Really?

Why does the U.S. Government feel the need to spend money on studying and educating prostitutes in Asia? (Remember, I prefer the professional term whore). It all started with the U.S. paying $2.6 Million to train Chinese Prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.

I mean, really?

Well, now it turns out our Government is spending $178,000 to better understand why drug-abusing prostitutes in Thailand are at greater risk for HIV infection.

Again, I mean, REALLY?

Researchers plan to interview 60 sex workers — 36 women and 24 kathoey — to understand the factors that make the prostitutes susceptible to HIV, including economic pressure, sex-change operations, their heavy use of drugs and a Buddhist fatalism that keeps them feeling resigned to their fate.

The NIH funds many studies that focus on HIV risk and prevention in hopes that it can lay the vital groundwork for developing treatment and intervention plans to thwart the deadly AIDS virus.

“and a Buddhist fatalism that keeps them feeling resigned to their fate”

Oh, maybe that is why they get HIV.  They just accept that it will happen, therefor it does.

Not having any exposure to the whole whore lifestyle, I’m going to go out on a small limb and say there are two huge factors – UNPROTECTED SEX and drug use. Ya know that whole dirty needle thing… What about these two things need to be student?

Anyway, it finally sounds like someone is questioning why the money is being spent… on such things… outside of the U.S.

But government watchdogs are having a hard time understanding why American tax dollars should go to study the sexual habits of prostitutes halfway around the world.

“This really is a complete waste of money and should not be funded by the taxpayer,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, which tracks wasteful spending in the federal budget.

Damn right, David! Why are we wasting the money?

I thought a previous article, Afghanistan’s only pig quarantined in flu fear, sounded like it was written by the fine staff at The Onion.  I was wrong. I have a new entry for the “Sounds like a headline from The Onion, sad to say it’s real” category – U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job.

In a time where the U.S. government is spending trillions – yes, trillions – trying to stimulate the economy, and in a time when the government is criticizing companies such as AIG for “wasting” tax payer money, how is it the government allows $2.6M to be spend on such activity?

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.

Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.  

This is a wee bit odd (from my perspective).  Take a read of the abstract….  

“Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social norms and institutional policy within commercial sex venues as well as agents overseeing the FSWs (i.e., the ‘gatekeepers’, defined as persons who manage the establishments and/or sex workers) are potentially of great importance in influencing alcohol use and sexual behavior among establishment-based FSWs,” says the NIH grant abstract submitted by Dr. Li.

“Therefore, in this application, we propose to develop, implement, and evaluate a venue-based alcohol use and HIV risk reduction intervention focusing on both environmental and individual factors among venue-based FSWs in China,” says the abstract.

The research will take place in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi. 

I can save the government $2.6M right now.  Here is how. Talk to anyone who ever went to college and was a drinker.

Anyone who drank while in college can confirm this – alcohol can lead people to make REALLY poor choices.  So, yea, if you have a female sex worker (I’ll use the trade term whore, thank you) who is crap-faced beyond their ability to know what is going on… I’m going to go out on a very short limb here and say they will not have the ability to insist that the “customer” user protection.

$2.6M saved, thank you very much. 

Stuff like this really blows my mind.