Dear Hillary,
I am a little worried about the age of some of these girls working in the bars. Don’t they have to be 20? I am sure some of them are 16 if they’re lucky. What is the situation, Hillary? I don’t want to be caught out by not knowing.
Jerzy
Dear Jerzy,
This is a little deep for this column, but here goes! I did some internet scouting and came up with the following. The age of consent in the Kingdom of Thailand is 15 (with the below caveat) as specified by article 279 of the Thai Criminal Code. The current legislation applies to all regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation, although it is a common misconception that it applies only to women. However parts of the Law disallows any sexual contact with prostitutes under the age of 18, are widely interpreted by some local authorities to cover sexual acts classed as “obscenity for personal gratification”. Also having sex with a child under 18 is a compoundable offense even with the consent of that person. The parent or the child may file charges against the other side if he or she later regrets his or her own action. This ostensibly makes the Thai unfettered age of consent 18.
