Empower, January 4, Thai/Burma Border Trip, Winter 2007-08

By Kelly

We visited Empower at its Can Do bar in the scenic Chiang Mai red light district. We arrived, checked the place out, and ordered some drinks.

The history of Empower fascinated me. It was informally started when a group of sex workers, aided by an educated activist, and meeting for study sessions around the local bars. Sex workers could not only learn--the Burmese sex workers, for instance, would learn English or Thai so they could get around the city without being frightened. They could also relax with friends, celebrate birthdays and holidays, and support each other in their work.

Liz, the manager of the joint, was a quick-witted Australian woman who knew how to keep an audience. I was very impressed by Empower's gift of benefits to the sex workers, along with handing out condoms and being a safe place to pick up and check out customers. I am so happy that people are working with sex workers instead of pretending they didn't exist. So far, so good.

Then I found out that that was the end. No more movement ahead to end gender discrimination. The organization feels that women are taking control of their sexuality and their finances, empowering themselves through prostitution and enabling them to support themselves and their families. (Sex workers, Liz said, support on average five people.)

This, in my eyes, is completely backwards. Empower is not making great steps for women by selling their bodies for men's pleasure. They are merely uncle-tomming the patriarchal system that our society continually accepts.

Liz believes sex work is just the same as paying for a doctor's services. But there’s a significant difference: a woman is selling her actual self while a doctor is selling the intellect and skills he received through education. And when you pay a doctor, you are not putting the doctor's life at risk. You do not expect the doctor to pleasure you in exotic ways, at your command, just because you aren't capable of meeting your needs through a normal, healthy relationship. I don't care how professional a sex workers can be--our host described how the sex workers can negotiate for using condoms, or slip on condoms with their mouth so the customer doesn't know. Sex cannot be cut off from a woman's entire self. The mere idea of women using sex for profit only perpetuates the belief that sex is purely a man's sport for women to sell their parts--not for their enjoyment.

How are we as women ever going to be equal in power to men if we think selling ourselves is empowering? Do you ever see men sell their penises to gain respect and power in our society? Women are being fooled if they think the power of obtaining money for pleasuring men is the same power as earning money for your intellect and skills. Men are receiving all the substantial power while women willingly fall behind. While men continue to move up the ladder of success, women are too busy dancing on the ladder's poles to notice a problem.

I don't like to see women fooled.

The best part is that they think the women who disagree with their logic are conservative, prissy, "suicide bomber" feminists who are afraid of sexuality. The fact is, they are the ones supporting the status quo. I want to make a change. I don't want women to have fake power. It is no wonder many government officials support brothels under the table: Brothels and sex work keep women in their place. Without sex work, women might rise up in man's world. Oh no!!! I am sick of men (and women) chauvinist pigs.