by blehblah » Sun Apr 19, 2015 7:15 pm
Just read the article and all I can think of saying is, "Huh". Not, "Huh?", and not, "Huh!", just, "Huh".
To put it in perspective, it's the sound one makes when finding a long-dead bird next to the house. "Huh". Not a question, not an exclamation, just, "Huh".
Like, I don't know how it got there, and as curious as I may be about the back story, I'll never know it, but - there it is.
I don't expect high levels of investigative journalism from Cracked. Hell, I don't even expect good titles (from the perspective of "something to do with the content of the article vs. clickbait") buuuuut, "No Fat Tourists: 5 Rules of Life as a Prostitute in Vietnam" is rather flippant. I'm not sure which was supposed to be a 'rule of life', but I'm pretty sure not one was. I somehow doubt that it could even fly as, "Life as a Prostitute in Vietnam" because that would be miserable read. Maybe, "Five things one Vietnamese prostitute, of the forty we could find within ten seconds of totally serious 'research' and didn't tell us to fuck-off, related, and we wrote down without batting our pretty eyelashes".
After reading it, I'm left scratching my head. The article about the American escort was interesting and insightful. This one - and maybe it's my own perceptions of the sex trade in places like Thailand (insert Bangkok joke a la The Hangover Part II) that are skewing my reactions - just seems sort-of off.
I've never been to Vietnam or Thailand. At the same time, when chatting to a single man who has vacationed there solo, I can't say I view the person the same way as before. Sure, it was probably for the beautiful beaches, cheap everything, and other legitimate reasons... but... there's that perception/reputation.
Anyhow, from the title, I expected something different. Yeah, sure, here in the land of sunshine and lollipops there are happy and safe escorts, and there are also tragic, downright horrifying, stories from the sex trade (the sex slave story on Cracked being one example of the latter). Yet, touting this - even by implication - as somehow representative of the sex trade in Vietnam is... odd... to say the least.
Kids, don't believe the hype. If you figure you'll be on the receiving end of a glamorous scooter-owning lifestyle by heading over to Vietnam to become a high-class call-person, think again, or at least look into the exchange rate first.
A quantum state of signature may or may not be here... you just ruined it.