Revisiting Thailand’s Contemporary Policies on Tolerating “Illegal” Sex Work

In this chapter, the author points out Thailand has been practising a pragmatic approach that, on one hand, has been cracking down on commercial sex activities regularly but loosely, and, on the other hand, allowing the provision of paid sex services to entertain the needs of both domestic and foreign customers. Given the significant financial returns and cultural acceptance of allowing the practice of prostitution, the Government, despite criminalising commercial sex activities, has always been enabling the operation of domestic entertainment establishments. An example of Thailand’s tolerance of prostitution is the implementation of the “100% condoms” campaign, where law enforcement authorities have been distributing free condoms to sex workers in conventional sex and entertainment establishments, in spite of the criminalisation of prostitution. The author argues that fully cracking down on the domestic sex industry is voidable when the Government theoretically criminalises but pragmatically tolerates the act of commercial sex. Moreover, the Government is financially disincentivised to fully crack down on its domestic prostitution economy. The author, in conclusion, hints at the importance of addressing the root causes of prostitution in order to build a less prostitution-dependent economy—an area that will be discussed in Chap. 5 .