It's nice to see people are at least having this discussion. I am an American male. Years ago my sister and I joined a guided tour (with a few other Americans and UK tourists) from Bangkok down into Trang making stops in between. It was pretty amazing; petchaburi, chumphon, and some underground temple in a town I've forgotten the name of, were highlights. I came back telling everyone how "amazing" Thailand was, and how great the people are. My impression of Thailand was very positive before and after our visit. I had images of strip clubs in my mind assoc. with the Vietnam war and I think I though that stuff was in Vietnam. "sex tourism" wasn't even a part of my vocabulary until years later. It's amazing what you don't see when you're not looking for it. Anyway, years later I met a thai grad student here in the states and we started dating. A year later were married. She completed her undergrad in bangkok and saw firsthand both the positive and dark side of tourism in thailand. For a long time I laughed at the though of someone getting on a 24-hr flight to go to the other side of the world just to XXX. Then the news got hold of it (or maybe I just started paying attention) and I think everyone here in America now thinks that thailand is one giant XXX. I think that says something as bad about American as it does Thailand. Before, when I mentioned Thailand, people usually responded with: "where?", or they had a fairly positive impression. That is currently not the case. It's very, very sad to me, but I it is think a long time coming. The American media portrays everything in a twisted light, but thailand was really just asking for this. The solution seems so simple to me: close down the "red light" districts that tourists go to and start enforcing the law that makes prostitution illegal, at least for the sex offenders that fly there to XXX. Every culture has prostitution (and a population young girls whose lack of opportunity is replaced with sexual exploitation). The difference is that Thailand now seems to wear it on it's sleeve. America hides it so well you wouldn't even know that it goes on here, which it does. If prostitution is part of the thai culture, ok, but they need to understand how this is perceived in the eyes of foreigners if the want the rest of the world to take them seriously. The Thai people are so sweet and kind-hearted. I've traveled everywhere and I can honestly say that the people I met in Thailand were the best. Thailand needs to take steps to deal with its image. The reality is that sex tourist are a very small part of tourism in thailand, but do a ton of damage to the image of the county.