Latvians worried about sex tourism
A group in Latvia is worried about Latvia “becoming a Baltic Bangkok”.
But unlike Bangkok, where it is all about prostitution, the ‘problem’ in Riga, Latvia is that local girls are having one night stands with tourists.
I am not sure how this is classified as a problem.
Maybe there is something more sinister though, because the Reuters story says the group being formed is called the “Stop Sex Terrorism campaign”.
So what is sex terrorism? I’m not sure but I think we can all agree this is taking the war in terror a step too far.
No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)
Tags: Fun Things
June 20th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Ian Wishart mentions in his book that a leading gay travel guide, in out of the hundred and eighty odd nations mentioned, it listed nearly 50% of the places where one could find boys. WTF ?
June 20th, 2007 at 8:56 am
And, on an unrelated note, can anyone tell me which airlines fly into Latvia these days?
June 20th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I doubt Virgin flies there.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Books next holiday…
“Priviet, kak delar?”
June 20th, 2007 at 9:27 am
That’s it, I’m going…
P
June 20th, 2007 at 9:30 am
MikeE -
I assume your “Priviet, kak delar?” joke is not based on the mistaken belief that Lativians speak Russian or a similiar language but a clever social commentary on the fact that in the Baltic nations it is socially and economically marginalised ethnic-Russians who dominate the sex trade.
DPF-
Interesting, that Riga is now worried about earning that title – Tallinn similiarly fears being known as the ‘Bangkok of the North’ – mainly because of the Finns and, now , Brits who come over on cheap ferries and flights for the cheap booze and cheap women. http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2006/s1674127.htm
June 20th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Zutroy asked
“And, on an unrelated note, can anyone tell me which airlines fly into Latvia these days?”
fly (www.)airnz(.co.nz) to london (Gatwick) and them (www.)airbaltic(.lv) to Riga (for about 48euro)
do send a e-card back…
June 20th, 2007 at 11:59 am
“I doubt Virgin flies there.”
Why would you want to fly anywhere on an airline that doesn’t go all the way?
June 20th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
“Why would you want to fly anywhere on an airline that doesn’t go all the way?”
… or with an airline that hasn’t done it before.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Just show the film “Hostel” to a person considering going to Eastern Europe for a nooky break and that will kill(pardon the pun)that idea!
;-0
June 20th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Off topic, but here is a link about the smacking debate. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4100946a11.html
Looking draconian folks.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Given that it is nigh impossible to find a cop when you want one, I can’t imagine this being too much of a problem, Dazzaman. Unless of course you hit your child whilst driving slightly over the limit in a revenue-collection area…ooops, I meant speed camera zone.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
East European girls who put out, terrorism? Ah, to be young and single with cash in me pocket!
June 20th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
A good swing of the arm in the general direction of the back seat and I can bash a couple of them with one go! That would mean taking both hands off the wheel though?!
Good point.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Thanks for the link Dazzaman.
Think it’s going to come down to individual cops tastes as to how enthusiastic they are about investigating, car chases, and forms of violence (other than assaults against men) are big draws for cops.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Dazzaman, you’re not reproducing quickly enough. I can swipe three at a go. Anyway, I doubt the cops will be too worried: they’ll all be on cheap flights to Latvia for some consensual team-building exercises.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Bwwaaaahaaaaa!!
June 20th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Dazzaman,
According to the radio, National’s response has been that, if the spirit of the agreement that saw the law change passed is broken, then National will repeal/change the law.
I have not heard where the petition is up to, but last indication was that it would reach the required numbers before the time limit.
Given National’s polling, the underlying discontent with the law change and these latest guidelines (which do tend to confirm people’s suspicions) there is a fair chance that this law change may be short lived.
June 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Got any daughters, Farrar?
June 20th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Ah yes… as I thought …most of us really cannot seem to keep our hands off the kids can we?
National’s surge in the polls is almost entirely on the back of a majority of kiwis wish to …well as one of my colleauges openly put it at smoko a few weeks ago…”if I want whack the rug-rats, it’s no business of any furken faceless bureacrats what I do”.
And if you thought the past S59 debate heated, it will be nothing to the reponse if you try to re-legalise for the “acceptable use of force against children”. I really would like to see you guys try that.
June 20th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
“I really would like to see you guys try that.”
“You guys” being most New Zealanders.
June 20th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I live in the morphine sulphate and ritalin capital of New Zealand and I can sell my body at any old street corner running of Manchester Street , however to sell whitebait patties I need a Christchurch City Council health certificate ?
June 20th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Since the guy that put the press release out is a PR guy my guess is he is trying to drum up tourism in Latvia (a country few have heard of) to attract the forty year old virgin demographic.
