The Underground Economy: Hidden prostitution in Traditional Massage Parlors in Thailand

Abstract

                  The purposes of this dissertation are to illustrate the situation of the hidden prostitution in the traditional massage parlors under the paradigm of underground economy, which aims to estimate the economic size of the prostitution in the traditional massage parlors. Hence, the research was to present the management policy of the prostitution hidden in traditional massage parlors and other non-massage entertainment venue.

                  The result shows that there is hidden prostitution in traditional massage parlors. Those involved in prostitution include massagers who sell sex, sex buyers and traditional massage parlors that facilitate sex trafficking which protected by local influential persons from searching and being arrested. In sex trafficking, inquiries and bargains are made and it occurs when both buyers and sellers are satisfied. The forms of sexual act are manual sex, oral sex, and sexual intercourse which may occur inside or outside the traditional massage parlors. The economic value of illegal prostitution in traditional massage parlors in 2017, estimated from the country’s top ten provinces with the highest Gross Provincial Product per capita including Chiang Mai, Nonthaburi and Nakhon Ratchasima, was from 835,615,000 to 1,671,230,000 Baht in total per year.