The West is not catching up with Asia, that is completely untrue. For one, the culture of Thailand, especially with regard to sex, is extremely different from the rest of Asia. In Asia, you do not have school kids getting into prostitution, except Thailand. In Asia, you do not have college age girls posting on websites advertising themselves as sugar-babies, except Thailand. Asia, except Thailand, is remarkably conservative and any girl caught doing any of those things is severely ostracized and rejected, even by their own families. If they were to do it, it would have to be driven completely underground and very deeply underground at that. What you said is untrue.
I think some of the following quotes, though dated pre 2000, relate to the topic at hand.
From a book I am currently reading, "Sex Slaves: the trafficking of women in Asia" by Louise Brown:
"If prostitution was simply about poverty we could have expected a contraction of the sex industry in countries with fast-developing economies. But during the 1980's and 1990's the sex industry in countries like Thailand, the Phillipines, Malaysia and Indonesia expanded as the standard of living of large sections of the population improved" (page 30).
"In Thailand daughters are cast into the role of caretakers of the family. As in the rest of South-East Asia girls are expected to pay back their "breast milk money". In areas where prostitution of girls is well established, families may expect pretty daughters to enter prostitution. In areas of Taiwan their is a tolerant attitude to women supporting their parents through prostitution. Exactly the same holds true for prostitute-recruiting grounds in Napal, Indonesia, the Phillipines, Thailand, India and southern China" (p.34).
"A woman is thought to have been born as a woman because of bad karma. In order to overcome this disadvantage a woman has to make more religious merit than men. According to the Theraveda Buddhist tradition of Thailand and Burma, a son may make merit by becoming a monk for a few months. But for a daughter there is no similar option. Instead she is encouraged to make merit by caring for her parents. If she does this well, and earns money for her family, she can, conceivably, be reborn as a man in her next life. This desire to help their families has been identified as a powerful factor pushing young women into prostitution in Thailand" (p.40).
"In provinces of northern Thailand like Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, the whole community accepts sex work. And this includes officials and religious organizations because, ultimately, they all benefit financially from the trade (p.53).
"A crucial turning point comes when the daughters of former prostitutes are sent to the city for sex work. It takes a generation. Perhaps two. And then prostitution becomes a profession and a standard career 'choice' for girls from poor communities who almost invariably have limited education and minimal skills. This process has only occurred in pockets throughout Asia but the phenomenon is spreading and a greater and greater number of girls are being reared for prostitution" (p. 53-54).
"A (Thai) study in 1990 (found) 60% of families sending daughters to the brothels were not forced to do so because of acute poverty. Instead they were motivated by the desire to own consumer goods like televisions and videos. All the young ethnic Thai girls who 'Go South' are not dragged screaming to the brothels. Only rarely are they held in captivity" (p. 54-55).
"Parents are not solely to blame. The perpetrators of (prostitution) in places like Thailand are not just individuals but are entire social, political, (sexual) and economic systems" (p. 55).
"Thailand has a well-deserved reputation as the world's brothel. It has an enormous domestic market in which the majority of Thai men are enthusiastic consumers" (p. 81).
"Thai male sexual culture actively promotes male promiscuity and the purchase of sex" (p. 132).