And from the comments on this post it seems that demographic is common amongst DPFs readers
June 20th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Is Selma in Latvia, she hasnt posted for awhile
June 20th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Selma is working on Manchester Street along side the 12 year old girls !! Thanks Tim Barnett !!!
June 20th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Latvia sounds too much like labia.Duh!I think I shall just move along.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Since D4J is not interested at all to chat me up at the bus stop, I ‘ve decided to take a trip to Latvia for a short period of time just to find what I can’t get here in NZ from blokes like D4J.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Dear Selma looking for male attention – forget Latvia and may I suggest you hit on a lumberjack with a razor sharp axe from Transylvania.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Good to see that DPF has spotted a small minor anomalous point in the extremely obviously palpably exaggerated “war on terror.”
I mean you’d have to be a moron to imagine the “war on terror” as advertised on western media is a straight up fight against good and evil.
Keep it up DPF, the world needs to hear more on this topic.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I don’t know what Sam Dixon is on but shit he seems like a real killjoy doesn’t he?
Sam, you been to Latvia lately? It is competing to be one of the up and coming tourist hotspots of the next 12 months with Croatia. It hasn’t fallen along the same lines as Prague just yet, although the swarths of British tourists are thinking more about Latvia for their stag nights. It’s the same with any ex communist country becoming more free and tourist friendly, and the local girls quite enjoy meeting the foreign men.
Imagine going to a club in NZ and bumping into a hot Central/Eastern European girl – are you the type to run away or would you be interested in seeing a lot more of her.
You can go a lot cheaper to Riga from London on SleezyJet or even BA
Cost me £0.10 to get to Budapest last year incl taxes and the same airline was promoting cheaper flights to Riga!
June 21st, 2007 at 8:21 am
“National’s surge in the polls is almost entirely on the back of a majority of kiwis wish to …”
Democracy sucks when you are in the minority eh redrag.
Of course, the majority may be right & the minorty wrong.
if you try to re-legalise for the “acceptable use of force against children”. I really would like to see you guys try that.”
The term is reasonable, and if you replace reasonable you replace it with something that must be unreasonable. This is what is becoming clear.
Since about 85% of the population prefered the old law, then I to would like to see the old law replace the new one. Something likely to be a popular decision with the majority of the population.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:25 am
Sam Dixon:
My flatmate grew up in Latvia. He was russian, he spoke russian. He did not speak at word of Latvian.
Just as I’ve grown up in NZ, I speak english, and only have a very basic grasp of common Maori words.
By and large most people there still speak Russian, as the vast majority of their business is with.. you guessed it.. Russia.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:59 am
MikeE-
About a third of the Lativian population is ethnic-Russian, like your flatmate, it is not unusual for them not to speak much of their countries dominant language. Many don’t kearn out of pride and a sense of identity, which is understandable…
Having lived and travelled in the Baltics, I absolutely guarantee to you that the main language of Latvia is Latvian – in Riga walking in the main parts of town, I never saw any cyrllic script or heard any Russian, it was Latvian all the way baby. Russian in these countries is generally confined to the, now poor, heavy industry areas that Russians were imported to work in during the Soviet Union (known as ‘Russian times’ in Estonian) and the border areas.
It is true that most ethnic Estonians, Latvians, and Lithunians over the age of about 25 will speak a bit of Russian, they had to learn it in school, although most don’t whenever posible on principle – they would never talk to each other in Russian and would usually insist on speaking their own language with an ethnic-Russian living in their country. I know an Estonian in a law firm in Tallinn, half a clients are ethnic-Russian businessmen, they communicate in English.
June 21st, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I’m not aware I have any daughters. If I do have any, then I am sure they will one day when grown up have pre-marital sex.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Great to see the Market working as it should in Latvastanski.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:35 pm
I’ll think you’ll find Sam that most if not all ex Soviet states are the same in that regard. All my Lithuanian and Hungarian friends would rather be dead than caught speaking Russian. I tried it in a bar in North Czech Republic and was given a dirty look
August 8th, 2007 at 5:30 am
I’ll be there from Sept 6 till 11; 5 nights of fun. Last year went to Prague, which was quite a verrrrrry nice 1st time meeting with eastern-europe…:-àà… Sooooo looking forward to this trip…
August 13th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Hi,I`m from Latvia. Here every single speeks Russian,because 50% of the population are ethnical Russians and very often does not speak Latvian. Other half speaks Russian well. Russian culture, music, movies are dominant here. Population complitely mixed and dialogs between Rus and Lat is allweys in Russian. Sorry for my English.