Southeast Asia. I arrived in Phnom Penh late last Saturday. The best one can hope for is that it is regulated as best it can be in such a way that reduces instances of sex slavery and promotes proper sexual health. Phnom Penh is notorious for its hostess bars which proliferate along Street in the downtown Riverside area of the city.
If you are not familiar with the term hostess bar, it is essentially a place where patrons can go and procure the services of the workers in the bar for the evening. Basically, you walk in and buy a drink. Once this transaction takes place, approximately 25 women make their way to where you are sitting.
The patron selects one or more women with which he desires to spend time with for the evening. The patron is then free to negotiate a price for services outside the bar for the evening. You may, however, just choose to utilize the bar for its more innocent purpose of inducing inebriation for the night. Indeed, I personally choose not to pay for sex, but that did not stop me from entering a hostess bar this past week in an attempt to bring my readers a true on-the-ground experience.
A common misconception is that these women they are not girls are forced into this lifestyle. These women have freely chosen to do what they do. Some of the women were even attending classes at universities in the daytime.
Another misnomer is that these women can never leave their jobs at the bar. Each woman I spoke to and who agreed to talk about the subject with me indicated that they could leave whenever they want. Most had no idea who even owned the bar. One might also have been led to believe that if they are chosen by a patron to leave with them that they cannot refuse.
