Gigs, A New Phenomenon, And A Big Problem For Bangkok

The last couple of years a new type of farang has discovered Thailand and especially Bangkok as a very rich hunting ground. This type of farang is fashionably called a gig.

Gigs have always been around but especially since the last couple of years their numbers in Bangkok are sky rocketing.

What is a gig? Actually that is not an easy question to answer as there are different opinions about what a gig is and there are also various types of gigs. However we define them as follows:

1) a gig can be a guy or girl who has multiple sex partners. The partners of the gig know that the gig has more lovers besides him or her but sticks with him or her until the commitment is finished.

2) The lover boy type of gig. Now here is a serious problem. The lover boy is a guy who has multiple gf's.

This piece will concentrate only on the loverboy type of gig. Because this type is by far the most dangerous.

Where do they come from?

About 75% of the gigs come from Western countries like UK , mainland Europe or Australia.

10% are Thai guys.

15% come from non Western countries, mainly Arab countries, India , Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Most of the gigs are young guys between 21 and 27 years old but in some cases they are older.

The gig can work as follows: He meets a girl and treats her very nice at first, giving her love and affection etc. When she falls in love with him he will make her pay for him and his company, so he gives her sex and in return she gives him money. She
does that because he tells her for example that he been nice to her and that she has to be nice to him in return, or that he will go if she doesn't take care of him etc etc. She doesn't want to lose him so she will pay him as much as
he wants.

After a while he will force her to sleep with other guys for which he will get money also. So when the "relationship" has reached this stage he is nothing else than a pimp and she is treated like a hooker. Many gigs have more than one girl working
for them at the same time. many gigs even have more than 10 girls working for them while in the same time they are still hooking other girls. One of the problems is that many gigs go for underage girls (girls between 16 and 18 yo) This is actually
forbidden in Thailand by law, even if the girl has agreed to have sex. Often but not always the gigs work in small groups.

What type of girls do the gigs prey on??

They pray mainly on middle class or higher class Thai girls. Most of these girls are still young, a high percentage is of them are underage. Popular hunting grounds are Siam Square , MBK and the areas around there because many young student girls from
Chulalongkorn University venture there after and between classes. On Saturdays and Sundays many young middle class girls go there to look for a farang.

Why are the girls lured and kept so easily?

I have to admit, many girls who fall for gigs are actually interested in farang guys. But sadly most of the young high class girls in Bangkok nowadays think it is cool to have a farang boyfriend. It seems to be fashionable nowadays. Also the concept of
love before marriage or the concept of having lovers is very attractive for them. However most of the girls have never tried it before they meet a gig. Many girls are still virgin when they meet the gig. The gigs especially like the girls that
are a bit naive and that don't have a lot of experience in life, because these girls are easy to lure and trap. The girls are unbelievably easy to get for the gigs. With a little bit of sweet talk or sometimes a few tears from the gig (if
you don't want to sleep with me you don't love me) they will almost always sleep with the gig on the first date, even the virgins!!!!

After they have slept with the gig the girls will initially be very ashamed and feel shy about what they have done. They will regret what they have done but they cannot tell their parents or friends because this behaviour is not accepted in their culture.

The gigs know this so they will support the girl, tell her that they will be protect her, love her forever even sometimes shower her with gifts. So the girl will feel that the gig is the only person she can really trust and confide in. He is also the
only one who knows her secret. He will make her more and more dependent on him and make her fall in love with him until she does everything she wants.

Some numbers and figures.

Currently there are an estimated 10,000 "fulltime" gigs active in Bangkok. Meaning these guys work all year round. Some of them are actually holding working visas (working as teachers etc) but many are on tourist visas meaning they have to leave
every month to get a new stamp, or have somebody who does it for them. Some are illegal in Bangkok. Some hold student visas.

There are also about 15,000 to 25,000 part time gigs active in Bangkok. These guys "work" for example for a month or in most cases a couple of months.

It is hard to know the exact figures of the girls that get trapped because 99.99% will never admit to be or have been a victim of a gig but we estimate that the average gig makes 6 victims per year!!!!! The fulltime gigs make of course more victims than
the part time gigs.

So let's say that in 2005 there were 30,000 gigs active in Bangkok . They made 6 victims each, this means that in 2005 alone 180,000 middle class girls fell pray to gigs!!!! Luckily not all of them stick with the gig until they are completely hooked
and become hookers, many of them will bail out after they have slept a few times with the gig, only to be taken by another gig, and another one again until they finally learn not to fall for them anymore. About 25% of the girls stick with the
gigs so about 45,000 girls annually.

The economy of Thailand is booming, this is especially felt in Bangkok, and as a consequence the middle class is ever expanding. This means that more and more gigs will find their way to Thailand. The number of gigs increases an estimated 12% each year.

The gig problem is really big and should be treated accordingly by the Thai police and department of justice. Many promising young lives are destroyed, the gigs always do unprotected sex so there is a big danger that girls get aids or other diseases or
that girls get pregnant. Many girls get life long mental scars after their experience with one or more gigs.

Stickman's thoughts:

What a load of rubbish. This is concocted nonsense, with figures plucked out of the air.

My definition of a "gig" would be a sex partner where there is no commitment – where the sex is for fun only. Some of the other stuff you talk about here is, quite frankly, rather bizarre.