Sex, Money and Morality: Prostitution and Tourism in South East Asia

Prostitution in South-East Asia, its convergence with the international tourist industry, the diverse and diffused nature of power and production relations and their impact on female prostitution are analysed in this book.The expansion of tourism in South-East Asia since the 1960s had led to an increasing diversification of the entertainment business and affiliated forms of prostitution. Taking issues with what she sees as a distorted conceptualization in social science writings, the author examines prostitution within the context of sexual labour. From this often disregarded angle, she explores the contemporary expression of prostitution through the tourist trade. In analysing the structure of production in this sector over the last two decades, this book looks into conditions that underlie the process of integration of prostitution into tourism as a mega industry.A detailed case study of Thailand shows how, in a given socio-economic, political and cultural context, policy and investment conditions have facilitated this integration. The effects of a highly organized sex trade on women are illustrated, showing the multiple power relations that have developed and linked sexual labour to a wide range of vested interests at national and international levels.This study is a conceptual breakthrough in the debate on prostitution, drawing its theoretical and political importance from the anlysis of processes that organize sexual labour. To understand these processes contributes to a more realistic dialoge between women's movements and prostitues' organizations and between action groups and policy makers.