Thailand’s male and trans sex workers are struggling to make a living in the wake of COVID-19. Would decriminalisation help?

Words Rebecca. L. Root

STREET LIFE: Soi Cowboy Street in the Asok district in the centre of Bangkok is famous for its nightlife

PEERAPON BOONYAKIAT

Bright lights and plastic chairs pave the way to a go-go bar at the end of a Bangkok side street. Inside, around 30 male sex workers, who meet their boss’s criteria of being over 25 and “sophisticated with a six-pack”, wait in their white shirts and bow ties for the clock to strike 10pm and their shift to start. At that point, they’ll dance on rotation on a stage that divides the patrons’ seating area, ensuring every onlooker has a good view of the evening’s performances before they potentially pick a partner for the night — or at least a few hours.

Although the number of customers these men may see over each shift has halved in recent years — from around four to one or two — they know they are lucky to have some semblance of work. Thanks to COVID-19, there’s not enough sex work in Thailand, says Surang Janyam, director of Bangkok-based sex worker charity, Service Workers in Group Foundation (SWING).

It used to be a thriving industry. In 2015, Thailand ranked at number eight in the global sex industry, with around 250,000 to 300,000 sex workers generating $6.4 billion a year — around three per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Despite sex work being outlawed in the country, thousands of what are locally referred to as “sexpats” would travel to Thailand each year to frequent notorious hotspots such as Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy Street, Phuket’s Bangla Road, and Pattaya’s Walking Street, where sex work lurks behind the façades of bars and massage parlours. Male, female, and trans workers perch on bar stools outside neon-emblazoned establishments, beckoning passers-by in the hope it will lead to a profitable encounter.

“Everyone comes to this land because we have many choices: gay, women, trans,” says Guy, a Bangkok-based former sex worker who now promotes massage parlours where sex workers operate. At 42, he’s considered “too old” for the business.