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Hi! I am a university student doing a research project on sexual health in Cambodia. It would be of great help if some of you could answer some questions for me. Feel free to answer as few or as many as you like. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated!
1. What are the biggest issues regarding sexual health in Cambodia?
2.Do you feel there are stigmas in Cambodia about sexuality and/or sexually transmitted infections? Do these stigmas differ between males and females?
3.Is there adequate access to and education on contraceptives for the general public?
4. In what ways does Cambodia do well at tackling sexual health issues? In what areas could it improve?

A huge problem in Cambodia is, prostitutes who know they have sexually transmitted diseases still have sex with clients. They just want money, and dont care how many people they infect.

That's not to mention those who dont get tested, and dont know they have sexually transmitted diseases.

Why are you doing this project? Do you not know anything of these questions and just stabbing blindly? Why Cambodia? And what is sexual health?

1. What are the biggest issues regarding sexual health in Cambodia?

It depends on how direct you want to talk about "sexual health" as a biological issue or one intertwined with social structures. I'll assume you consider it a bit of both.

"Bauk" or gangrape is a somewhat uniquely Cambodian problem. Other countries like Papua New Guinea have very high rates but Cambodia is alone in SE Asia with its astronomically high rates. Google the UN report on it, I think something like 1 in 5 men freely admit to participating in at least one instance of bauk.

2.Do you feel there are stigmas in Cambodia about sexuality and/or sexually transmitted infections? Do these stigmas differ between males and females?

Yes to both. Being seen as "stuck-up" would be one of the bigger reasons that a girl falls victim to a gang of boys (the thing I mention above). I'm not sure anyone has proven this or studied it, but it would seem like common sense to say that being the victim of a gang rape puts you at a massive risk of STIs over someone attacked by one person, both in the number of genitals contacting your own and in the fact that the vagina or anus is going to suffer some abrasions if not outright rips.

Khmer girls are generally very conservative, it's only the extremely poor (which is a big slice of the pie, for sure) or the Vietnamese (Google K11 if you want to get depressed), who Khmers generally dislike (a lot), that do outright sex work. A good Khmer girl is not going to experiment with sex for fun like their western counterpart — it's a very traditional and patriarchal society for the most part.

3.Is there adequate access to and education on contraceptives for the general public?

Solid no. The more rural you go, the more you get various urban legends about the efficacy of condoms. Scientifically valid forms of birth control are often mixed in with folk magic which makes the efficacy go out the window. At almost any corner pharmacy, you can find a grab bag of pills for $5 US — mostly they're a fun mix of colors, like Skittles. Maybe a few antibiotics, a Tylenol, a deworming pill, etc. This isn't directly relevant but it gives you an idea of how healthcare plays out for the average person.

4. In what ways does Cambodia do well at tackling sexual health issues? In what areas could it improve?
A huge portion of the population is somewhat migratory — a common story would be a girl who spends half her year at her family's rice farm in the countryside and half her year in the city sewing clothes at a factory. Another large portion might live in a village where vehicles can't really get into the only road during the rainy season. Both cases highlight how difficult it is to provide consistent care (the same is true of education). There's many other root causes, but the issues of the very rural and the migratory are a big one I'd highlight.

explorer wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:06 am A huge problem in Cambodia is, prostitutes who know they have sexually transmitted diseases still have sex with clients. They just want money, and dont care how many people they infect.

That's not to mention those who dont get tested, and dont know they have sexually transmitted diseases.

Yes, that must be a HUGE problem. Thousands of infected hookers, knowingly predating on clinically clean innocent people.

OP, if you want a scoop, do some research on syphilis in Cambodia. Unlike the 'majors' like HIV there's little or no knowledge about it among the Cambodians and the first choice for treatment is not allowed to be sold by pharmacies. Even clinics don't have it, they will use ceftriaxone instead. Add the gender issues, the whole 'keeping up face' and 'shame culture' to that and the way syphilis develops clinically (with a long dormant period) and you have a silent killer on your hands.

Kampoochie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:39 am "Bauk" or gangrape is a somewhat uniquely Cambodian problem. Other countries like Papua New Guinea have very high rates but Cambodia is alone in SE Asia with its astronomically high rates. Google the UN report on it, I think something like 1 in 5 men freely admit to participating in at least one instance of bauk.

