THAILAND IN BOYS FOR SALE

The following comes from Boys for Sale. A Sociological Study of Boy Prostitution by Dennis Drew and Jonathan Drake, New York, 1969, pp. 135-6.

One reason that men tourists are so charmed by the sight of the lovely, naked boys swimming everywhere in the Bangkok canals, is the common knowledge of their erotic sensibilities, interests and availability. Many tourists and travellers have related their experiences of being approached — even by the young boy monks in their orange robes. For an example, see Notre Amour, by Roger Peyrefitte. [1]

One traveller told us of his fright when the owner of a hotel knocked on the door while he was having sexual intercourse with a young boy prostitute. Before he could say or do anything, the door opened and in came the man with a pot of fragrant China tea and two delicate cups on a lacquer tray. He poured some tea, handed it to the startled nude guest and his equally unclad little friend, smiled and gracefully withdrew with no other comment than his smile. In Thailand, it is quite a natural thing for a man and a boy to make love.

Thai boys are not only often unusually beautiful, but are also erotically eager to give a customer much more than his money’s worth — in the style of Giton in the Satyricon. There is, of course a slight language barrier, but this doesn’t seem to make much difference, as all over Thailand, actions speak a lot louder than words, especially sexual actions.

Boy prostitutes are relatively inexpensive in Thailand: $2.00 or less for a boy and about the same for a hotel room. If a boy tells a Westerner that he is a “nephew” of such-and-such an important official, he merely means that at one time, he was temporarily adopted as a sexual favorite of that official. There is evidence that this is a very ancient form of boy prostitution in Thailand. The “adopted nephew” is sometimes a poor relative from the country. To what extent the general population makes use of the available boys is not known, but, to the average tourist, the “canal boys” remain a favorite interest.

[1] Not true. Peyrefitte did indeed describe being approached by a monk with such intentions, who had him stay the night, but the monk was a young man, not a boy, for which reason he did not avail himself of the amorous opportunity.

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