My Blood, Sweat and Tears

“My Blood, Sweat and Tears”:

Female Sex Workers in Cambodia – Victims, Vectors or Agents?

Larissa Jane Sandy

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) of The Australian National University

September 2006 This work is the result of original research carried out by the author except where otherwise cited in the text.

Larissa Sandy Gender Relations Centre Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University Acknowledgements

After five and a half years, I owe a great debt of gratitude to many different people and organisations. I am first and foremost deeply indebted to all the women who shared their lives with me for a brief period. I would like to express a special thanks to all female sex workers I met as part of my research and to whom I owe a tremendous debt for sharing their life stories with me; may my thesis help give voice to those who are underrepresented internationally. Their generosity and openness was truly inspirational, and it is to them that this study is dedicated. Their willingness to share their time, knowledge and personal (and at times painful) stories with me is a testament to their desire to bring an end to the intense social stigma and discrimination they face everyday. I am also indebted to all the people who agreed to be interviewed.

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisory panel. Their encouragement and support, through the good and the bad, helped see me through to the very end. I am truly privileged to have had the support of Prof. Margaret Jolly, my chair and co-supervisor, from the very start of this work. The selfless work of my co- supervisor, Dr. Penny Edwards, helped to see this project through to the end. I am immensely thankful for the generous support, advice, enthusiasm and encouragement of my two supervisors. Above all, I owe a great deal to their commitment and dedication to this very long study. I am indebted to their guidance; may my thesis be worthy of their stellar efforts. I am likewise indebted to my advisors: Dr. Alison Murray, who was with me from the start of my work and Dr. Tamara Jacka who came on my panel midstream.

I would like to sincerely thank them for their generous advice and comments; my work owes much to their fantastic structural feedback.

I would like to express my gratitude to all of the staff of WAC for allowing

i Acknowledgements me to volunteer with them while conducting fieldwork in Phnom Penh. Their insights, assistance, knowledge, contacts, support and encouragement were both appreciated and an invaluable aid in the completion of this project. WAC staff allowed me to participate in fieldtrips and invited me to attend various workshops with them both in their offices and around Phnom Penh and made office space and resources available to me while volunteering with them. Likewise, I owe my thanks to the staff of KWCD for accommodating me during my time in Sihanoukville. I greatly appreciated the assistance and knowledge of the local staff, important in the completion of this project.

Furthermore, I thank KWCD for organising interviews for me with some of their peer educators and for allowing me to participate in fieldtrips in Kampong Som as well as inviting me to attend various workshops held by them at their office. I must also thank the Australian National University, who provided me with financial assistance for this thesis. This research was funded by an ANU Australian Postgraduate Award while the

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies provided fieldwork funding.

Many personal thanks are also due. I would like to express my particular gratitude to Rosanna Barbero, Peter Arfanis, Helen Jarvis, Allen Myers and Gigi. I would also like to thank Margaret Bywater, Chan Dina, Chea Chanthy, Graham

Fordham, Rachel Ingwersen, Kim, Craig, David, Con and Mr Lee, Simone and Adrian

Low, Manh Chhreup, Ces Millado, Greg Müller, all the staff at the National Archives

(especially Dari), Cheryl Overs, Pen Moni, Jodi and Christian Parvey, Pok Somnang and her family, Prom Hen, Pry Phally Phoung, Elizabeth Reid, Ros Sokunthy, Sam

Vuthy, Madam Satum, all the staff at Scarlet Alliance, SWOP, SIN, SWOP ACT and

Empower Chiang Mai, Sim Socheata, Srei Mom, Josie Stockdill and John Thompson.

Each of you has contributed to this thesis in your own particular ways, for which I am truly grateful.

ii Acknowledgements The biggest thanks of all goes to my family (Kay, Eric, Kylie and Martinique) and partner (Matthew Sammels), as without them this thesis would never had come into existence. Mum and Dad, your belief and pride in me saw me start and finish this.

Thanks for being brilliant parents and showing me how to dream and realise everything

I have ever wanted, but now, what next? My little sister, Martinique, had a helping hand in my situation. Marti not only urged me to put in my Ph.D. application, but also handled much of the trans-country (and cross-country) communications when I took off to Asia after doing so. You’re the best little sis, yarrh! I am also deeply indebted to my wonderful partner, Matt, your material and non-material support and nourishment sustained me through to the end. From the depths of my heart, I love you all, especially

Matt, to whom I owe so much.

iii Abstract

This thesis sets out to explore and demystify two dominant images of female sex workers produced by hegemonic discourses of our period: one a ruined, victimised woman; the other a destroying body that is a public health menace. It challenges these discourses of alterity, of the sex worker as “other” and their antithetical constructions of women’s agency.