Re: Bauk. I have seen some reference to this before, in passing, but am not well aware of it. Where can I learn more?

RickyBobby wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:13 pm

Kampoochie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:39 am "Bauk" or gangrape is a somewhat uniquely Cambodian problem. Other countries like Papua New Guinea have very high rates but Cambodia is alone in SE Asia with its astronomically high rates. Google the UN report on it, I think something like 1 in 5 men freely admit to participating in at least one instance of bauk.

Re: Bauk. I have seen some reference to this before, in passing, but am not well aware of it. Where can I learn more?

https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-09-13/ ... -gang-rape gives you an overview.

https://universelles.net/2017/07/25/bau ... odian-men/ is also useful, and an important note to the statistic above I pulled out off the top of my head — maybe around 4, 5% of men have engaged in bauk, which is still very high, but "It is important to note that even if gang rape is one of the most horrific crimes against women, rape is far more frequent in a marriage or a partnership: 21% of Cambodian men admit to having committed it."

Kampoochie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 9:10 pm

RickyBobby wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:13 pm

Kampoochie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:39 am "Bauk" or gangrape is a somewhat uniquely Cambodian problem. Other countries like Papua New Guinea have very high rates but Cambodia is alone in SE Asia with its astronomically high rates. Google the UN report on it, I think something like 1 in 5 men freely admit to participating in at least one instance of bauk.

Re: Bauk. I have seen some reference to this before, in passing, but am not well aware of it. Where can I learn more?

https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-09-13/ ... -gang-rape gives you an overview.

https://universelles.net/2017/07/25/bau ... odian-men/ is also useful, and an important note to the statistic above I pulled out off the top of my head — maybe around 4, 5% of men have engaged in bauk, which is still very high, but "It is important to note that even if gang rape is one of the most horrific crimes against women, rape is far more frequent in a marriage or a partnership: 21% of Cambodian men admit to having committed it."

It wasn't all that long ago and even western men didn't understand how rape inside of marriage could even exist. Women didn't think they could really say no either, so they just suffered through it. When I ponder these facts, I wonder how a Cambodian man could admit to a concept they don't maybe even understand?

On the gang rape thing, who is generally the victim? I have heard where one man would secure the willing services of a sex worker who shows up unwittingly to the eventual gang bang, but once it begins, the line forms for the tag team. Is this the most likely scenario, or is it an actual accosting an innocent girl, club her and drag her to the bushes kind of rape?

I asked the missus if she knows any girls that have been raped, or if she has even heard of this Bauk, and she said no to both.

RickyBobby wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 9:45 pm

Kampoochie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 9:10 pm

RickyBobby wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:13 pm

Kampoochie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:39 am "Bauk" or gangrape is a somewhat uniquely Cambodian problem. Other countries like Papua New Guinea have very high rates but Cambodia is alone in SE Asia with its astronomically high rates. Google the UN report on it, I think something like 1 in 5 men freely admit to participating in at least one instance of bauk.

Re: Bauk. I have seen some reference to this before, in passing, but am not well aware of it. Where can I learn more?

https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-09-13/ ... -gang-rape gives you an overview.

https://universelles.net/2017/07/25/bau ... odian-men/ is also useful, and an important note to the statistic above I pulled out off the top of my head — maybe around 4, 5% of men have engaged in bauk, which is still very high, but "It is important to note that even if gang rape is one of the most horrific crimes against women, rape is far more frequent in a marriage or a partnership: 21% of Cambodian men admit to having committed it."

It wasn't all that long ago and even western men didn't understand how rape inside of marriage could even exist. Women didn't think they could really say no either, so they just suffered through it. When I ponder these facts, I wonder how a Cambodian man could admit to a concept they don't maybe even understand?

On the gang rape thing, who is generally the victim? I have heard where one man would secure the willing services of a sex worker who shows up unwittingly to the eventual gang bang, but once it begins, the line forms for the tag team. Is this the most likely scenario, or is it an actual accosting an innocent girl, club her and drag her to the bushes kind of rape?

I asked the missus if she knows any girls that have been raped, or if she has even heard of this Bauk, and she said no to both.

Those are all really good questions. I think by the nature of the crime, it's hard to get solid data on what's truly happening. The victims may try to save some degree of face by altering the stories.