茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS
茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS

[REVIEW] “Beyond Stereotypes: Ronald Weitzer’s Sex Tourism in Thailand” by Akin Jeje  

Ronald Weitzer, Sex Tourism in Thailand: Inside Asia’s Premier Erotic Playground, New York University Press, 2023. 337 pgs.

Ronald Weitzer’s groundbreaking study Sex Tourism in Thailand is a thoroughly well-thought-out study that is contemporary and well-researched enough to not only acknowledge differences of the major sex markets between Bangkok and Pattaya, but also to move away from the Bangkok-centric open air bar stereotype that has inhabited Western psyches for too long. Few Westerners, for example, understand that 95% of all prostitution in Thailand involves Thai clients with Thai sex workers. While infamous, the foreign sex trade in Thailand has never made more than a fraction of what is an enduring, if technically illegal social institution in the Land of Smiles.

As well, the demographics of both overseas clientele and resident sex workers has changed over the decades, with Asian customers for the first time outnumbering Western sex tourists, and sex workers hailing from not only Thailand, but also Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, China and other Southeast and South Asian nations. The increased diversity of these groups is also reflected in the ages of participants, challenging the stereotype of an older Western client paired with a young Thai prostitute, with an increased prevalence of younger clients and older workers.

The advent of social media and smartphones has also changed the dynamics of interaction and control, with more clients and sex workers able to enact contact outside the traditional boundaries of typical erotic venues such as beer bars, go-go bars, brothels, massage parlours, escort agencies and the streets. While Weitzer certainly acknowledges the dangers associated with prostitution, such as debt bondage, sexual assault, other forms of violence and drug abuse, Weitzer takes a middle-of-the-road approach to his study by viewing various situations ranging from clear exploitation to empowerment within the sex trade, with a surprisingly high number of sex workers ultimately benefiting financially and even romantically from the sex trade. Weitzer explores a variety of sex worker and client experiences, offering a balanced and nuanced view of sex tourism in Thailand. He neither vilifies nor glorifies the phenomenon but seeks to understand its intricacies within the limited scope of Bangkok and Pattaya, its most (in)famous emporiums.

Weitzer’s well-detailed and nuanced study of a variety of erotic venues, red light districts and profiles of numerous sex workers, Sex Tourism in Thailand dispels a series of stereotypes surrounding tourism while humanizing both sex workers and clients. Weitzer maintains that commercial sex in Thailand is subject to what he terms polymorphism, meaning that prostitution occurs in many forms, from beer bars, brothels and escorts, to street prostitution and residential visits. Sex workers, while mostly cis-women also include significant numbers of gay male and transgender workers. Having earlier noted the variety of foreign sex tourists from various Asian countries, Weitzer highlights that female sex tourists, while a distinct minority among sex tourists in Thailand, are by no means absent from the scene, which complicates issues of transactionality and exploitation.

For the former, Weitzer questions traditional notions of transactionality between sex workers and clients, noting numerous instances of romantic relationships and marriages. Weitzer also questions empowerment and oppression paradigms in terms of academic research on prostitution, deeming both approaches overly simplistic. His critique rests on the premise that neither paradigm recognizes the complexity of prostitution in Thailand over a variety of situations. He asserts that sex workers have more agency than commonly portrayed in conventional literature, and that most sex workers are adept at providing their own protections, including screening customers, negotiating rates, insisting on safe sex and guarding themselves against potentially violent customers. While Weitzer admits prostitution is not viewed societally in Thailand as an honourable vocation, it is seen as a necessary means of making a living, especially for those in the North of Thailand who depend on the earnings of thousands of sex workers working in urban centres such as Bangkok, Pattaya and other tourist-heavy locations in Thailand.

The role of the authorities is also examined at much length in Sex Tourism in Thailand. While prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, its widespread practice for both local and tourist markets has led to decades of tolerance, with police crackdowns occurring mainly focused on the eradication of child prostitution or the prevention of sex work by foreign migrants from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. For the authorities, sex work is a grey area that is looked upon as a disreputable profession, yet one that reportedly provides 10-12% of Thailand’s GDP. Selective enforcement, and police corruption occurs frequently as a result of this lucrative but officially illegal trade.

While there have been attempts to legalise prostitution, the most recent effort being in 2023, when a bill to make prostitution legal in Thailand was proposed; however, it has yet to pass into law.¹ The bill allows individuals aged 18 or older to voluntarily enter the sex industry. In the meantime, the authorities view prostitution with a business-as-usual attitude that turns a blind eye to most of its day-to-day operations, but keeps prostitution criminalized, to the detriment of Thailand’s sex workers, who are deprived on most legal protections as a result.

Weitzer concludes, “ Once the Thai state’s punitive approach is dismantled, law enforcement can shift from selective enforcement and police corruption to ensuring participants’ health and safety, and those involved in sexual commerce will be at least somewhat freer to operate like actors in other lawful enterprises.” Weitzer’s exhaustive and detailed study neither glorifies nor demonises prostitution in Thailand, but does call for normalization that would give greater protections to many of its most vulnerable citizens.

1. Craig, Bella, “Sex Workers In Peril”, Bangkok Post, 2 June 2024
   https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/2803754/sex-workers-in-peril. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. ↩︎

How to cite: Jeje, Akin. “Beyond Stereotypes: Ronald Weitzer’s Sex Tourism in Thailand.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 29 Nov. 2024, chajournal.com/2024/11/29/sex-tourism.

Akin Jeje‘s works have been published and featured in Canada, the United States, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. His first full-length poetry collection, Smoked Pearl was published by Proverse Hong Kong in 2010. Jeje’s latest publication is another full-length poetry collection entitled write about here, published in January 2024. He is currently at work on a novel entitled Maroon. Jeje is a previous MC of the Hong Kong English language poetry collective Peel Street Poetry, and one of its three directors. He is a regular contributor to Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine and Cha. [All contributions by Akin Jeje.]