absolutelyBangkok archive · Books & Movies
Originally published Sept. 21, 2009
Not much to add. This is a YouTube upload of “Girlfriend for Sale” filmed for Britain’s Channel 4. It’s been a while since it was on air in December 2007. But hell, while some get wiser and learn, some don’t — and are not less happy.
It’s the same old story over and over again. Film crews followed two girls, Fon, a bar worker, and Yek, a karaoke singer. All they want is to find a foreign man to whisk them away from a life of poverty and provide for the children.
For foreign men searching for petite Thai wives the red light districts of Bangkok and tourist resorts are full of Eastern promise. But for the women who work there life couldn’t be less glamorous. I know, nothing new, but still:
21-year-old Fon who sells her body to tourists hands her wages over to a woman, one of the only in the area with a computer and good grasp of English. She charges the girls to send and reply to emails from potential providers.
Yek, 32, has two young children. But posting photographs of herself on the internet in the hope of finding a foreign love but is having little success.
Neither Fon nor Yek will tell you something you didn’t know yet. But a fate with a face makes us voyeurs feel at least slightly less comfortable. But then again, it seems all so natural, why bother to question one’s own comfort zone.
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