Page 85 - Cultural Studies Volume 11

OF DESIRE, THE FARANG, AND TEXTUAL EXCURSIONS 79

Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States came to occupy their city and
country.
You might also tell the stories, the longing stories, of the soldiers and
tourists who patronize the brothel. They would describe how homesick they
are when they are thinking about their friends and wives in their own
countries, and how they know, but are no longer bothered by, the fake
loyalty and submissiveness displayed by their temporary Asian partners.
You might have a character or two who are especially brazen about their
sexual prowess. Some of the tourists, however, might be more serious in
their quest for the unique beliefs, cultural codes, and even ethics of the
Asian body in bed. 4

A travel guide from the US written for gay tourists travelling to Thailand has this
to say:
The Thai are becoming tired of Western emphasis on and distortion of the
sex trade—and we can’t blame them. Whatever one’s personal, emotional
and moral reaction to ‘pay/being paid for sex’ might be, Thailand is among
many countries in the world that view prostitution differently than do many
Anglo-Saxon nations. It may be that some Westerner’s concern to protect
the ‘poor, exploited’ Thai is in fact an insulating, patronizing view of Thai
innocence and helplessness. It is most certainly a reflection of Western
guilt and confusion about sexuality. The often-heard judgment that
Western participation in the Thai sex trade is ‘sexual exploitation’ is pure
emotionalism.
(Allyn, 1991:260–1)
To help Western gay tourists to further enjoy themselves in Thailand, now that
they have been led to accept that sexual labour is part of the ‘natural’ fabric of
Thai life, the same travel guide also contains a handy list of sexual terms for
tourists to use to interact with Thai barboys. It explains, ‘Words that refer to
sexual organs and sex acts are among the first that foreigners learn in a foreign
country, perhaps because they help establish a kind of intimacy between native
and foreign friends. To some degree, the words help give an insight into another
culture’s attitudes about sex’ (276).

Several years ago, during the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in
Minneapolis, I saw Macho Dancer, a film about the gay male sex industry
in the Philippines. The film takes the audience to the underbelly of contempor
ary Manila, to the streets and bars where young Filipino men from poor,
rural regions of the country are trying to make a living by macho dancing
for a predominantly older white gay male audience.
The film opens with the sound track of a man moaning in bed.
Voyeuristically, the camera traces the shiny body of a young Filipino boy