Towards the end to the Twentieth century, Vietnam a rapidly changing country goes through a political and social transition, from a socialist to an open market "capitalist type" society. Since the late 1980's Vietnam has adjusted it's economy to compete with the world. In doing so, the country undergoes many political and social reforms. Ideals of the west have been implemented into Vietnams "market" economy. There is definitely a change that is occurring however the social status of women in Vietnam has not changed much. Moreover Vietnam's transformation into the global economy has created large social gaps, which in turn creates many social inequalities, in particular, women in the sex industry. The sex industry has always been a profitable industry. One can find this to be the case in many parts of the world. But what is it that makes the Vietnamese "Pleasure Industry" different? By using the works of Nguyen-Vo (Governing the Social: Prostitution and Liberal governance in Vietnam during Marketization) and Tran (Through the eye of the Needle: Vietnamese Textile and Garment Industries, Rejoining the Global Economy), I will discuss the problematic conditions of women in lower economic class of Vietnam. Prostitution is considered a "social evil" in Vietnam, but being deemed "evil" does not put an end to this endemic problem that has been around for thousands of years. Prostitution is an issue that few individuals have taken to fully understand and in this case, the issue is misunderstood and many voices go unheard. Classified as "whores", the women of the lower class in Vietnam don't have much to turn to. Vietnam's open economy has only created a bigger market for "pleasure". Gradually the identity of the young ladies in Vietnam become more and more of a commodity, well at least in the eyes of the foreigner. "Foreign guest' sought out a 'taste of nice and cool specialty dishes of Vietnam'. High quality goods, whores d...
