Male Order Business
By, Cindy Tilney, The Irrawaddy News, May, 2007
Why young Shan migrants enter Thailand’s sex scene
Amid a long strip of bars close to Chiang Mai’s bustling Night Bazaar is a small, neon-lit hangout where a group of western men sit surrounded by attentive Asian male youths. Some of the foreigners are being massaged by the young men, while others are chatting and laughing intimately with them.
Ton, a 25-year-old Thai man with an engaging smile, has owned this bar for a year. Though he is heterosexual, he runs a bar that is a prime pickup spot for male clients looking for sexual encounters with “bar boys.”
According to Ton, about 95 percent of male sex workers are heterosexual men whose motivation is purely economic—a statistic confirmed by the NGO Mplus. Jay, who works as a host and cleaner at a bar across from Ton’s, is typical. A Shan from Burma, Jay has a boyish, angelic face that belies his 21 years. He used to be a favorite with the customers and, after chatting with him for a few minutes, it’s easy to understand his popularity: his good looks are complemented by the warmth and friendliness he exudes.
But Jay stopped going home with clients over a year ago. He is heterosexual and has had a serious girlfriend for the past 10 months. “I came to Chiang Mai from Shan State two years ago to look for work,” he says. “I used to go with the clients because I needed the money, but I stopped when I got a job as ‘captain’ because it’s not good. I didn’t like it. None of the boys who work here likes doing what he does—they just need the money.”
Jay’s job is to welcome customers, make them feel at home and help negotiate terms between boys and clients—a kind of pimp.
An increasingly large number of Chiang Mai’s male sex workers come to Thailand from Burma’s Shan State. A shared border between Shan State and northern Thailand makes Chiang Mai one of the most accessible areas for Shan migrant laborers seeking work outside Burma.
While many Shan come to Thailand to escape human rights abuses such as mass relocations and forced labor, others, such as Jay, cross the border because of the country’s economic instability. Thailand is the gateway to a better life, a lucrative job and the opportunity to send money to families at home.
But conditions facing Shan and other migrant laborers in Thailand are tough. Though they may register for an official work permit, the document restricts their movement to the area in which they are registered and is valid for only one year. The annual cost of 3,800 baht (US $107) for the permit is too expensive for many—the equivalent of one month’s salary or more. Burmese migrant workers often end up taking jobs that few Thai nationals are willing to do and, as a result, suffer mistreatment at the hands of their employers.
It is, therefore, not surprising that some have turned to a livelihood where the economic benefits are more alluring. Many Shan migrants see Chiang Mai’s booming sex trade as the city’s most attractive solution to their economic and social difficulties. While the average daily wage for migrant labor is between 80 and 180 baht ($2.25-5.07), a single night of sex work can bring in up to 10,000 baht ($280).
Ong is a Shan who works as a male prostitute in Chiang Mai. Ong’s lean, muscular body and flawless pale skin from his part-Chinese heritage make him one of the highest earners in the area. With his exotic good looks, Ong can earn up to 10,000 baht from a single client. “Most Thai customers will only pay 1,000 or 2,000 baht ($28-56), but farangs [Westerners] will often pay more,” says Ong. “I sometimes ask farangs who look like they can afford it for 5,000 or 10,000 baht ($140-280) and they pay it.”
Ong is heterosexual but feels he has little choice but to sell himself to men if he wants to earn the money he needs to help his family in Burma. “I don’t want to do this work, but what can I do?” he asks. “When I came to Chiang Mai I didn’t speak any Thai. I didn’t know my way around. I didn’t know anything, and I had to send money home to my family. In the three years I have been doing this work, I have been able to send 150,000 baht ($4,226) to my parents so that they could build a new house.”
The exact number of Shan sex workers in Chiang Mai is difficult to estimate, but a 2003 study conducted in collaboration with the Thai Ministry of Public Health for the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok found that 49 percent of the 198 male sex workers surveyed in 14 establishments were of non-Thai ethnicity and, of these, 64 percent were Shan.
Because prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, sex workers tend to keep a low profile, making accurate statistics almost impossible to obtain. It is possible, however, to get a rough idea of the industry’s growth by looking at a city’s number of gay establishments. According to a study by the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Anthropology, there were only eight venues in Chiang Mai catering mainly to homosexual clientele in 1994. Today, there are around 35.
