no pithy title (a little explicit so hohmanns and other small children skip this one please)

hey hey hey
so we are in the middle of a unit called 'movements and trends' basically it is the unit for all the cool stuff that didn't fit in anywhere else. we had Sulak Sivaraksa come in to talk to us about Engaged Buddhism (basically that being a good buddhist doesn't mean meditating until you are detached from the world, but that instead you should use your enlightenment for positive social change) If it hadn't been for my basic distrust of organized religion because it corrupts the ideas that it is founded upon and makes them into often meaningless practices, a lot more of his speech would have made sense to me.

on an entirely different note we also went to visit SWING (Service Workers in Groups) in the Patpong, red light, district. The group provides support, meals, sexual practice education, and english lessons to male sex workers in that district and in Pattaya (basically prostitute island). we had a really great exchange with them, everyone who works there is a former sex worker, and hearing how they got there was often surprising. most of them had college degrees and just couldn't find work or were discriminated against and fired for being gay or transgendered. They all were extremely open and had a really great sense of humor, not in a sad, oh look how well they're coping way, in the simply funny outgoing way. they gave us a rundown of the practices there, how many sex bars there were, how the owners treated the workers, and how much they made. basically they make nothing, it all goes to the house, so most of them stay way below the poverty line. this leads to a lot of risky behaviors since clients know that they can just pay more for the workers to risk their health. we didn't talk to any street workers, but we were told that, if caught by the police, they are fined 500 baht per condom they have on them. surprisingly, they are not willing to carry them and therefore dont use them regularly.

after their presentation we split up into groups of six and went with one of the SWING workers to see a few sex shows. I am not going to describe what i saw here because i don't know who is reading it, but i have never seen, and i think never will, anything like that. we started at a male gay bar, though the majority of the performers are straight. it was extremely graphic, honestly it sounds silly to even call it graphic, it was out of control. most of the people on stage seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor about it, we were ringside so we could hear them talking and see their faces really well. this was not so good when liquids were flying or when they had obvious pain on their faces. luckily for me i was sitting right next to the SWING guy who spoke pretty good english and answered every question i had. i certainly won't forget it anytime soon, and a few very popular songs may forever remind me of some events that i would rather never picture again. although, as i said, they seemed like they were having a good time, and the act included a lot of slapstick and jokes which was a little hard to get used to, the SWING guy was telling me that when he was working he cried every day for the first 3 months.

after an hour or so there we moved on to a women's show. this one was MUCH more tame, it was mostly just strippers, but there were some special acts. there was the pingpong show that thailand is unfortunately so famous for, and also some tricks involving razor blades and beer bottles. the girls that were performing here just looked really disinterested, clearly checked-out most of the time, so that was more depressing. our last stop was a transgender bar and all i have to say about that is that most of the girls there were a heck of a lot hotter than me, it was crazy.

ok i think that's it, don't be surprised if this post keeps getting edited to have more or less content. i can't figure out how to convey what it was like to see this stuff without having seen it. also there were some funny moments that i really can't describe here without being way overly graphic but shoot me an email or something if you want to hear 'em.

think that's it, im sure there will be more soon, tomorrow we have an exchange with the Secretary General of ASEAN and then go to an engaged buddhism wat for a few days, then do a mini HIV/AIDS unit. im sure ill have something to say about most of that.

talk to you soon.