Xmas strip show shocks

By PATRICK GOWER

Topless Thai strippers cavorted with Vodafone workers at their Christmas party in a steamy routine that has outraged some staff.

They say it promoted exploitation of Thai women and at least one has complained to the Human Rights Commission.

But while some guests felt that young women wearing only G-strings and gyrating around poles took the "One Night in Bangkok" theme too far, others say it was all in good fun.

The strip show has also concerned the Royal Thai Consulate, and comes in the wake of recent cases of Thai women trapped in New Zealand's sex trade that led to the commission setting up an 0800 helpline.

The commission will not comment on the incident until it has completed an investigation.

The Herald received four complaints from partygoers disgusted by the Auckland strip show.

One female Vodafone employee, who refused to be named, said the strip show appeared to legitimise Thailand's prostitution problems and sent out the message that it was all right for men to go on "sex tours" to Thailand.

"The reality is that the sex industry in Thailand is really out of hand; there's nothing glamorous about it."

She said there was nothing about the strippers on the invitation, and she had walked out.

"We were just completely shocked - it was really degrading and exploitative of women and the Thai culture."

Another male caller said most partygoers seemed to accept the strip show. "But I thought it was tacky and in bad taste. I thought it was a family-type company," he said.

Vodafone refused to release video camera footage of the party to the Herald yesterday, and the telecommunications giant's spokeswoman Alison Sykora said it had received only two complaints from the 1400 people at the St James Theatre on Friday night.

"It was a private party, the people who were there were there by choice, and certainly no one was forced to remain there."

Vodafone regretted any offence taken from the event, but believed the dancers were entirely consistent with the theme of the event.

Madant Promotions had spent two months planning the party for Vodafone, and used 200 extras as well as a live elephant, monkeys, Buddhist monks and a Chinese dragon. Vodafone had not been contacted by the Human Rights Commission and did not believe there were grounds for a complaint, Alison Sykora said.

The strip show has divided Vodafone staff, with another female employee saying everybody seemed to be having a "rollicking good time."

"They kept their G-strings on, for God's sake. I can't believe I work with people who take life so seriously.

"Everything was in theme, and what do you think of when you think of Bangkok - the nudey bars," she said. "All the boys couldn't believe their luck, and the managers seemed to be having a good time as well."

Asked yesterday if he would have suggested strippers as part of a theme for a Thai party, Mike Whale, the honorary consul-general for Thailand in Auckland, said: "No, certainly not. Particularly not at a [work Christmas function].

"There are other much more positive aspects of Thailand."