Okay, Stick, Give Us Much More Than You Have. Korski On Stick

I found this to be quite a bizarre submission from Korski and one that crosses a line that really doesn’t need to be crossed. I don’t believe Stick needs to justify any of his views by outlining his personal life to the level that Korski
demands. To me this submission is almost voyeuristic. If I were Stick I would have hit delete on this one but to his credit he has published it and given quite reasonable and detailed responses.

It seems that Stick’s frank revelations in his last few submissions have ruffled some feathers. It is almost as if the legend of Stickman has been unraveled in a few thousands words. I applaud what he has disclosed in these submissions
and if people are upset about what he has said, it is more a reflection of those individuals’ warped views of the industry than of anything Stick has opined. The petulance on display in a some of the responses to these revelations suggests
to me that he has burst the bubble on himself and revealed that he is a decent, intelligent and honest man rather than the “King of Mongers” that some people might prefer to view him as. Those who have met Stick will attest that
he is a very down to earth, humble person who doesn’t pretend to be anything he isn’t. He is very forthright in his views and calls a spade a spade. That has been reflected in his recent writing where he has very honestly reflected
on his experiences over the last 10+ years. It is clear to me that these views have been developed over time and are the views of a mature, deep-thinking man. A few illusions may have been shattered. Tough titties.

Korski is clearly a very knowledgeable and respected social anthropologist. So is Stickman. The key difference is that one is a self-professed enthusiastic monger and one is a more detached observer of mongers. If I were to approach this
from a neutral perspective I know which perspective I would instinctively trust more. Another key difference is that Korski has a wide-range of mongering experiences across a number of cultures and over a number of decades. Stick has dabbled
in the Thailand scene in his first few years and been an observer for the remainder. Stick also speaks Thai fluently and I would suggest that he gleans a great deal of accurate and honest information in his non-financial interactions with
bargirls he has known over time on a non-sexual level. For Korski to suggest he gets better intel during financed pillow talk using a girl’s non-native language seems ludicrous to me. I’m sure Korski has learnt a lot of good
stuff but to suggest that Stick doesn’t get a clear view is bordering on lunacy. Stick has done the pillow talk thing I’m sure. He also told us that he would often spend time exploring Bangkok with girls on the day after their
sexual liaison. He got the low-down then and he gets it now. He has interacted on both levels. I’m sure Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Korski is an expert on the scene in Central and South America but he does admit that he is a relative
newcomer to the Thailand scene – and he doesn’t speak Thai. How can he claim to be more clued up than Stick?

The fact that Stick has moved from participant to observer suggests to me that he is in an ideal position to give a relatively unbiased perspective. It is a perspective that I agree with. The P4P industry is indeed a blight on Thailand’s
reputation and does more harm than good to the girl’s involved. That is his thesis boiled down. Money isn’t everything. The fact that money is earned and squandered by girls and their families can probably be attributed to the
encroachment of Western capitalism and the resulting “affluenza” and rabid consumerism. This is what is driving the girls and their demanding families. No one is starving in Thailand. Korski’s assertion that financial
rewards trump social and personal destruction is a view that I simply cannot agree with.

Thailand’s reputation is tied to the bargirl scene. It is not a healthy international reputation and it hurts many people, including my girlfriend and I. I am very soon to be married to a lovely Thai lady who has a highly respected
job and is in a far stronger financial position that I am. She has a degree, a house and land, and a family who are financially independent also. When we are together in Bangkok it is very clear to other Thai’s and to expats that there
is no way in hell that she is a bargirl and I certainly do not look like your stereotypical monger. We are perfectly comfortable together – until we come across ignorant tourists and people back home who make assumptions based upon
Thailand’s reputation. I’ll recount three examples from the past week.

We were playing pool together at a venue we frequent most Friday nights. A loud, obnoxious tourist came up to me all ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink’ and asked me which bar I got her from. I made it clear he was out of line and
he backed up quickly. Unfortunately my girlfriend heard him and was rather upset. She told the staff what he had said and if he hadn’t paid up and left he would have been removed by security. That would have been the kinder option.
I talked her out of making a phone call that would have had the boys in brown coming to sort him out. She has that much influence.

We were eating at a buffet restaurant on Sukhumvit road and I kept getting dirty looks from a pair of Western ladies about the same age as me – thirty-five. My girlfriend is ten years younger. I could tell they were talking about
me and when my girlfriend went to get some more food this is what one of them said to me: “What a loser. You have to pay a teenage slut for sex? You’re a loser.” I kept my mouth shut and didn’t respond or tell my
girlfriend, but I did lose my appetite.

I called a friend back home to tell him we were getting married soon. His wife, whom I don’t have a good relationship with, answered the phone and I told her the news. She said this: “Is she Thai? Probably a hooker. Can’t
you find a proper wife?” I don’t know what my mate sees in her.

The P4P scene is social blight and it is a monger’s paradise. The two are not mutually exclusive. But I know which came first. Get the blinkers off, guys. Enjoy yourselves, be good to the ladies, but don’t pretend that it
isn’t harmful to them and the country’s reputation and by extension, the people of Thailand. They might miss the money but they wouldn’t miss the bullshit.