Young Thai woman building her career fighting sexual exploitation

Thai university student Sirinada ‘Rose’ Anusorn was 20 years old when a stranger started chatting with her on Facebook. The man told Rose that he was looking for a game caster, and he would pay her a salary.

On top of the money, Rose felt lonely in her family, and felt comforted that someone wanted to talk to her. Rose, now a 22 year old senior studying social administration at Thammasat, told The Thaiger…

“Sometimes I felt that my parents did not love me, so because of that loneliness, I resorted to a stranger on the Internet.”

But the man started asking Rose to send him photos of her face. When he kept asking for photos, and asked to see Rose’s face on a video chat, she knew that the man wanted to exploit her, and he would eventually ask for nude photos. Rose cut off contact with the creep.

Online sexual exploitation is making headlines across Thailand. This year, a teenage girl killed herself after an older man allegedly blackmailed her with naked photos she had sent him.

Tragically, she was far from the first of Thailand’s victims of online sexual exploitation. The groups UNICEF, ECPAT, and INTERPOL found some troubling numbers in their 2022 Disrupting Harm Report in Thailand. The report found that at least 9% of Internet-using children 12-17 years old, about 400,000 children, were victims of serious incidents of online sexual exploitation and abuse in the past year alone.

Forms of exploitation included: blackmailing children to engage in sexual activities, sharing their sexual images without permission, or coercing them to engage in sexual activities through promises of money or gifts.

Only 17% of caregivers surveyed said that they would report to the police if their child experienced sexual harassment, abuse, or exploitation online. Between 10%-31% of these young people did not disclose their experiences of exploitation and abuse to anyone. Only 1-3% of children went to the police.

Rose believes that many young Thais fall prey to online sexual exploitation due to loneliness, as she did. She said this often happens when teenagers don’t have friends, and their parents don’t show them enough affection. She said that sometimes, youngsters know they are being exploited, but they don’t care, because at least someone is giving them attention.

“Kids feel they have so many things to talk about, but can’t talk about it to the people they’re closest with.”

Rose also notes that many parents and youngsters don’t care about the issue of sexual exploitation until it impacts them or their children. But due to Thailand’s conservative culture of shame and taboos around sex, she said, when children are exploited, they often don’t feel safe turning to their parents.

“We don’t give a damn, until it happens to one of our own. Since Thai parents are so conservative, it’s very unlikely that they will understand at all.”

After her close call with an online exploiter, Rose is now fighting for change, and building a career in doing so. Rose hopes to one day found her own organisation for both boys and girls who have been sexually exploited online.

Rose interns with The Hug Project, an organisation fighting trafficking and sexual abuse of children. As part of her internship work, she has written and illustrated an online guide for both teens and parents about online sexual exploitation. The guide defines terms such as “catfishing” and “revenge porn,” and how to spot the warning signs that a stranger online might intend to commit these crimes.

The guide also tells parents that they should listen and be supportive of their children if they tell them they have been sexually exploited. It notes that parents should not yell at their children, or keep asking “why?” over and over.

Some of Rose’s work has even been seen by top Thai officials. Rose has also drawn illustrations for a handbook about sexual abuse written by The Hug Project and other organisations. The handbook was presented to former PM Prayut Chan-o-cha at a workshop last month. This handbook was directed toward professionals working against sexual abuse.

Rose calls on parents to not shame their children if they tell them they have been sexually exploited online.

“The family should pay attention to the kids and be in their comfort zone. And don’t put them down, even more, when they have these problems.”

To learn more about The Hug Project and its work, click HERE.