Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.345707
Publication Title
International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
57-68
Abstract
Many researchers have suggested that commercial sex work in Thailand has gone into massage establishments. This paper explores how the experience of receiving massage in Thailand differs by four types of establishment (street front, massage schools, spas, and high-end resorts) and whether or not unsolicited sexual services are offered. The current study aims to expand our understanding of both massage and prostitution in Thailand and the relationship between these activities. In order to explore this research question, we utilize a phenomenological approach and aim to relate the essence of the massage experience and whether or not unsolicited sexual services were offered. In total, 100 massage establishments were visited in major resort cities in Thailand over a period of several months. We suggest that massage establishments, especially street front establishments, offer clients more than massage especially if one requests an oil massage. Sexual services are much less likely to be offered to massage clients at spas and high-end resorts; however, the massage experience at these establishments is perhaps not as authentically Thai as at other venues. Further work might explore how sexual services differ within street front massage establishments as well as how much discretion therapists have in declining to participate in such activities.
ORCID
0000-0003-1882-6946 (Elizabeth Monk-Turner)
Original Publication Citation
Monk-Turner, E., & Turner, C. G. (2017). Thai massage and commercial sex work: A phenomenological study. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 12(1), 57-68. doi:10.5281/zenodo.345707
Repository Citation
Monk-Turner, Elizabeth and Turner, Charlie G., "Thai Massage and Commercial Sex Work: A Phenomenological Study" (2017). Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications. 23.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/sociology_criminaljustice_fac_pubs/23
Comments
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.