In one discourse, sex workers are seen as “victims”, and their agency is denied while the agency of saving redeemers is highlighted. Constructed as “helpless victims”, female sex workers are seen as “erotic-pathetic sex slaves”, passive, exploited objects often preyed upon by traffickers, sold into brothels by their parents or duped, lured or tricked into situations of sexual slavery. Narratives on “sexual slavery” construct the image of naïve, innocent, virginal victims enslaved in prostitution from which escape is virtually impossible. In the other discourse, sex workers are seen as “vectors”. In this discourse, deriving in large part from programs around HIV, sex workers have been reinscribed as a “pool of infection” and constructed as agents of HIV. Their agency is amplified to the extent that men and the “general population” are exempted from blame and not seen as responsible.

The dominant contemporary images of sex slaves and infecting agents both have deep historical roots. The thesis relates the contemporary sex industry to Cambodia’s colonial and independent history, suggesting that it has gone through important transformations as policies have lurched from toleration and regulation in the colonial period, and some later phases characterised by intolerance and suppression. This historical tension between toleration and intolerance is reflected in the ambiguous

iv Abstract situation in Cambodia’s laws today, an ambiguity that confers great powers on the police.

Based on ethnographic research and interviews with sex workers in

Sihanoukville, the later chapters show how women embrace multiple and conflicting subject positions as they talk about structural constraints such as poverty and patriarchy in relation to their own agency and self-determination. It thus sees women in a situation of constrained choice.

My Blood, Sweat and Tears is part of the broader struggle to resignify the place of sex workers internationally, especially in relation to the complex interplay between structural constraints and determinants and women’s agency and self-determination. Its central conclusion is that an awareness of women’s agency does not mean that we have to ignore structural inequalities, grounded in gender or economics.

v Table of Contents

Acknowledgments i Abstract iv Table of Contents vi Conventions vii List of Figures viii List of Acronyms x Glossary of French and Khmer Terms xii Map of Cambodia xvi

Chapter One: Introduction 1

Chapter Two: “Filles Malades”: Prostitution in French Cambodia, 1863-1953 52

Chapter Three: Sihanouk’s Thesis “A” and “B”: Prostitution in Modern Cambodia, 1953-2001 86

Chapter Four: Sex Work and the Law: Beyond the Voluntary/Forced Dichotomy 124

Chapter Five: Just Choices: Poverty, Patriarchy and Family Values 157

Chapter Six: Inevitable but Undesirable: Sex, Stigma and Double Standards 197

Chapter Seven: The 100% CUP: The Promise of an “Enabling Environment” and the Reality of Disempowerment 232

Conclusion and Postscript 273

Appendices 296

Research Disclosure in Khmer with English Translations 296 List of Interviews 300 Patient History and Medical Consultation Form for Sex Workers First Attending Sihanoukville’s STI Clinic 304 Standard Medical Consultation Form for Sex Workers Attending Sihanoukville’s STI Clinic 308

Bibliography 313

vi Conventions

Throughout this thesis, pseudonyms are used for all sex industry participants in order to protect their identity. The use of English language names was a requirement of the ANU

Human Research Ethics Committee who felt that the adoption of alternate Cambodian names might have had ramifications for other sex workers who happened to bear those names. Of course, this is not meant to reflect the adoption of English names by

Cambodian sex workers.

I follow Khmer conventions regarding given names and family names. In general, the family name goes before the given name. For people from a non-Southeast

Asian background I follow the convention of given name, family name.

There is no standard romanisation of the Khmer language. To the best I was able, I followed standard spellings in Khmer dictionaries such as Headley (1977).

Transliteration mostly follows the model formulated by Steven Heder and Judy

Ledgerwood (1996), based on Frank Huffman’s system.

In interviews, … indicates a break by the speaker, while […] refers to the fact that portions of the interview or citation have been edited out.

