Red Light District: Sex Tourism in Southeast Asia

Sex tours from Western European and North American patrons have become increasingly common in recent years, with tour operators advertising Southeast Asian destinations such as Bangkok, Thailand as centres of sexual freedom. Thailand’s increasing economic dependence on tourism, and the representation by sex tour agencies of Thai women as sexually ‘liberated’ provide moral justification for Western tourists seeking Bangkok’s Red Light District. The Thai sex industry has become a lucrative employment opportunity for young women, despite deeply ingrained cultural values which contrast sharply with their representation in the West as the sexually voracious, ethnic Other