Bangkok masseuses: holding up the family sky; Official blessings for the Brothel of Asia
Phongpaichit, P.; Mingmongkol, S.
Southeast Asia Chronicle 78: 15-23; 24-25
1981
Document Number: 424495
Both articles are concerned with prostitution in Thailand. The first argues that prostitution increased in the mid-1960s as a result of the 40 000 US servicemen stationed in South East Asia. There are currently estimated to be 100 000-500 000 prostitutes in Thailand and about 200 000-300 000 of these are in Bangkok alone. The overwhelming majority of Bangkok's prostitutes and masseuses are migrants from the North and Northeast, Thailand's two poorest regions, and they are often their families only source of cash income. The quantity of prostitutes in Bangkok is a major attraction for foreign tourists, largely Germans, Americans and Japanese, and among tourist arrivals, men outnumber women two to one. The second article is concerned with the Thai government's official disapproval of the sex industry which is coupled with a tacit acceptance of the present situation as it does not wish to jeopardize the tourist industry, the country's third largest earner of foreign exchange.