Vietnam maintains, families can sell their children to the sex trade but many of them are tricked into thinking their children will be working in other occupations, ôIf we donÆt do something, some families are tricked into giving their kids away. Some willingly sell their children. Sometimes they are told their children will be maids, but a few knowingly sell them into the sex trade,ö (Bartlett, 2005, p. 73).
The sex trade industry in Vietnam is not a new phenomenon. In fact, many argue that the Southeast Asian sex trade developed during the Korea and Vietnam wars. Until the mid-1950s, prostitution in Vietnam and others Southeast Asian countries was primarily concentrated in rural areas. However, during the Korean and Vietnam wars, the U.S. helped develop the trade through ôinfamously brutal æRest and RecreationÆ facilities to sustain the morale of American soldiers,ö (Kuo, 2000, p. 42). Sexual exploitation of women became rampant at R&R sites, primarily the exploitation of poor, rural girls. However, the end of conflict in Asia did not end sexual exploitation. Rather, as Kuo (2000, p. 42) argues, ôthe profits the sex industry reaped during the wars coupled with the ease of luring or sometimes coercing women into the business solidified the sectorÆs position.ö Kuo (2000) maintains the sex trade industry grossed more than US$16 million for the Vietnam economy, where one South Vietnamese brothel owner maintains, ôThe Americans need girls; we need dollars. Why should we refrain from the exchange,ö (Kuo, 2000, p. 42).
Inflation, poverty, and other factors in the 1960s and 1970s also fueled the sex trade industry in Vietnam. However, the U.S. is also responsible for the rise of the sex trade industry since the end of military conflict in Asia due to tourism. As Corey Rennell (2000, p. 31) asserts, ôThere is no question that the U.S. bears a significant measure of responsibility for the sex industry in Southeas...