ABSTRACT
Thailand’s sex industry for same-gender sexual services for men has seen a shift to a predominantly migrant workforce, particularly in northern Thailand. The majority of male sex workers in Chiang Mai are ethnic Shan nationals from neighboring Myanmar. This research explores the lives of Shan migrant male sex workers, their adaptations to and survival strategies in the pre- and post-pandemic periods. The paper employs an intersectionality approach to understand how the intersections of class, gender, ethnicity, legal status, and the larger context of transnational sexual commodification shape the ways Shan migrant men engage in sex work. Based on two sets of data collected before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, the research explores how Shan male sex workers utilize their sexualities and other forms of capital while managing a plethora of risks.
Acknowledgements
We thank all internal and external staff at Chiang Mai University for supporting us. We are grateful to the staff members of M Plus and the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 1, Chiang Mai, for their assistance and support in conducting this research. The first author would like to thank the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University, for the visiting fellowship during which this article was written. We also want to thank Michael Herzfeld, Jennifer Leehey, Garrett Kostin, and Frank Smith for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of the article.
This research received ethical approval from the Human Experimentation Committee (Professor Nimit Morakot is the Head of Committee), Research Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University (Ethical Clearance Certificates No. 4/2019 and No. 32/2021).
Notes
14 Colon-Burgos and Padilla Citation2021. Other scholars describe the vulnerability of male sex workers, thereby challenging assumptions that men are automatically in positions of power based on their gender status. Cf. Dawthorne Citation2018; Colon-Burgos and Padilla Citation2021; Padilla Citation2007; Zaro Citation2021.
33 The current military conflict in Shan areas of Myanmar can be traced back to the 1947 Panglong Agreement between Burmese independence leader Aung San and Chin, Kachin, and Shan leaders, which provided autonomy to ethnic minority areas and an optional pathway to independence. After Aung San was assassinated on July 19, 1947, this agreement collapsed. Shan groups have been engaged in a military conflict with the Myanmar state since 1958.
34 Shan male sex workers frequently complain about having to spend a lot of money to obtain a migrant work permit, while at the same time, they are vulnerable to arrest at any time for not working at the job or location where they are registered. In her 2014 study of male sex workers, Ferguson noted that some host bars sponsored their employees’ official work registration documents, allowing them to work during a specified period. See Ferguson Citation2014, 32. However, in our interviews with Shan male sex workers, we found no bars or massage shops that registered their employees. Nonetheless, the manager of the host bar whom we interviewed did claim that the bar registered a small number of its workers. It is crucial to note that sex work is illegal in Thailand, so even if bars sponsor their employees’ work registration, the employees are still considered illegal. Latt, in his study on how the Thai state manages migration from the greater Mekong region, mentions an informant who worked in a karaoke bar but registered as a domestic worker. Latt points out that since this informant is registered as a domestic worker, her employment at the karaoke bar is also considered illegal. See Latt Citation2012, 52.
41 Özbay Citation2015. Özbay discusses two examples of neoliberal subjectivity among rent boys in Istanbul. Male sex workers in Istanbul assume neoliberal subjectivity in ways in which they reorganize their lives (choosing sex work over fewer rewarding jobs), instrumentalize their bodies in physical space and life, as well as having sex for a specific purpose without the involvement of deeper emotions or bodily allure.
Additional information
Funding
This study was supported by Chiang Mai University.
Notes on contributors
Amporn Jirattikorn
Amporn Jirattikorn is an Associate Professor on the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin in 2008. Amporn’s research interests are in the areas of media flows and mobility of people across national boundaries, focusing particularly on the movement of Shan migrants from Myanmar into Thailand. She has conducted research among the Shan people in Thailand and Myanmar for the past decade. Her publications focus on the construction of migrant identities through media consumption, ethnic media production in Myanmar, and the formation of Shan migrant identities. Her current research examines migrants’ health related issues.
Arunrat Tangmunkongvorakul
Arunrat Tangmunkongvorakul is a Research Fellow, Expert Level, at the Research Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Her research focuses on sexual health and HIV/AIDS among diverse groups of people in Thailand, including men who have sex with men, transgender women, and those living with HIV who are Thai, members of minority groups, and cross-border migrants. Arunrat holds a doctorate in epidemiology, population health, and health services from the Australian National University, Australia, and a master’s degree in public health and policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, UK.
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