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Sex Work with Foreigners a Job that Some Won't Turn Down

Srey Mom, a bright 22-year-old woman, is a sex worker in Phnom Penh.

She laughs when she is told that she may be the target of NGOs and government actions and gently but firmly says she has no intention of leaving the trade- at least not until she becomes "too ugly."

Mom and her friends, however, target foreign men who come to Cambodia looking for sexual partners, aiming to find a position as a girlfriend for however long the man is interested in being with just one girl. Relationships are built based on mutual distrust but also on an acceptance of roles, Mom said. Navy, a friend of Srey Mom's, has a boyfriend who cheats on her all the time and treats her badly.

"I don't like it when he treats me like this but through him I can get enough money for my family and to save for the future," Navy said. "And I haven't always been faithful to him either- when there were other opportunities, I take them."

Vanna was trafficked from her home village in Kompong Cham province three years ago. She said that she was told of a job as a waitress and jumped at the chance to escape poverty and earn money for her family. When she arrived in Phnom Penh she was taken to a brothel where she remained for two years. Vanna was rescued twice. The first time she returned to the brothel on her own volition. "I didn't have anything else I could do," Vanna said. "The people there were my family even though I hated the work. And I couldn't go back to my village for fear of shame. So what could I do?"

The second time she was rescued she was taught to read and write by a shelter, even learning some English. But she again returned to the sex trade. This time friends introduced her to foreigners in Western bars, she said. Now she says that the options offered by NGOs hold no interest for her.

"I can earn anything from US$200 a week sometimes it's much more," Vanna said. "It may not be a wonderful job, but I don't want to work in a garment factory for US$45 a month. What choice would you make?"

Behind the bravado, there's a hint of wishtfulness when talking about the future. Navy said no respectable man will want her and that her clients are very unlikely to offer her anything more than short-term stability. She said she knows she will not be able to continue as a sex worker for ever.

But the women do not see themselves as victims. "Sometimes I get sad and sometimes I get treated badly, but I chose to do this," Vanna said. "If you try to help me then you are trying to stop me doing want I really want to do."

Srey Mom agreed. "If anyone can help me, they can help by stop judging me and stop thinking they know what I think," she said. "I'm a prostitute but I've seen other people do worse."

Adapted from: Roo Griffiths. "Sex Work with Foreigners a Job that Some Won't Turn Down." Cambodia News & World Report, September 2007; Issue 6; Year 1.