Because they fall below the radar, this growing population of migrant male sex workers receives little assistance from NGOs. While several organizations in northern Thailand address the issue of migrant labor and others work with ethnic minorities, very few NGOs deal directly with male sex workers.
“Swing in Bangkok and Mplus in Chiang Mai are the only organizations that work with sex workers because they are male sex workers and not primarily for some other reason,” says Marcus Dresner, a German human rights worker who recently conducted a study into social stigma and support for male sex workers in Chiang Mai. Mplus provides northern Thailand’s only free clinic for MSM, or “men who have sex with men.”
“We try to provide male sex workers with information, healthcare and support,” says Mplus project manager Pad Thepsai. “We want to help them to help themselves.” The organization also does outreach work with male sex workers and youths, providing information and distributing free condoms with the aim of curbing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. While the incidence of HIV/AIDS and other STDs is much lower in Thailand than in other parts of Asia, a 2005 study conducted in conjunction with the Thai Ministry of Public Health and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 11.4 percent of male sex workers in Chiang Mai are HIV positive.
“The contribution of Mplus is invaluable, but there is still great need for additional outreach work, especially with the Shan men, as the language barrier makes it more difficult for them to get involved in the Mplus activities,” says Dresner.
Shan and Burmese sex workers, especially those new to the country and industry, are also the least likely to know about sexual health education; their culture regards talking openly about sexual issues as taboo, and Burma’s limited education and healthcare services offer very little access to information. “The Shan are really at the bottom of the industry hierarchy,” says Dresner. “They are the ones who are most in need of support but very little is available to them.”
The stigma experienced by sex workers compounds the problem, and male prostitutes are perhaps the most stigmatized of all sex workers in Thailand. Yet it is abundantly clear that Chiang Mai’s male sex trade is thriving and expanding at a rapid rate. Sadly, without the development of additional support services, the social, emotional and health problems of young, male Shans are likely to increase.
*All names of the sex workers in this article have been changed to protect their identity
Source: http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=7019&z=104
Why young Shan migrants enter Thailand’s sex scene
Amid a long strip of bars close to Chiang Mai’s bustling Night Bazaar is a small, neon-lit hangout where a group of western men sit surrounded by attentive Asian male youths. Some of the foreigners are being massaged by the young men, while others are chatting and laughing intimately with them.
Ton, a 25-year-old Thai man with an engaging smile, has owned this bar for a year. Though he is heterosexual, he runs a bar that is a prime pickup spot for male clients looking for sexual encounters with “bar boys.”
According to Ton, about 95 percent of male sex workers are heterosexual men whose motivation is purely economic—a statistic confirmed by the NGO Mplus. Jay, who works as a host and cleaner at a bar across from Ton’s, is typical. A Shan from Burma, Jay has a boyish, angelic face that belies his 21 years. He used to be a favorite with the customers and, after chatting with him for a few minutes, it’s easy to understand his popularity: his good looks are complemented by the warmth and friendliness he exudes.
But Jay stopped going home with clients over a year ago. He is heterosexual and has had a serious girlfriend for the past 10 months. “I came to Chiang Mai from Shan State two years ago to look for work,” he says. “I used to go with the clients because I needed the money, but I stopped when I got a job as ‘captain’ because it’s not good. I didn’t like it. None of the boys who work here likes doing what he does—they just need the money.”
Jay’s job is to welcome customers, make them feel at home and help negotiate terms between boys and clients—a kind of pimp.
An increasingly large number of Chiang Mai’s male sex workers come to Thailand from Burma’s Shan State. A shared border between Shan State and northern Thailand makes Chiang Mai one of the most accessible areas for Shan migrant laborers seeking work outside Burma.
While many Shan come to Thailand to escape human rights abuses such as mass relocations and forced labor, others, such as Jay, cross the border because of the country’s economic instability. Thailand is the gateway to a better life, a lucrative job and the opportunity to send money to families at home.
