Sex+work+in+Thailand

Research on sex work in Thailand has focused more on the global sex tourism domain than other culture’s primary focus on local prostitution. An Entertainment Places Act followed the Prostitution Suppression Act of 1960 which made prostitution illegal in Thailand, but allowed the flourishing commercial sex industry to hide behind other types of service places that sell sex indirectly (Singh & Hart, 2007).

Tourism and international policies around sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of children highlight the issues of sex work detracts from the families and communities in Thailand that rely on the great source of economic revenue that is provides (Singh & Hart, 2007; Middleton, 2002). The value of sexuality services is complicated in that it is layered with the historical contexts, sociopolitical situations, globalization, and religious influence. Unique to Thailand, is the equally high level of supply (low cost and many variations of sex work) to meet the large demand coming most from local Thai population rather than the assumption of only tourists with transnational fantasies (Singh & Hart, 2007).

Marketing of sex tourism in Thailand often shows women in exotic settings that appeal to erotic fantasies (Middletown, 2002) as well as the factor of power and domination that men from other countries are looking for in sexscapes (Singh & Hart, 2007). Thailand promotes an image of women’s sexuality as innocent and nurturing that is supported by religious values according to gender (Vejar & Quach, 2013). Singh and Hart (2007) cited that the culture’s tolerance for sexuality expression is positively correlated with the economic growth in the industry of commercial sex. Whereas, globalization and influence from other cultures has defined sexuality as an essential characteristic of a person’s individual identity rather than traditional Thai culture’s beliefs that sex is of the body and the world (Middleton, 2002). Thai women using their bodies sexually as a means to make money can be separated from their view of themselves. Media and previous research has focused on the female youths involved in sex work, while many of the children in Thailand involved in the commercial sex industry are male (Singh & Hart, 2007). The Fight Against Child Exploitation organization helps to prosecute pedophile tourists while in Thailand and in their homeland.

[]

Sex trafficking and abuse are significant issues across cultures. However, Singh and Hart (2007) cited that labor trafficking in general is a bigger international issue than the trafficking of sex, but media and the stigmas around sexuality make the sex industry out to be the highest of the moral outrage.

The reality of sex work is a lot more diverse and misunderstood. In Thailand, the majority of the sex workers are adult women who have weighed their decisions to work in the field with the high level of profit and social status risks without being coerced or forced as in sex trafficking (Singh & Hart, 2007). Monk-Turner and Turner (2010) cited one’s subjective well being in Thai culture to depend on family and successful intergenerational relationships as well as good health and feelings towards their income. Thai women experience a sense of duty to provide a higher standard of life to their families that the sex industry provides creating a transgenerational pattern of daughters repaying their family back through the sex work she chooses to pursue.

It is a common family expectation that daughters in Thailand sustain their family’s financially (Vejar & Quach, 2013). Thai sex services, with their Orientalist and racist undertones, include services with a nurturing tenderness to enrich the experience rather than the description of Western sex workers as merely functional (Singh & Hart, 2007). Providing for their families helps sex workers rationalize the perpetuation of these racist and sexist stereotypes.

When compared to sex workers in China, Thai women’s positive feelings about their income in the sex work industry and ability to gain more education showed significance for a higher level of subjective well being (Monk-Turner & Turner, 2010). The family’s standard of living is important in collectivist cultures making the means to achieve it less important in the vast commercial sex industry that is present in Thailand.

Education Means Protection Of Women Engaged in Re-creation (EMPOWER) supports the rights and agency of sex workers in earning the means to provide for their families.

[]

The literature and reputation of Thai culture, as in the other cultural variations, is often is focused on HIV, trafficking, and sexual exploitation of children and oversimplifies the diverse, larger context that sex work involves. The studies do more to reinforce negative cultural stereotypes rather than challenging and understanding the cultural influence on sexuality (Middleton, 2002). Many professional disciplines would benefit from understanding the complexity and cultural background from native Thailand persons.

Sex Work home page Sexuality home page
 * India
 * Minors in the US

**References** Middleton, D. R. (2002). //Exotics and erotics: Human cultural and sexual diversity.// Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Monk-Turner, E., & Turner, C. (2010). Subjective Well-being Among Those Who Exchange Sex and Money, Yunnan, China and Thailand. //Social Indicators Research//, //99//(1), 13-23. doi:10.1007/s11205-009-9568-9 Nanda, S., & Warms, R. (2014). Cultural Anthropology, 11th Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. (10th edition is also acceptable) Nanda. S. (2000). //Gender diversity: Crosscultural variations.// Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Singh, J. P., & Hart, S. A. (2007). Sex workers and cultural policy: Mapping the issues and actors in Thailand. //Review of Policy Research//, //24//(2), 155-173. doi:10.1111/j.1541-1338.2007.00274.x Vejar, C. M., & Quach, A. S. (2013). Sex slavery in Thailand. //Social Development Issues, 35//(2). 105-123.