Male Prostitution at Myanmar Massage Parlors on the Rise

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The male sex industry servicing mostly homosexual men out of massage parlors has significantly grown in Yangon, Myanmar through the use of social media, according to the Asia News Network.

Owners of male massage parlors advertising as men-only health and beauty spas reportedly take advantage of advertising their services and available employment via Facebook.

Asia News Network reports the Yangon Regional Police regularly investigate and crackdown female sex workers and massage parlors but “countermeasures against male hustlers are relatively seldom.

The Thai criminal attorneys at Chaninat and Leeds are experienced trial lawyers, fluent in English who handle most criminal offenses.

Referencing the Prostitution Act Section 3 (b) and the Police Act Section 30 (d), lawyer Kyaw Win said the prostitution law only covers female prostitutes, but that the criminal law is applicable to anyone “involved in abnormal sexual intercourses.”

According to Asia News Network, at least one politician, MP Khin San Hlaing, has vowed to address the situation in parliament, stating that the situation “goes against Myanmar tradition and customs.”

Read the full story here.

Northern Ireland Makes Paying for Sex a Crime in New Law

According to The Guardian, Northern Ireland passed a controversial law on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 targeting prostitution clients by making it illegal to pay for sex.

The legislation outlawing buying sex is found in one clause in the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill, and was subsequently approved in the Stromont assembly’s affirmative vote on the overarching bill.

According to The Guardian, at least one politician, Justice Minister David Ford, opposed addressing several different issues in one piece of legislation, stating that he didn’t believe “the complexities of prostitution can be adequately addressed in a single clause in a bill.”

Chaninat and Leeds’ Thailand prenuptial attorneys are internationally recognized experts in the field of international prenuptial law.

A recent survey of Northern Ireland sex workers revealed that an overwhelming majority of sex workers also opposed the new law and didn’t believe criminalizing their clients would serve to “protect” them, but would actually have the opposite effect. According to The Guardian, “about 17,500 men pay for sex in Northern Ireland every year.”

Keep reading:

Northern Ireland: 98% of sex workers oppose new law criminalising clients

Northern Ireland ban on paying for sex is approved by Stormont assembly

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Study Of The US Sex Industry

A new study entitled "Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities" investigated the sex trade in eight big American cities has been published. A detailed investigation into the industry in Miami, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, and Seattle found that Hispanic prostitutes and pimps are a growing part of the sex trade. 

Aside from brothels, the human sex trade in large American cities also includes internet-based trafficking and erotic massage parlors in addition to street-based prostitution. Street-based prostitution, which has the lowest prices, was found to be in decline as girls increasingly ply their trade in strip clubs and massage parlors or the internet, which are all safer compared to the streets. 

However, the study also found that the overall national demand for sex work has decreased, and that prostitution is no longer so common and as well paid.

Prostitution under Thailand criminal law is illegal – section 286 of the Penal Code states: “Any person, being over sixteen years of age, subsists on the earning of a prostitute, even if it is some part of her incomes, shall be punished with imprisonment of seven to twenty years and fined of fourteen thousand to forty thousand Baht, or imprisonment for life.” 

Read the full study here

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