Sex, Money, and Morality: Prostitution and Tourism in Southeast Asia

244 Pages·1990·14.391 MB·English

by  Thanh-Dam Truong

SEX
I !1
MONEY
AND MORALITY
k l
prostitution
and tourism
in south-east asia

Sex, Money and Morality:
Prostitution and Tourism in Southeast Asia

Sex, Money and Morality:
Prostitution and Tourism
in Southeast Asia
Thanh-Dam Truong
Zed Books Ltd
London and New Jersev
Sex, Money and Morality: Prostitution and Tourism in
Southeast Asia was first published by Zed Books Ltd,
57 Caledonian Road, London N1 9BU, UK, and
171 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 07716, USA,
in 1990.
Copyright © Thanh-Dam Truong, 1990.
Cover designed by Sophie Buchet.
Typeset by EMS Photosetters, Rochford, Essex.
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom
by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and Kings Lynn.
All rights reserved.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Truong. Thanh-Dam
Sex. money and morality in South-east Asia.
1. Asia. South-east Asia. Women. Prostitution.
I. Title.
306.740959
ISBN 0-86232-936-1
ISBN 0-86232-937-X pbk
Contents
Page
Acknowledgements viii
Preface X
Introduction 1
Object of Study 1
Background of the Study 1
Organization of the Study 6
Notes 7
Part I
The Analytical Framework for Prostitution
Prostitution, Social Theory and Politics 11
Introduction 9
Defining Prostitution 11
Sociobiology and Prostitution: Phallocracy and One-dimensional
Sex 16
Functionalism and Prostitution: The Dilemma of Rationality 21
Historical Materialism, Socialism and Prostitution: Alienation
and Lumpen-Proletariat 30
Structuralism and The Exchange of Women: From Phallus to
Brain 38
Prostitution and Feminist Politics of Social Change:
From Victimization to Glorification 43
Conclusion 56
Notes 56
Sexual Labour in Prostitution 57
Introduction 57
Reproduction and the Structure of Gender Relations 57
Sexuality and Sexual Labour 67
Sexual Labour, Sexual Consciousness and the Transition to
Capitalism 75
Reproduction, Sexual Labour and SocialC ontrol 79
Prostitution, Traffic in Women and International Sexual Politics:
the Contradiction Between Race and Class 82
Power Relations in Prostitution 87
Conclusion 91
Notes 91
Part II
International Tourism and Prostitution in Southeast Asia 93
3 The Political Economy of International Tourism ^5
Introduction 95
Leisure and Production 95
Air Travel and Tourism: Genesis of an Industrial Complex 101
The Travel and Tourism Conglomerates and Developing
Countries 110
Tourism and Development: the Politics of a Development
Strategy 116
Serving the Tourist Market: Female Labour in Tourism 123
Conclusion 129
Notes 129
4 Gender Relations and Prostitution in Thailand 131
Introduction 131
Buddhist Discourse on Sexuality and the Male-Female
Relationship 131
Buddhism, Law and Gender in Feudal Thailand 138
Polygamy and Prostitution under Democratic Law 149
Conclusion 156
Notes 157
5 Foreign Exchange, Tourism and Prostitution in Thailand 158
Introduction 158
Tourism as an Export-led Growth Strategy in Thailand 158
Tourism Investment and Prostitution 167
Foreign Visitors and the Defence of Prostitution 172
Power and Production in Prostitution 180
Conclusion 190
Notes 190
Cbnclusion 192
The Problematic of Prostitution 192
Sexual Labour in Prostitution 193
Sexual Labour in International Tourism 197
Sex Sans Frontières and the Ethical Question 200
Bibliography 203
Index 219
Acknowledgements
Writing this study has been a multi-level affair. Many people have provided
much support, and have been part of this work in many different ways.
I owe them all my most sincere appreciation. Cees J. Hamelink is thanked
for having taken up the study as a thesis during its most critical stage,
knowing that I was unwell, and for having guided me meticulously to the end of
the exercise. Jeffrey Harrod is thanked for having stimulated my ideas since the
very beginning of the project, even before his role was formalized. As a friend, a
colleague and a supervisor, he never imposed boundaries on newly emerging
ideas, or on his critical contributions which helped me to give these ideas
shape and coherence. Although his gender is inappropriate to this compliment,
to me he is truly an ‘intellectual midwife’. Emmanuel de Kadt of the
University of Sussex is appreciated for his extensive comments on my earlier
attempts to come to terms with tourism as a research subject.
Many other colleagues and friends at the Institute of Social Studies have also
read and commented on versions of the research proposal and/or drafts of
various chapters, including George Irvin, Valpy Fitzgerald, Ken Post, Aart van
de Laar, Jan Breman, Aurora Carreon, Loes Keysers and Mia Berden. I thank
them for their suggestions and supportive comments. Wicky Meynen is warmly
acknowledged for having initially given me the idea to identify the link between
prostitution and reproduction. Colleagues in the Women and Development
Programme at the Institute for Social Studies, The Hague, are thanked for allowing
me to take a three-month leave during my convenorship to finalize my work, and
for having shouldered my administrative burdens. In particular, Geertje Lycklama
is thanked for her support, which enabled me to obtain funds and time for field
research, and to participate in the Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific ‘Workshop of Experts on Prevention and Rehabilitation
Schemes For Young Women in Prostitution and Related Occupations’,
held in Bangkok in June 1985. Renée Pittin is sincerely appreciated for
having read my first draft and for her critical, useful and humorous
comments. Fellow-members of the informal ‘Power-Study Club’, Amrita
Chhachhi, Carla Risseeuw, Ravni Rai Thakur and Brigitte Holzner, occupy
a special place in this thesis because of their understanding, perception,
patience and stimulation when I tried to concretize my thoughts, and for