Oh, What You Learn: Sex Tourism

Before any of you continue to read, I want to put out a warning. If you are a person to get a little squirmish on sensitive matters, this post may be hard for you to read. If you don't read this post fill free to read any of Janice and my older post. But I do highly suggest reading this post.

The topic today is sex tourism. I am currently reading a book, I am a book worm after all. This book is called God in a Brothel an Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue, by Daniel Walker. The book is extremely good and I think that everyone should read it. Weather you believe in God or not. At the start of the book the author explains how he wrote the book in a way that if you aren't a Christian you wont be overwhelmed. I would continue on about the book, but I will save that for another post. Right now I really just want to talk about one part of the book.

Daniel is an undercover officer and he did jobs were he helped get girls out of brothels and the sex trade. Anyway, there is a chapter called: Southeast Asia Her Name is Mahal. The chapter is very good but it talks a lot about sex tourism. The area that he was in, the bars dealt a lot with sex tourist. He describes the men in them as, "some fit the image of the stereotypical sex tourist: overweight, unattractive and with few social skills. Others looked like men who could easily have been my mechanic, my bank manager, my barber or my neighbor."

A sex tourist doesn't just have one specific look. But at the bars Daniel went to, if you wanted to take one of the young girls back to your hotel room, you had to pay $25 first. Oh my goodness. On a side note. That is just so heart breaking to me. You pretty much can't get a pair of jeans that cheap at a department story. Do you understand that? People can buy sex for less then a pair of jeans. I can hardly go to the store and get food, as a college student for $25. I generally pay more. This fact makes me sick to my stomach and want to cry. I think that it is horrible that the world is in a place where we sell people for nothing. I think that it is horrid that people are being sold at all. At this particular site the girls that were rescued were between the ages of 12 and 14. This is just so crazy to me. And completely unacceptable.

I will continue now. After the rescue had been done, later on, Daniel had gotten a letter from one of the girls. She had not been at the bar long but she thanked Daniel and told him she would never forget him. She told him that she was going to reach for her dreams and become a lawyer to help other girls who are in similar situations, like she use to be in. And she told him to never stop what he was doing. Want to know something about her?

She had been in the bar for 5 nights and then the bust happened. She is what they called a "cherry girl." She was a virgin that was up for sale at the bars. "And while many were interested, none was ready to pay more then $900 for her virginity." It goes on to say that, "cherry popping is very popular among the many sex tourists who traverse the world."

Janice and I are just so out raged about this and filled with such a fire to see the sex industry stopped, not just locally or in some other country, but world wide. Sex trafficking needs to be stopped. Why? Why? Maybe not even why, but how? Why would a person ever want to have sex with a 12 year old girl but also how on God's green earth could that give a person satisfaction. This needs to be stopped. Sex tourism needs to be stopped. Sex with under aged girls needs to stop. This all needs to stop!

Now that I have gone on that little rant her are some facts the Daniel puts in the book about sex tourism.

1. Sex tourism is defined as traveling to a foreign country for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity.
2. Sex tourism is a lucrative industry that spans the globe.
3. As tourist travel to explore foreign cultures, economically developing countries have welcomed the expansion of the international tourism industry as a much needed source of income
4. Travel agencies around the globe promote exotic sexual adventures with overseas women. Websites provide potential sex tourists with pornographic accounts written by other tourists. These websites supply information on sex establishments and prices in various destinations, including information on how to specifically procure the prostitute of your choice. Associated with the exponential rise in this industry is the growth of child sex tourism. The internet also provided potential child sex tourists. They provide information on sex establishments and prices in various destinations, and how to specifically procure child prostitutes.
5. Sex tourism feeds the beast of sexual slavery

Lets stop this injustice,

Nicole and Janice

P.S. Have you been sticky noting? Have any cool stories how you are helping stop the sex trade? Email Janice and I at askmeaboutsextrafficking@gmail.com We would love to share your story! If you don't know what sticky noting is read our first blog post "Let's Explain Our Mission." And while you're at it read some of our other older posts! After all, information is key in stopping the sex trade.


All quotes in this post were used from Daniel Walker's book God in a Brothel An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue.


Walker, Daniel. God in a Brothel An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue. Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2011. Print.