Throughout this study, all references to dollars are in US. While I was completing my fieldwork, the US-riel exchange rate fluctuated from $1=3,800-4,000 riel.

vii List of Figures

Figure 1: Map of Cambodia (map by Cartography, Australian National University, August 2006) xvi Figure 1:1: “We Bid You Be Of Hope”, cover page of the ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ (Pall Mall Gazette 6 July 1885, p. 1) 16 Figure 1.2: “One of the Victims”, from ‘The Ruin of the Very Young’ in the ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ series (Pall Mall Gazette 8 July 1885, p. 2) 17 Figure 1.3: “I Rescued These Girls From Sex Slavery” (Kristof, N. Marie Claire March 2004, p. 36) 30 Figure 1.4: “Love’s Labour Just Labour” (poster by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, n.d.) 32 Figure 1.5: CPU Blessing, September 2003, Tuol Kork, Phnom Penh (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 40 Figure 1.6: CPU Blessing, September 2003, Tuol Kork, Phnom Penh (photograph taken by Matt Sammels) 40 Figure 2.1: Femmes Cambodigennes (photograph from H Series Photo Collection, Archives Nationales du Cambodge, Resident Superieur Collection) 61 Figure 2.2: “Carte Politique de L’Indo-Chine”, October 1889 (map by M. François Deloncle in Chhak Sarin, 1966) 68 Figure 2.3: Cadastral Map of Urban Lots in Phnom Penh, n.d. (Archives Nationales du Cambodge, Resident Superieur Collection, File No. 403) 77 Figure 2.4: Rue de la Porte (now Street 15), circa 1900s (photograph from H Series Photo Collection, Archives Nationales du Cambodge, Resident Superieur Collection) 78 Figure 2.5: Lots 216, 217 and 220 on Rue de la Glacière (Street 154), Phnom Penh, March 2004 (photograph taken by Matt Sammels). 79 Figure 2.6: Close-up of a window of lot 219 on Rue de Fésigny (Street 148), Phnom Penh, March 2004 (photograph taken by Matt Sammels) 79 Figure 2.7: Lot 214 on Rue de Fésigny (Street 148) looking down to Rue de la Glacière (Street 154), Phnom Penh, March 2004 (photograph taken by Matt Sammels) 80 Figure 3.1: “Plan de Situation”, 1955 (map, Royaume du Cambodge, Mai 1955-Mars 1960, p. 3) 89 Figure 3.2: Sihanoukville, 1957 (aerial photograph reproduced in Royaume du Cambodge, 1958, p. 23) 90 Figure 3.3: “Nouvelle Route (National Route 4)”, 1958 (map in reproduced in Royaume du Cambodge, 1958, p. 35) 91 Figure 3.4: American Engineers Inspecting National Route 4, 1957 (photograph reproduced in Vann, 2003, p. 193) 91 Figure 3.5: Norodom Sihanouk at Veal Renh Labour Site, 1967 (photograph reproduced in Kambuja, 1967a, p. 39) 93 Figure 3.6: Veal Renh labour site, 1967 (aerial photograph taken by Raymond Cauchetier reproduced in Kambuja, 1967a, p. 38) 93 Figure 3.7: “Flower of the Shore” (back cover advertisement, Kambuja, 1967b) 95 Figure 3.8: Sihanoukville Port, 1967 (advertisement printed in Kambuja, 1967a, p. 118) 96

