Whisky, women and song: men, alcohol and AIDS in northern Thailand
Fordham, G.
Australian Journal of Anthropology 6(3): 154-177
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1035-8811 PMID: 12291561 DOI: 10.1111/j.1835-9310.1995.tb00134.xDocument Number: 299506
Biomedical analyses are primarily concerned with the disinhibiting effects of alcohol and the consequent increased likelihood of engaging in high-risk sexual behavior. However, such an approach ignores indigenous constructions of drinking behavior and sexuality. In northern Thailand, alcohol drinking and sex with prostitutes are closely linked and both are crucial to the construction of the male identity. Sexual encounters with a commercial sex worker generally follow a period of preparatory drinking. It is common practice for laborers to celebrate their monthly receipt of wages by going out in large groups to feast and visit brothels. Solitary drinking is highly unusual given the connection of alcohol use and the manipulation of social relations. The marital and extramarital spheres are conceptualized, within this culture, as distinct arenas of sexual experience. Drinking and drunkenness serve as framing devices for men to make the transition from the structured, non-eroticized domestic sphere to the transgressive world of commercial sex and the affirmation of stereotypical masculinity it confers. Because of the link between alcohol consumption and commercial sex, as well as the high likelihood that drinkers either will refuse to use condoms or will use them incorrectly, social drinking in the northern Thailand context must be considered as a major risk factor for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.