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Despite its seeming abundance, prostitution is illegal in Vietnam. The age of consent is 18. Vietnamese penal law levies penalties of up to 20 years in prison for sexually exploiting women or children, and several other countries have laws that allow them to prosecute their own citizens who travel abroad to engage in sex with children.
Vietnam is generally a safe destination for LGBT travellers, and there are no laws against homosexuality in Vietnam. Transgender persons are allowed to change their legal gender after undergoing sex reassignment surgery. That being said, same-sex relationships are not recognised by the government, and the Vietnamese can be rather conservative, meaning that LGBT individuals can often be subject to some degree of prejudice. Fortunately, anti-LGBT violence is extremely rare.
The province of Quang Ninh is formed from two previously separate provinces, Hai Ninh and Quang Yen. It lies in the northeast corner of Vietnam, adjacent to China and bordering on the sea (see p.32). (Locally, this part of the ocean is called the North Sea – Bac Hai.) It consists of seven prefectures, or districts: Tinh Lap, Binh Lien, Ba Che, Tien Yen, Ha Que, Mong Cai, and Kao Tao. Kao Tao is comprised of all the offshore islands, including the three larger ones which are referred to as “Kao Tao islands”. Seven thousand people lived on these three islands. The eastern island which is about 60 miles south of Mong Cai is named Tching Lan Xan. The northern one is “small Kao Tao” and the Southern one is “big Kao Tao”.
The portrayal of rape and violence against women in popular media about the Vietnam War has faced criticism, both for centering American men instead of the Vietnamese women who were raped and for minimising the horror of the violence. Karen Stuhldreher argues that in popular portrayals of the War “the line between sex and violence becomes blurred” and that “the motivation provided by the narratives noticeably highlights the sexual”.
