some interesting reading, re: the raids.. and why the women end up in those bars...
From Harry the H ..
Have you ever read any of Laura Agustin’s work? She is an anthropologist who has studied migrant workers, especially in the sex trade.
She is not very popular amongst many feminists and social work agencies because of some of the theories she has developed based on the data she has collected over 20 years plus of research.
Laura is the person who coined the term “rescue industry” to describe social workers who have created very lucrative careers for themselves.rescuing women,
who for the most part, don’t want to be rescued. She says that human trafficking is essentially a myth, and that most of the women who work in the sex trade do so consciously and willingly. The only “pimp” that sends them to work in the bars is poverty.
For many of these girls working in the bars is one of several tough options.
Young women with no education (and often a child) can do back-breaking work in the rice paddies in blistering heat or sell oranges on the street corner to barely make enough money to eat, or they can work in the bars and for a few years make a professional level salary.
Many young women choose the first two options because they can’t get past the moral issues related to paid sex work. This is especially true in a country like Philippines steeped in Catholic guilt.
.. She has a blog called “The Naked Anthropologist”
http://www.lauraagustin.com/ She has written a book called “Sex at the Margins”.
I think you will be surprised by much of what she has to say.
It certainly explained a lot of what is happening with the bar raids in AC for me.