My Name Lon – You like me? - by Derek Sharron & Areerut Sudha - Chapter 1

When I was just 14, “My name Lon…You like Me?” was my greeting to Sex-tourists, in one of the major sex capitals of the world, the colorful and cosmopolitan city of Bangkok, Thailand. My years as a teen were far from the experience of most 14 - year old girls who live their lives in a civilized society, a society where poverty is not a way of life. While teenage girls in America or Europe might be listening and dancing to the rhythm of musical instruments; going to slumber parties where no one sleeps; where everyone devours pizza piled high with pepperoni and mozzarella; giggles as they reach for the last of the spicy chicken wings; play spin the bottle with cute young boys, I reached for fat, dirty, old, unshaven men, who reeked of sweat, cigarettes, and alcohol to earn enough to keep my mother in gold and my sisters in school. While other teenage girls were viewing a recent Mel Gibson or Julia Roberts release, swooning over Ben Affleck, eating buttery popcorn, and shopping for the latest fads, I was committing lewd sexual acts only viewed in XXX-rated films. I was only 14 years old; I was alone; and I was desperate.

At an age that is considered one of innocence in the West, and certainly in other parts of the world, I was on my own. I was unskilled and uneducated. I knew no other way to earn money except to sell my body. I not only had to care for myself, but I was expected to send money home. With every “trick,” I despised myself even more. I was embarrassed and ashamed; I felt dirty — dirtier than the repulsive men with whom I slept, and inflicted one more wound upon my soul. Although, I didn’t realize it at first, I had begun to hate myself. If I had ever placed any value on myself as a human being, that value was destroyed before I had ever learned that it even existed. Before my self-esteem had the opportunity to take root, to grow, and to flourish, it was buried as feelings of worthlessness in the deepest recesses of my soul. I was a whore. Even though I was barely into my teens, I understood heartache and revulsion; and was overwhelmed by those feelings. I couldn’t bathe away the dirt that I felt filled my every pore.

I will take you through my country as I share my story. I will explain the simplicity of Thai economics, and the complex nature of Thai culture, because just as it affected my life, it continues to affect the life of every poor, young woman in Thailand. I will share the reasons it is the way it is, and the reasons I believe it will never change. We will travel together from the impoverished village where I was born, to the red-light districts of Thailand, to my new life in Europe and back to Thailand.

(End of Chapter 1.)

Derek Sharron & Areerut Sudha

© Derek Sharron & Areerut Sudha. All rights reserved by the author.

ISBN: 974-92721-5-3

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If you enjoyed this first chapter of Derek Sharron's and Areerut Sudha's 'My Name Lon - You Like Me? ' you can easily purchase the book online here at Bangkok Books.com: http://www.bangkokbooks.com/php/product/product.php?product_id=000021&sub_cate_name=&sub_cate_id=

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All rights for this book preview are reserved by the author. Reprint permission came from the publishing house Bangkok Book House (www.bangkokbooks.com).