viii List of Figures

Figure 3.9: Omui Street, Sihanoukville, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 102 Figure 3.10: Omui Street, Sihanoukville, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 102 Figure 3.11: Omui Street, Sihanoukville, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 102 Figure 3.12: Omui Street, Sihanoukville, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 102 Figure 3.13: Khmer Rouge evacuation of Phnom Penh, April 1975 (photograph, DC- Cam reproduced in the Phnom Penh Post, 8-21 April 2005, p. 9) 106 Figure 3.14: National Bank in Democratic Kampuchea (photograph taken by Ben Kiernan, 1980) 106 Figure 3.15: Wax figurines of an UN blue beret with his arms around a srei taksii (Cambodian Cultural Village, 2006) 114 Figure 3.16: “Darling!.. AIDS!.. Ouch!.”, 2004 (cartoon, sex worker and her client, Cambodge Soir, 19 January 2004, p. 10) 120 Figure 4.1: Employees removing karaoke lettering from billboard, November 2001 (photograph reproduced in Cambodia Daily, 26 November 2001, p. 1) 149 Figure 4.2: “Martini Coming”, November 2001 (advertisement for re-opening of the Martini Bar printed in Cambodia Daily, 28 November 2001, p. 7) 149 Figure 5.1: Population Pyramid, Cambodia, 2004 (graph produced by National Institute of Statistics, 2004) 191 Figure 6.1: Tourist Map of Phnom Penh, 2006 (map by Kenneth Cramer reproduced in Phnom Penh Visitors Guide, Canby Publications, accessed electronically) 214 Figure 7.1: WHO and NCHADS illustration of how the CUP is “the most effective strategy” (World Health Organization and the National Centre for HIV/AIDS Dermatology STDs, 2001, p. 5) 241 Figure 7.2: “No Condom No Sex” bilingual sign at the front of a brothel, June 2003 (photograph taken by Matt Sammels) 246 Figure 7.3: Regulation 104, the 100% CUP regulations in Sihanoukville, November 2003 (authors collection) 247 Figure 7.4: Medical control card, front view, March 2004 (authors collection) 251 Figure 7.5: Medical control card, back view, March 2004 (authors collection) 251 Figure 8.1: Hinterland of Sihanoukville port, December 2001 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 286 Figure 8.2: Hinterland of Sihanoukville port, June 2003 (photograph taken by Matt Sammels) 286 Figure 8.3: Hinterland of Sihanoukville port, June 2003 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 287 Figure 8.4: Hinterland of Sihanoukville port, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 287 Figure 8.5: Sihanoukville’s EPZ as seen from Sihanoukville Mountain, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 288 Figure 8.6: The EPZ and the road leading to Phum Phka Chhouk, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 288 Figure 8.7: Inside Sihanoukville’s EPZ looking out onto the rooftops of Phum Phka Chhouk’s brothels, October 2004 (photograph taken by Larissa Sandy) 289 Figure 8.8: Etching of Sihanoukville port on new 1,000 riel notes released in late 2005 (authors collection) 289 ix List of Acronyms

AFESIP Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire (Acting for Women In Distressing Circumstances) AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome APNSW Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers ANU Australian National University BAY SWAN Bay Area Sex Workers Advocacy Network BSS Behavioural Surveillance Survey CATW Coalition Against Trafficking in Women CD Acts Contagious Disease Acts COYOTE Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics CPK Communist Party of Kampuchea CPP Cambodian Peoples Party CPU Cambodian Prostitutes’ Union CUMEC Condom Use Monitoring and Evaluation Committee CUP 100% Condom Use Policy CUWG Condom Use Working Group CWDA Cambodian Women’s Development Agency DK Democratic Kampuchea DMSC Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee EPZ Export Processing Zone FUNCINPEC Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre, Pacifique, et Coopératif (National United front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia) GDP Gross Domestic Product GNI Gross National Income HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus HSS HIV Sentinel Survey IEC Information, Education and Communication INGO International Non-Government Organisation IOM International Organization for Migration JBIC Japan Bank for International Cooperation KHANA Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance KR Khmer Rouge KWCD Khmer Women’s Cooperation for Development LNGO Local Non-Government Organisation MFA Multi-Fibre Agreement NAA National AIDS Authority NCHADS National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology STDs NGO Non-Government Organisation NWSP Network of Sex Work Projects 100% CUP 100% Condom Use Program OHK Oxfam Hong Kong PRK People’s Republic of Kampuchea PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

x List of Acronyms PSI Population Services International RGC Royal Government of Cambodia SEZ Special Economic Zone SOC State of Cambodia SRN Sangkum Reastr Niyum STI Sexually Transmissible Infection UN United Nations UNAIDS Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia VD Venereal Disease WAC Womyn’s Agenda for Change WHO World Health Organization WNU Women’s Network for Unity

xi Glossary of French and Khmer Terms

French/Khmer English

Brak khae salary or wages.

Brak khae tok table wages. The money earned by nightclub-based sex workers when they sit at a customer’s table and keep them company throughout the night.

Carte santé health card all registered prostitutes were issued with by the French colonial authorities.

Dispensaire clinic.

Filles à numéro registered prostitutes working in a licensed brothel. They were prostitutes with a number because their name and number was recorded in a brothel-keeper’s book.

Filles insoumises non-compliant or unregistered prostitutes who operated outside of the law.

Filles isoleés prostitutes not dependent on a third party (e.g. a madam).

Filles publiques prostitute. Filles publiques means women for hire. At the turn of the century, fille often meant “whore” and jeune filles was used for “respectable girls” or young women.

Filles de maison brothel prostitutes.

Filles en carte independent prostitutes (filles isoleés) who registered with the French authorities.

Filles soumises registered prostitutes who complied with the prostitution regulations determined by the French authorities.

Joh chmouah to register with the authorities (a part of the 100% Condom Use Policy).

