According to a recent article by the
Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia's leading English-language news group,
women caught on the street by police may, in many cases, be arrested
and detained if they are in possession of condoms. The general
(mis)understanding is that because of all the brothel closures in the
last decade, sex-workers must have moved their business to the
street. Because when you think about it, what would a woman even use
a condom for except for paid sex with strangers? It just doesn't make
sense. It makes even less sense in a less sarcastic way when you
consider the government’s imposition of the 100 percent Condom
Program, an initiative dedicated to enforcing condom use nationally.
If Diane Elson is any indication, this
is male bias of the most obvious and misguided kind. The arrests are
unlikely politically inspired, and are therefore springing forth at
the level of local authority. A disturbing tangent to this is a
startling drop in condom purchases in Cambodia from 27 million in
2008 to only 17 million in 2011. Coincidence? Probably.
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