Sex Workers and Cultural Policy: Mapping the Issues and Actors in Thailand

Abstract

AbstractThis article deals with the deeply controversial side of cultural tourism in mapping the position of the sex industry. In doing so, it places sex tourism in two epistemic contexts: one context expands the notion of cultural policies, the other notes the implicit and explicit origins and effects of cultural policies affecting sex work, although these positions are not mutually exclusive. Sex tourism, we argue, poses a particular challenge to the understandings embedded in these contexts. The sex industry points us to the limits of cultural policies, both in terms of expanding the scope of cultural industries and also in documenting their effects. So far, while we expand the list of cultural industries, the sex industry remains as the industry that must not speak its name. Officials do not want to name it; neither do they do much to stop it. Naming and mapping sex tourism is then a useful place to start. For empirical substantiation, Thailand is our case study. We document the cultural and economic importance of sex work. In doing so, we also remain sensitive to the context of racism, stigma, trafficking, and HIV/AIDS issues that intersect sex work.