Kalib modern, high-class or sexy, from the French calibre.

Kmeng stiev bad boys (see also proh stiev).

Krouhtnak in the HIV discourse “risk”, especially sexual risk or sexual danger.

Maisons closes plain compartment brothels located in the quartier réservé.

xii Glossary of French and Khmer Terms Maisons de tolérance licensed brothels.

Mebaan the head of a brothel, or a brothel owner (madam) also known as mcah phteah.

Muk thom big shots or village dignitaries (see also neak thom).

Neak thom big shots or village dignitaries, bong thom is also commonly used by people living outside of Phnom Penh to refer to powerful people.

Police des mœurs/ Mœurs police Vice Squad.

Prakah ministerial proclamation.

Prapoun jong second wife or mistress.

Proh stiev bad boys. Proh stiev is often translated as “gangster”, however, these “gangs” of mainly young urban men often lack the organised networks associated with gang culture, and implied in the sense of this English term.

Quartier réservé red light district.

Ruamphet kravbi pdayprapoun extramarital sexual relations, sex outside of husband and wife or marriage.

Songsaa sweetheart or lover.

Srei baan brothel woman (brothel prostitute).

Srei bar bar woman (nightclub or bar-based prostitute).

Srei kalib modern, classy or sexy woman (see also kalib).

Srei karaoke karaoke woman (karaoke prostitute).

Srei khat leakkhana virtueless or disreputable woman.

Srei khouc prostitute (derogatory). Literally a spoilt, rotten or bad woman. Khouc is also used to refer to naughty or disobedient children, but when it is used to refer to women, as in srei khouc, it refers to a woman who has sex before marriage or many sexual partners. In this sense, khouc is gender specific, as it is a term that is not applied to men. Srei khouc means a woman who has “gone bad” or has been “spoilt” and attaches stigma not just to the occupation of sex work but also to women personally. It is the most common term used to refer to women working in the sex industry.

xiii Glossary of French and Khmer Terms Srei krup leakkhana perfectly virtuous woman.

Srei taksii taxi-girl. Many consider srei taksii to be a phenomenon from Cambodia’s UNTAC days; however, such explanations may fit local versions of history, which boil down the effects of the UN operation as bringing Cambodia AIDS and prostitution. Norman Lewis (1982:172-4) discusses Cholon’s Chinese and Vietnamese “taxi-girls,” dance-hostesses that provided sex for a fee and their “taxi-manager,” which shows that the term was in currency as far back as 1950. Further, the term taxi girl was used in the 1930s in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Malaya (Hershatter 1997; Manderson 1996). As a euphemism, “taxi-girl” refers to the fact that a woman is believed to behave and be much like a taxi-car, in that for a certain fee she goes around and rides (with) a lot of different men.

Srei thoamada “normal” woman, a woman who is not seen as behaving in a sexually deviant manner or involved in allegedly criminal acts.

Srei trum truv “proper” woman. Like srei thoamada, srei trum truv is a married woman with children who is seen to respect Cambodian cultural codes.

Srei s’at la’or “respectable” woman, see above. S’at also means clean, so literally srei s’at la’or means a nice and clean woman.

Srei roksii phlauvphet female sex worker. Literally a woman (srei) making a living (roksii) from her vagina (phlauvphet). Srei roksii phlauvphet is a gender specific feminine noun. It is considered offensive to use the same masculine form for men, proh roksii phlauvphet, as it implies a man making a living from his anus; proh lukkhleun (a man selling his body) is generally used for male sex workers. Srei lukkhleun is also used to refer to female sex workers.

Strei bumrao saevaa phlauvphet woman providing sexual services.

Taipan foreman or supervisor. Person/s in entertainment establishments such as nightclubs and karaoke bars who are in charge of a group of sex workers and who arrange sexual services. Also known as mekar (minder or foreman) however, taipan is more widely used in nightclubs and karaoke bars.

Thav kae the boss. Thav kae is used by sex workers to refer to their bosses or sex business owners. This Chinese loan word means snakehead in Cantonese and was originally used to refer to people in control of Chinese migration chains.

Twer srei working girl, colloquial use by sex workers.

xiv Glossary of French and Khmer Terms Visite sanitaire health check for all registered prostitutes for venereal disease conducted by physicians at the Dispensaire (Clinic). The visite sanitaire was instituted by the French from the late 1880s onward (also known as the contrôle sanitaire).

xv Map of Cambodia