But conditions facing Shan and other migrant laborers in Thailand are tough. Though they may register for an official work permit, the document restricts their movement to the area in which they are registered and is valid for only one year. The annual cost of 3,800 baht (US $107) for the permit is too expensive for many—the equivalent of one month’s salary or more. Burmese migrant workers often end up taking jobs that few Thai nationals are willing to do and, as a result, suffer mistreatment at the hands of their employers.
It is, therefore, not surprising that some have turned to a livelihood where the economic benefits are more alluring. Many Shan migrants see Chiang Mai’s booming sex trade as the city’s most attractive solution to their economic and social difficulties. While the average daily wage for migrant labor is between 80 and 180 baht ($2.25-5.07), a single night of sex work can bring in up to 10,000 baht ($280).
Ong is a Shan who works as a male prostitute in Chiang Mai. Ong’s lean, muscular body and flawless pale skin from his part-Chinese heritage make him one of the highest earners in the area. With his exotic good looks, Ong can earn up to 10,000 baht from a single client. “Most Thai customers will only pay 1,000 or 2,000 baht ($28-56), but farangs [Westerners] will often pay more,” says Ong. “I sometimes ask farangs who look like they can afford it for 5,000 or 10,000 baht ($140-280) and they pay it.”
Ong is heterosexual but feels he has little choice but to sell himself to men if he wants to earn the money he needs to help his family in Burma. “I don’t want to do this work, but what can I do?” he asks. “When I came to Chiang Mai I didn’t speak any Thai. I didn’t know my way around. I didn’t know anything, and I had to send money home to my family. In the three years I have been doing this work, I have been able to send 150,000 baht ($4,226) to my parents so that they could build a new house.”
The exact number of Shan sex workers in Chiang Mai is difficult to estimate, but a 2003 study conducted in collaboration with the Thai Ministry of Public Health for the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok found that 49 percent of the 198 male sex workers surveyed in 14 establishments were of non-Thai ethnicity and, of these, 64 percent were Shan.
Because prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, sex workers tend to keep a low profile, making accurate statistics almost impossible to obtain. It is possible, however, to get a rough idea of the industry’s growth by looking at a city’s number of gay establishments. According to a study by the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Anthropology, there were only eight venues in Chiang Mai catering mainly to homosexual clientele in 1994. Today, there are around 35.
Because they fall below the radar, this growing population of migrant male sex workers receives little assistance from NGOs. While several organizations in northern Thailand address the issue of migrant labor and others work with ethnic minorities, very few NGOs deal directly with male sex workers.
“Swing in Bangkok and Mplus in Chiang Mai are the only organizations that work with sex workers because they are male sex workers and not primarily for some other reason,” says Marcus Dresner, a German human rights worker who recently conducted a study into social stigma and support for male sex workers in Chiang Mai. Mplus provides northern Thailand’s only free clinic for MSM, or “men who have sex with men.”
“We try to provide male sex workers with information, healthcare and support,” says Mplus project manager Pad Thepsai. “We want to help them to help themselves.” The organization also does outreach work with male sex workers and youths, providing information and distributing free condoms with the aim of curbing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. While the incidence of HIV/AIDS and other STDs is much lower in Thailand than in other parts of Asia, a 2005 study conducted in conjunction with the Thai Ministry of Public Health and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 11.4 percent of male sex workers in Chiang Mai are HIV positive.
“The contribution of Mplus is invaluable, but there is still great need for additional outreach work, especially with the Shan men, as the language barrier makes it more difficult for them to get involved in the Mplus activities,” says Dresner.
Shan and Burmese sex workers, especially those new to the country and industry, are also the least likely to know about sexual health education; their culture regards talking openly about sexual issues as taboo, and Burma’s limited education and healthcare services offer very little access to information. “The Shan are really at the bottom of the industry hierarchy,” says Dresner. “They are the ones who are most in need of support but very little is available to them.”
The stigma experienced by sex workers compounds the problem, and male prostitutes are perhaps the most stigmatized of all sex workers in Thailand. Yet it is abundantly clear that Chiang Mai’s male sex trade is thriving and expanding at a rapid rate. Sadly, without the development of additional support services, the social, emotional and health problems of young, male Shans are likely to increase.
*All names of the sex workers in this article have been changed to protect their identity
Source: http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=7019&z=104
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 11:54 am
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