He said
“We are not a sex destination. If you want a sex destination, you go to Thailand. The Gambia is not a sex destination. We are not, we are not and please every Gambian must sing that song,”
The diplomatic row came about in his reference to Thailand.
you want sex?, go to Thailand!
While in the Gambia many years ago, I witnessed it for myself.
Old men walking on the beach fondling young Gambian girls
boys and men scoring the beaches for foreign women
It has been an open secret not I must say for the Gambia alone.
The root cause is poverty.
Surely the best way to tackle the issue of young women and women general being exploited in this way is for women to be given better opportunities, and ultimately.. better choices.
for education, employment et al.
Not only opportunity.
It's also a matter of culture, and how we in many cultures view the role and worth of women.
The exploitative or transactional sex trade is often silently hidden beneath the title girlfriend. This masks the fact that the transaction at hand is, give me sex and i'll give you money, clothes shoes, or simple basic amenities.
We should treat our women with respect, and protect them, not exploit them. See women as valuable, and not only objects of fun
Once this happens, foreign tourists will no longer feel it appropriate to exploit women for sex.
Money, class, status.. very real barriers for many women.
Kerr Fatou interviews Hon Hamat Bah. Minister for Tourism and Culture
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Movie night, yes, I'm off to the movies!.
See how pretty the snow is?
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My weekend reading, and I'm looking forward to it! :-)
Have a great evening!
It's really sad what the need for money will make people do or accept, and the slimy people who take advantage of that fact. I have Caucasian friends that have fathers who travel to Thailand and Singapore just to get sex from young girls. It's disgusting. It never occurred to me that that the sex-tourism industry existed in Africa as well.
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