I’ve got to admit, Paul’s made me curious: Is there a stereotype that people who teach English abroad are “undesirables” in their homeland?
If so, I’m going to have to tell my wife’s cousin (who is currently teaching English in Bombay) that she is now the black sheep of the family 
Lovely, I forget a bloody stamp on my passport and they kick me out with a DEPORTED notice* faster than you can say “WTF?” while with a convicted underage girl buggerer they have to scramble around like headless chicken for days to do the same. :mad:
*They forgot to notice me about it though.
As does/did Paul, if I recall correctly. He was referring to this thread, I think.
Not that thread specifically. It is a stereotype, and one a kernel of truth. Trust me on this.
If your wife’s cousin is a she, then she’s safe. The stereotype involves only male teachers, or at least it does in Thailand. Male English teacher = shameless whore monger, female English teacher = sensitive person trying to expand her horizons. This is due largely to the low pay English teachers generally receive in Thailand. Many locals can’t believe anyone would work here for peanuts if they were able to make a nice life for themselves elsewhere. It doesn’t help either that the really fly-by-night places will troll the backpacker areas recruiting “teachers.”
Then there’s the Western tendency to prefer dark-skinned girls as opposed to the local beauty ideal of white-as-snow skin. Most farang-oriented prostitutes are dark-skinned girls from the Northeast, while venues catering to the Thais will feature light-skinned girls from the North. This penchant for darker skin is usually taken as “evidence” of farangs’ perverse nature to begin with.
Andrew Drummond, a long-time Bangkok-based journalist, has published some interesting behind-the-scenes background info on the Gary Glitter saga earlier this year:
Gary Glitter – Where They Went Wrong
and
Tracking Down Gary Glitter – & Others
Also interesting is Fighting for Justice.