Abstract
“Thailand is the last place left in the world,” I was repeatedly told by the Western male sex tourists that I encountered in Thailand, “where men can be men.” Indeed, thousands of foreign men flock to this Southeast Asian country every year for its notorious supply of plentiful and inexpensive sex with local prostitutes. Does this mantra also apply to Thai men? This article explores the beginnings of a continuing research project into how the massive influx of foreign male sex tourists during the past forty years has influenced how Thai men perceive their own masculinity.
Highlights
“Thailand is the last place left in the world,” I was repeatedly told by the Western male sex tourists that I encountered in Thailand, “where men can be men.”
Thousands of foreign men flock to this Southeast Asian country every year for its notorious supply of plentiful and inexpensive sex with local prostitutes. Does this mantra apply to Thai men? This article explores the beginnings of a continuing research project into how the massive influx of foreign male sex tourists during the past forty years has influenced how Thai men perceive their own masculinity
I can feel an angel sliding up to me. The strength of this global media-driven image of Bangkok was impressed upon the American public in 1993 when Time magazine, reporting on world prostitution, featured a front cover picture showing a Bangkok bar girl sitting in the lap of a Western male customer (Askew, 2002)
Summary
When most people think of prostitution in Thailand, the image that immediately comes to mind is the aforementioned one involving a Western male sex tourist and a Thai woman Missing from this exchange are Thai men. While entire forests have been clear-cut to accommodate the studies about Thai female sex workers (Adkins, 1995; Davidson and Taylor, 1999; Mills, 1999; Phongpaichit 1982; Walker and Ehrlich, 1992) and their Western male customers (Brewis and Linstead, 2000; Hughes, 2000; King, 2004; Pettman, 1997), I have not been able to find a single account dedicated to Thai men as patrons of the sex trade This is all the more surprising because the overwhelming majority of the customers are local. In that most female sex workers report that they remit portions of their earnings to their families (Phongpaichit, 1982), prostitution as a means of supporting the family can be an effective means of making merit (Wolffers et al, 2004)
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