泰國跨國性消費的政治經濟分析：仲介者與消費者的關係重構

泰國憑籍豐富的天然與人文資產，自二戰之後便以旅遊聞名世界，近年在廉價航空、跨國旅遊便捷措施與網路傳播的發展下，使得東南亞區域的人員流動顯著增加，國家與國家之間的交流已不像過去以政府為主要的行為者，取而代之的是各國的跨國旅客以及人民之間的跨域往來。在此一背景下，原本因越戰時期因應美國士兵旅遊而興起的泰國旅遊業，逐漸成為泰國政府重要財政收入，同一時期，泰國的性產業也成為全球性消費的重要目的地。泰國性產業隨著旅遊客大增以及大量資金的湧入下，出現了性商品「精緻化」和「客製化」的發展，「新興跨國客製化性旅遊」在上述背景下，逐漸變得可能。本研究藉由台-泰性產業發展過程以及歷史提供性產業在時代中的變化為背景，以個案訪談為基礎，呈現不同種類之性產業模式，並且透過性交易過程的制度分析，解釋性仲介如何利用網路、通訊軟體、人脈網路等資源來降低性交易過程中的交易成本，以解釋「新興跨國客製化性旅遊」得以運作的政治經濟基礎。本研究在經驗層次上突顯了透過新媒體與制度環境的發展使得跨國性交易模式出現了精緻化與客制化的發展；在理論上，則藉由跨國性交易過程的新制度分析，解釋了中間人在跨文化消費中促成跨國性消費模式建立的實質作用。

關鍵字

泰國；性旅遊；性產業；仲介者

並列摘要

Thailand has been famous for its tourism industry around the world since WWII, and in recent years under the development of budget airlines, the convenient measures of transnational tourism, and the spread of the internet, the movements of people in Southeast Asia have been increasing significantly. The exchanges of trade, commodities, and people among countries are not government-oriented anymore. Instead, non-state transnational tourists and international business activities drastically redefine the meaning of international exchanges. Against this backdrop, the Thailand tourism industry, driven by the American military during the Vietnam War, became the key fiscal source. At the same time, Thailand also turned herself to be the most appealing destination of global sex consumption. With a great amount of tourists and massive investment, the scale and scope of Thai sex industry become more “elaborated” and “customized.” The “customized transnational sex tourism” gradually becomes possible. This thesis presents a foray to explore the latest development of sex consumption in this technology-savvy and inter-connected world. I will build up my research based on different sorts of sex industry modes based on the Taiwan and Thailand sex industry development process, and case interviews. Thus, through the systematic analysis of the sex trade process, this research explains how sex brokers minimize transaction cost of transnational sex consumption, through sophisticatedly engaged in internet, communication software and connections with sex consummers and related resources to establish a new model of transnational sex trade, which explain the political economy of newly transnational customization sex tourism. Empirically, this research highlights new potential that the new media and institutional arrangements encourage to make transnational sex trade modes more elaborated and customized. Theoretically, the new institutionalst analysis of the transnational sex trade process explains the catalyst, and key, status of middlemen/brokers in trans-culture consumption.