IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v11y2022i11p524-d974282.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy

Author

Listed:
  • Petra Lemberger

    (Master’s Degree Program in Women and Gender Studies, Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand)

  • Tony Waters

    (Institute of Sociology and Cultural Organization, Leuphana University, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany
    Department of International Affairs, Payap University, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand)

Abstract

Promising research from Thailand already highlights women in the sexual entertainment industry as being active participants in both intimate relationships and commercial transactions simultaneously. Notably, they are neither victims nor alienated laborers, as some activist narratives assert. Women working in Thailand’s sex entertainment industry consistently adapt working cultures to modernity’s demand to reduce sex to a commercial transaction while often seeking emotional engagement. One result is that new forms of intimacy emerged, taking on new cultural meanings. The profoundly felt need to care for and take care of someone else [ dulae (Thai: ดูแล)], seen as a form of “intimacy”, is, in fact, deeply rooted in the Thai social context. We reframe the literature about sex work in Thailand by assuming that intimacy is key to understanding how “sex work” arose and is sustained there. Focusing on intimacy distances research about sex work away from western assumptions about the commodification and alienation of labor. This gives a more holistic understanding of the complexity of overlapping and intersecting dimensions of the work women perform in sex entertainment. “Intimacy” ties together the issues of money, labor, and a need to care for someone and be taken care of. This thread links women with their customers, families, and themselves.

Suggested Citation

  • Petra Lemberger & Tony Waters, 2022. "Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:524-:d:974282
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/11/524/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/11/524/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lynn Jamieson, 2011. "Intimacy as a Concept: Explaining Social Change in the Context of Globalisation or Another Form of Ethnocentricism?," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 151-163, December.
    2. Ronald Weitzer, 2007. "The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade," Politics & Society, , vol. 35(3), pages 447-475, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ranjana Raghunathan, 2022. "Everyday Intimacies and Inter-Ethnic Relationships: Tracing Entanglements of Gender and Race in Multicultural Singapore," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 77-94, March.
    2. Rosanna Hertz, 2022. "Sociological Accounts of Donor Siblings’ Experiences: Their Importance for Self-Identity and New Kinship Relations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Umme Saima Sorna & Selim Reza, 2023. "Sex Trafficking: A Modern-Day Slavery and Exploitation in Modern Times," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(6), pages 410-414, June.
    4. Puxiang Ren & Jakob Emiliussen & Regina Christiansen & Søren Engelsen & Søren Harnow Klausen, 2022. "Filial Piety, Generativity and Older Adults’ Wellbeing and Loneliness in Denmark and China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 3069-3090, October.
    5. Ronald Weitzer, 2014. "New Directions in Research on Human Trafficking," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 653(1), pages 6-24, May.
    6. Alexander Norfolk & Helga Hallgrimsdottir, 2019. "Sex Trafficking at the Border: An Exploration of Anti-Trafficking Efforts in the Pacific Northwest," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Kristen E Cheney, 2022. "Discordant Expectations of Global Intimacy: Desire and Inequality in Commercial Surrogacy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 43-59, March.
    8. Nora KOTTMANN & Laura DALES, 2023. "Doing Intimacy in Pandemic Times: Findings of a Large-Scale Survey Among Singles in Japan," Social Science Japan Journal, University of Tokyo and Oxford University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 3-26.
    9. Truong, T.-D., 2014. "Human trafficking, globalisation and transnational feminist responses," ISS Working Papers - General Series 50429, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    10. Maree Martinussen, 2019. "Reason, Season, or Life? Heterorelationality and the Limits of Intimacy between Women Friends," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 24(3), pages 297-313, September.
    11. Georgia Philip, 2013. "‘Extending the Analytical Lens’[1]: A Consideration of the Concepts of ‘Care’ and ‘Intimacy’ in Relation to Fathering after Separation or Divorce," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 18(1), pages 97-107, February.
    12. Anthony Marcus & Amber Horning & Ric Curtis & Jo Sanson & Efram Thompson, 2014. "Conflict and Agency among Sex Workers and Pimps," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 653(1), pages 225-246, May.
    13. Matheson, Catherine M. & Finkel, Rebecca, 2013. "Sex trafficking and the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games: Perceptions and preventative measures," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 613-628.
    14. Stef Adriaenssens & Giulia Garofalo Geymonat & Laura Oso, 2016. "Quality of Work in Prostitution and Sex Work. Introduction to the Special Section," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(4), pages 121-132, November.
    15. Sui-Ting Kong & Petula Sik-Ying Ho & Stevi Jackson, 2021. "Doing being observed: Experimenting with collaborative focus group analysis in post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 26(3), pages 485-504, September.
    16. Verónica Policarpo, 2015. "What Is a Friend? An Exploratory Typology of the Meanings of Friendship," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, February.
    17. Cao, Liqun & Stack, Steven, 2010. "Exploring terra incognita: Family values and prostitution acceptance in China," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 531-537, July.
    18. Teela Sanders & Laura Connelly & Laura Jarvis King, 2016. "On Our Own Terms: The Working Conditions of Internet-Based Sex Workers in the UK," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(4), pages 133-146, November.
    19. Farrell, Amy & Fahy, Stephanie, 2009. "The problem of human trafficking in the U.S.: Public frames and policy responses," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 617-626, November.
    20. Eleanor Formby, 2022. "LGBT ‘Communities’ and the (Self-)regulation and Shaping of Intimacy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 8-26, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:524-:d:974282. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.