ASAA Women in Asia Series. London; New York: Routledge, 2014. xv, 140 pp. (Illustrations, maps.) US$145.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-415-68159-9.
Women and Sex Work in Cambodia presents an overview of the sex work industry in Cambodia beginning with the period of French colonization (1863–1953) and progressing through post-independence Cambodia to the re-declaration of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 1993. Between 1953 and 1993, Cambodia experienced five different political administrations with different views and policies on sex work. The post-independence period and the status of sex work in Cambodia were also heavily influenced by Cambodia as a theatre for the American War in Vietnam (1955–1979), Pol Pot’s genocidal regime (1975–1979) and many years of bloody civil war (1967–1975; 1979–1998).
Over these years, the political inconsistencies and conflicted attitudes towards sex work in Cambodia as it became imbedded in the local cultural practice were eloquently summarized in Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s “Thesis A” and “Thesis B.” “Thesis A” argued for abolition of the sex trade industry because sex work was wrong and the state’s recognition of it lowered the dignity of women. “Thesis B” counter-argued for toleration because, although undesirable, sex work was inevitable and should be controlled for the sake of public health. Many countries in the world have struggled with these same conflicting viewpoints in their own approach to sex work and sex workers.
The author draws information from the Cambodian National Archive, newspaper articles, especially The Cambodia Daily, international development agency reports (e.g., World Bank, WHO, Oxfam), reports from Cambodian non-governmental associations (e.g., Cambodian Women’s Development Association, Cambodian Prostitute’s Union), books and publications from the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed scientific and anthropological literature, and interviews with individuals involved in the sex trade in Cambodia, particularly sex workers themselves.
The book is organized into seven chapters that discuss what is known of the historical and factual events of the years covered in chronological fashion while weaving in important elements related to the social and cultural context, moral and political economy, regulations and enforcement and disease epidemiology, especially with regard to HIV/AIDS. Throughout the book, the author incorporates and highlights the views of individual sex workers and the hard realities of their lives, both leading up to and during their employment as sex trade workers.
In Chapter 6, the author discusses the results of ten years of attempts to regulate sex work from 1998–2008 with a focus on two key regulatory frameworks that have shaped Cambodia’s sex work industry. Cambodia’s 100% Condom Use Program (CUP) was designed to respond to the country’s worsening HIV epidemic. Instead, CUP led to de-facto legalization of brothels that were illegal in law; further compounded the stigmatization and marginalization of brothel-based female sex workers; subjected sex workers to harassment, extortion, and forced testing; and made sex workers the scapegoats for the Cambodian HIV epidemic. The Human Trafficking Law of 2008 equated trafficking with sex work, resulting in the outright criminalization of all sex work in Cambodia. This stark reversal of viewpoint was prompted by key policy changes in the US that defined which countries and which projects would receive funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). This law promoted brothel raids and rescues as the major form of intervention in the sector and forced sex workers to move through illicit channels, leaving them vulnerable, stigmatized, and illegitimate.
The book challenges the cultural myths and misconceptions surrounding sex work in Cambodia, especially the two predominant images of the “Cambodian Prostitute”; that she is ruined, destroyed, and victimized; and the other image, that she is herself a destroying body that threatens society. Variants on these images are commonly found throughout Asia and the rest of the developing and developed world.
The author makes a strong and logical case that, at least in Cambodia, sex work is legitimate albeit dangerous labour. This argument progresses in stepwise fashion from the opening thesis: that sex workers are humans who possess all of the same emotions, wants, and needs as other humans. The next step uses the personal stories of the women to show that they consciously engage in sex work primarily for reasons linked to strong family values of survival and support. That is, sex workers self-determine their work lives, although their career choices are clearly constrained. They are not victims to be saved or criminals to be punished. Most of the female sex workers interviewed were keen to assert that they are the “dutiful daughters” repaying the debt of gratitude that they owe to their parents, the “income generators” taking care of themselves and their extended families, and the “dreamers” beginning to realize their hopes for a better future. Finally, the Cambodian sex worker narratives indicate that the trafficking moniker needs critical rethinking. How can the voices of sex workers actually enter the debate when they are all falsely characterized as poor, helpless, and dependent “sex slaves”?
Even though working conditions are often deplorable and economic exploitation is common, many Cambodian sex workers agree to enter into debt bondage because of economic necessity. Some desire assistance leaving the industry but they do not all want to be “saved.” Many would prefer instead effective policies to counter labour exploitation, create safer working conditions, and uphold sex workers’ human rights.
The author builds to a central hypothesis that abolition of the sex trade in Cambodia is not a pragmatic strategy nor is it in line with the daily lives and realities of sex workers themselves. What sex workers really need is greater control of their lives and their labour. This clear and cogent argument could be applied to every country in which I have worked.
Michael L. Rekart
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
pp. 478-480