Performance, power and condom use: reconceptualised masculinities amongst Western male sex tourists to Thailand

Abstract

Each year large numbers of Western men travel to Thailand for sex tourism. Although many will use condoms during their sexual encounters, others will not, potentially exposing themselves to the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Although sex tourism in Thailand has been well documented, the social drivers underpinning voluntary sexual risk-taking through the avoidance of condoms remain poorly understood. Engaging with R.W. Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and drawing on data collected from 1237 online discussion board posts and 14 face-to-face interviews, this study considers the ways in which understandings and performances of masculinities may inform the sexual risk-taking behaviours of Western male sex tourists. It argues that for some of these men, unprotected sex is viewed not as a reckless behaviour but, instead, as a safe and appropriate masculine practice, supported by relationships that are often framed as romantic and within a setting where HIV is still largely considered a homosexual disease. With sex workers often disempowered to request safer sexual practices, and some men's attitudes towards unprotected sex resistant to external health promotion advice, the paper concludes by considering what this might mean for policy and practice.

Paying for Sex During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Israeli Men

“…The diverse experiences of MWPWS also vary within different venues of the sex industry or based on different SFP patterns. Thus, for example, sex tourism in developing countries is often characterized by open-ended and enduring relationships between sex tourists and local WPS, which seldom facilitates intimate experiences for MWPWS (Bishop & Limmer, 2018;Prior & Peled, 2019). However, street-based SFP is usually referred to by MWPWS in straightforward terms of strictly sexual experiences (Durant & Couch, 2019).…”

Sun, sea and sex: a review of the sex tourism literature

“…Other factors associated with reduced usage were the belief that foreign condoms were of poorer quality [34], spontaneous sexual encounters or embarrassment at purchasing condoms [43], substance use [15,32,43], and travel to Latin America or the Caribbean [15]. An examination of male sex tourists to Thailand also revealed that unprotected sex was seen as more masculine and enjoyable, and there was a general misconception among male sex tourists that unprotected heterosexual intercourse was a low risk activity [44]. This same study also showed that male heterosexual sex tourists were aware of risks, but due to their own personal or peer experiences being at variance with the warnings they received regarding risky sexual behaviour, they were more likely to engage in unprotected sex with CSW.…”

Asian solo male travelling mobilities – an autoethnography

“…Pritchard and Morgan (2000) argued that this is because of a privileged landscape, where it is often the case of solo men undertaking tourism activities, which Coston and Kimmel (2012) call a “performance of masculinity”. This is evident across a range of tourism activities such as cycling tourism (Buning and Gibson, 2016), motorcycling (Frash et al , 2018) and sex tourism (Bishop and Limmer, 2018). Each of these genres tends to characterise the Western male as an individual of power, resource and are, therefore, accorded (un)conscious masculinity, although the presence of solo women in some of these spaces is slowly emerging (Doran, 2016; Martin et al , 2006; Weichselbaumer, 2012).…”