October 7 2003
Turning a Thai hooker into a lady

Julia Roberts pleasures Richard Gere in Pretty Woman
Have you ever worried about introducing your sexy Thai hooker girlfriend to your family? If so, you are not alone. Throughout history men have pondered the same question.
The idea is irresistible to writers. Jane Austin's Emma and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion are classic examples. Hollywood set the latter to music and created the movie My Fair Lady. More recent offerings include Pretty Woman, Educating Rita and Maid in Manhattan. The story is always the same. Low-class girl meets upper-class guy who makes her into a lady and usually loses his heart in the process.
Pretty Woman is unique in that it tackles the underlying prostitution theme almost head-on. Businessman Edward (Richard Gere) picks up street hooker Vivian (Julia Roberts) because he needs directions to his hotel (Try telling that to the cops, Richard). He grows fond of her, teaches her good manners and eventually falls in love. Vivian, not content to be his mistress, implausibly turns into a respectable girl and leaves him to go to college. Edward responds with a flower-strewn marriage proposal. Pass the sick-bag please.
Before Pretty Woman, writers had to invent silly pretexts for these unequal relationships. In My Fair Lady, Professor Higgins (Rex Harrison) meets a young girl, Eliza (Audrey Hepburn), selling flowers on the street. He has to turn his slapper into a 19th Century lady in order to win a bet. All Richard Gere had to do was pass one off as an American girl. How hard can that be?
Against all the odds, Eliza's rehabilitation succeeds. However, like Vivian, she too decides to leave her benefactor. In the film, she eventually returns but Shaw's original book has a more realistic ending. She dumps him for a man her own age. From a female perspective, it makes perfect sense for Eliza to replace Higgins with a more attractive partner so long as she gets what she wants first. Why allow loyalty to stand in the way of desire?
The enduring popularity of the story stems from the connection that both sexes feel with the characters. Men often desire outrageously sexy women - Thai gogo dancers for example. Taming one to be a monogamous partner is a common fantasy. Ordinary women often share the hooker's dream of winning life's lottery just by screwing the right man. The Hollywood version gives everyone what they want.
In the real world, ordinary men trying to live out this fantasy usually come unstuck. Low-life women have made an industry of taking men to the cleaners. No story illustrates this better than the love-struck western tourist who marries his Thai bar girl sweetheart and takes her home. His humiliation and financial ruin are a racing certainty. We are still waiting for Hollywood to make a feel-good movie about that.
[Posted to Relationships by David]
*** THE COMMENT FORUM IS NOW CLOSED ***
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Farang boyfriend steals victory in extra-time
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10 tips for rekindling Thai hooker love
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Is his Thai internet bride a con-girl? #3
Is his Thai internet bride a con-girl? #2
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Bar girl in suburbia #2: Back to prostitution
How to deal with sticky Thai girls
10 ways to keep Thai bar girls happy
Bar girl in suburbia #1: Thai mail order bride
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What she says and what she means #2
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Is your Thai sweetheart really a conwoman?
Please don't call me at work darling
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