government, nine with offices in Bangkok, have a role to play in the war against sex around the world. I am curious how many offices are there around the world which have a role in George W. Bush’s war against sex.
Is the United States leading a War Against sex? That is for you to decide. Maybe “War” is too harsh a term. It is my opinion that, wittingly or unwitting, President G.W. Bush, and a handful of senior Congressmen were and many are still proselytizing the very conservative sex culture of the United States which is out of step with far more progressive culture of sex common around the world.
In articles here this writer will talk about social changes that have huge affect on role of sex work and sex trafficking. Population is still growing although a little slower, but it is still growing. The nature of work, especially for men, has changed. Loneliness for both women and for men is a little discussed pandemic. Long term relationships, monogamy and religious control are all in decline. When these changes to society are taken into consideration, we should carefully consider if our understanding of, and our demands for standard sex practices are something which must be globalized now when they never have been before. And should one country’s injection of money and promotion of their understanding of sexual cultures become the global standard under which we must all behave into an uncertain future.
When this lonely sex tourist has met sex workers intimately in many of the largest known locations to find sex workers and how can he explain that across the board the vast majority seem happy and self-confident. They and I seemed to have had uninhibited pleasure in each other’s company. I have said this many times: where are those scared, abused women who expected to welcome a rescue? If a big number of sex workers are happy and certainly not in danger, it is time to reevaluate the huge amount of money being spent to deal with a big social problem, which may not be so big after all. Let’s answer that question before anything else.
This writer is a big fan of books, but Google and You Tube are enough to follow up this article:
About PEPFAR
Latest TIP report from the United State Department of State
https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/
The War on Sex, David M. Halperin and Trevor Hoppe, 2017, Duke University Press
The War on Human Trafficking, U. S. Policy Assessed, Anthony M. Desteffano, 2007, Rutgers University Press.
