 (Deep, 2005)11
Buddhist influencesThe main religion of Thailand, Theravada Buddhism, is followed by 95% of the population. “Buddhism is based on the desire to be free of suffering; it teaches people to live in the spirit of Metta and Karuna, that is, kindness and compassion. Buddhist ideology, however, also represents women as inferior to men and negatively values female sexuality”4. “Merit making (Thumbun) generally is performed to improve the present and the next life; [in addition], merit making consists of becoming a monk, providing sons for the priesthood, promoting and distributing the Buddhist teaching, and helping others and sharing merit with them. Only (temporary) ordination as a monk is fully redemptive” and this option is only available to men, women must find other ways to make merit”4. “The Buddhist belief that supporting one’s family is a way for daughters to gain merit and show gratitude towards their parents”6. This means that a woman has limited options to 'make merit'. The same education provided to monks is not available to women and as such women “complained that their low level of education limited their work opportunities”6. Buddhism and commercial sex work are linked because “through commercial sex employment, women are able to fulfill their filial duty and offer significant economic contributions to their family. Many of the families use this financial assistance to support construction of Buddhist monasteries and to send male siblings to be ordained as monks”1. There are Wat’s (temples) that are built completely from donations from sex workers6. However this is a contradiction as engagement “in sexual activities that result in sorrow violates the Third Buddhist Precept”4. The transmission of HIV from person to person must be viewed as a great ‘sorrow’ in the Thai population. Sanga & Mae ChiThere are also vast differences between the Sangha (priests) and Mae Chi (nuns). Women are viewed negatively within the religion also. “A monastic rule of Buddhism prohibits any physical contact with women [to prevent] fear of contaminating him”4. Whereas “Mae chi [nuns] are not socially recognized in the same way as monks and they have a lowly status in the temple; they help to maintain the temples and they clean and cook for the monks4. |
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