KTVs – Dens for drug-taking?
14 December 2018

KTV, or karaoke club, establishments doting the city’s landscape might seem to be innocent places to unwind after a hard day’s work in the office – places to hang out, have a couple of drinks and sing some popular tunes with friends. But behind this veneer of innocence and fun is a dark side with drug addiction rife among hostesses, girls selling their bodies to pay for their drug habits, and criminal gangs trafficking designer drugs in KTV joints. Ven Rathavong investigates.

It was just another night for *Srey Oun in the KTV entertainment center. She knew what her job was – to welcome guests and to entertain those who wanted her service. That was all what her job entailed; or so she thought.

“One guest called me to go to another club. I thought it was just like a normal club, but it was actually an entertainment center where people were shaking their heads to loud music and sniffing some strange coloured powder through straws. Some were taking pills,” Srey Oun narrated, a krama covering her face.

“My guest gave me one pill and let me take it with soda. I thought it was candy.”

She saw the people in club trembling, as if they were in a trance. Scared of the appalling sight she was forced to witness, Srey Oun rushed home.

“But I started to feel the effects of the pill, which I later found out was ecstasy. I started to shiver uncontrollably. I told my friends what was happening so they gave me a headset and let me listen to loud music. It made me feel calm and relaxed.”

It’s been four months now since the day Srey Oun first took that one blue pill, and she hasn’t stopped. Not a day goes by without her taking ecstasy, claiming it gives her a different sense of happiness.

“It gave me a feeling of total freedom – something I never dreamed I could ever feel. It gives me relief from worries and pressure of providing for my family.”
Full article: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50559157/k ... ug-taking/

PLEASE NOTE: This is a translation of an article which appeared in VOD Khmer on 25/11/2020 in Khmer

Women at Karaoke Parlors Pressured Into Abortions to Keep Their Jobs
Hun Sirivadh
| Mon Oct 4, 2021 1:55 pm
Rasmey, a 26-year-old worker at a karaoke parlor in Phnom Penh, recounts the pressure she has faced to never come into work pregnant.

“When I arrive at my workplace, the manager tells me and all of the women that the place has had very few customers for about two or three days. They’ve bought pregnancy tests for us to take. One by one all the women in the KTV, all except the men, they call us to take a test in the toilet while two other women are there to look at the result. If we test negative it’s OK, but whoever tests positive will be fired on the spot.”

She has worked at the venue for about six years now. She says it’s the same for all women who work at KTVs or beer gardens — bosses prohibit them from being pregnant if they want to keep working.

“You can abort it or whatever, but the place does not allow pregnant women to work here,” the women are told, she says.

Rasmey has had two abortions herself.

“The first time, my mother took me to do it when the fetus was 1 month old, and the last time the fetus was 4 months old, and growing a hand and leg already. After an abortion, I would need to immediately ice, then go back home and take a hot bath. We need to take care of ourselves because it’s like giving birth,” she says.

Six entertainment workers told VOD of forced pregnancy tests, pressure to terminate and the experience of self-induced abortions while trying to hold onto jobs. As the women experience potential trauma, the motivation among employers often comes down to superstition: Pregnant women are “four-eyed girls” bringing bad business.

The Labor Ministry says it wants women to come forward about the abuse as it is aware of the issue, but acknowledges it has never taken any such business owners to court, instead reaching agreements with them that include fines and promises to obey the law in the future.
https://vodenglish.news/women-at-karaok ... heir-jobs/

Not really sure of the significance of the post. It seems to be stating the obvious. Maybe it is for the newbies or maybe I am missing something (other than the $40 I had when I got home last night from the KTV. I asked the girl with me, and she didn't see it, so someone must have scaled the sheer walls to my room on the 8th floor and jimmied the window. Again).

"I don’t tell her the truth, only telling her that I go to work." Truth. No need to lie. It's fact.

"Even she needed coining and cupping..." False. Nobody needs. It's fukt.