CAN PROSTITUTES MARRY - THAI ATTITUDES TOWARD FEMALE SEX WORKERS

This study explores popular attitudes towards female sex workers in Th ailand by examining the general public's perceptions of a prostitute's ability to marry based on focus group data. The tentative conclusion emerging from our findings that the general public believes sex worker s can marry is that a relative lack of severe or lasting social stigma is an important part of a Thai context that facilitates recruitment i nto prostitution and permits it to persist on a widespread scale. We i nterpret this con elusion in terms of the broader value system in Thai society. Although sur findings are implicitly comparative in nature, a lack of comparable information from other countries on how those who provide commercial sex are viewed by the general population prevents a more definitive conclusion. There is an obvious need for research on this topic as well as on how sex workers view themselves, and how thi s translates into actual behavior. Data set used: Focus group transcri pts from the project ''The influence of primary female partners and ma le peers on male extramarital sexual behavior in Thailand'' . (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.