Table 3.

Contexts of sex work or trade among young MSM and TGW in Thailand and supporting quotations

Topic	Relevant quotations
Sex work across multiple modalities	[Massage parlor-based sex work] is not like taking the job myself (internet-based sex work). Not like posting [online] by myself. See, one day I got almost 10 people, about 10,000 [baht]. Staying at the [massage] parlor, they (venue management) can choose, you know. [The client] must also pay the parlor too. [Participant #20, TGW, Bangkok] “It is competitive [to get a client], like a beauty contest. Everybody is a friend but at last they all want the customer for themselves.” [Participant #5, TGW, Bangkok]
Fluidity of sex work	Interviewer: Why do you go back and forth [between Pattaya and your hometown]? Why don’t you stay [in Pattaya] for long? Participant: I had to face a lot of problems, for example, [paying] room rent. I had to go back [home] for a break. I went back to work in a factory. When I have enough money to rent a room, I would come back again… It [rent] is expensive. You have to pay five thousand Baht for deposit. When you didn’t have a customer for some time, you had to go back home first and came back afterwards. [Participant #12, TGW, Pattaya] I was a monk for a while, and I stopped [selling sex] for years. Not long after I was in monkhood, my grandfather died. No one lived with my grandmother, so I left everything in Bangkok to stay with her, even though I wanted to find a rich supporter (sugar daddy) and could earn at least 1000 Baht if I stayed and worked [at a sex work venue] in Bangkok. [Participant #5, TGW, Bangkok] I worked at the massage parlor for around 1 month [to pay for university tuition] …I went every day because it was already the end of [the university] semester… when I had worked for about 1 month, it was before I went back home…I quit [to move back home]. [Participant #17, MSM, Bangkok] I started sex work because [a senior TGW or kathoey] recommended, “hey, if you want money quickly, you [should] work this, this, this (street-based sex work)” … she recommended to go to Nana (nightlife hotspot in Bangkok) for the first time [selling sex]. [Participant #23, TGW, Bangkok]
Migration	Interviewer: Do you go to Pattaya often? Participant: Mostly I stay in Bangkok. I haven’t gone to Pattaya for a long time. I came to live in Bangkok for 3–4 months now… I will go back home and go there (Pattaya) again. I will go [to Pattaya] at the end of the month…end of next month… [Selling sex in Pattaya] gets a good rate. [Participant #22, TGW, Bangkok] Interviewer: If you go to Phuket, will it be a long time? Participant: I may be there for a long time. I might not work as a dancer as I used to be. I may work as a clown at Patong. You could get more than 10,000 or 5,000 for only a short period of work. These performers shop around and get good tips from foreigners. But next month is not a high season period, I don’t know if there will be many people there. [Participant #2, MSM, Bangkok]. Interviewer: About what you said that you went to Korea for a while. Was it last month? Participant: During [last month], I went to Korea. My roommate went first. She asked me to go, so I did…Thais can stay [in Korea] for 90 days, three months, so we went to work (sell sex) there [Participant #8, TGW, Bangkok].
Challenges faced by TGW who sell or trade sex	Participant: I’ve taken contraceptives since I was in Grade 3, 9 years old. Interviewer: Oh, really? Since Grade 3. See, who recommended so? Participant: There was a senior near my place, she is a kathoey. See, she had everything already, like this (sexual reassignment surgery). She had the sexually reassignment surgery. [Participant #23, TGW, Bangkok] Participant: I used to take hormonal pills in the past...I have stopped…I had money at that time (laugh). But lately I’ve got no money to buy it. [Participant #12, TGW, Bangkok] “It is hard to earn a living being a transgender woman. It is hard to earn a living. Being gay, it is easy to earn a living” [Participant #20, TGW, Bangkok]. Interviewer: Do you have any problem entering an MSM shop (massage parlor)? Participant: Yes, because some shops wouldn’t allow me to get in. Interviewer: Aren’t there massage shops for transgender women? Participant: I don’t think it’s possible. There would be no men who dare to go into a kathoey shop. That’s not possible. It must be a woman shop where kathoeys work there. [Participant #11, TGW, Bangkok] Actually, it is easy to be gay. We could go over here over there (different sex work venues and opportunities), easier than being transgender women. It is more difficult to move around when you are transgender woman. If you apply for a job and you have long hair, it is more difficult for transgender women to get it. Gay men will get the job easier than transgender women because gays have a male look… Yes, it is hard to socialize. [Participant #6, MSM, Pattaya]