This article explores bar prostitution as a distinct sexual arena. Drawing on fieldwork in six red-light districts in Thailand, the article identifies key structural and interactional features of the bars located in these areas. The analysis draws on an “interaction rituals” framework to elucidate scripted encounters between workers and customers, successive ritual chains, and the way departures or “broken chains” help to confirm the existence and vitality of normative chains. I argue, further, that the bars are organized around a distinctive moral economy—a courting-and-dating model—that allows sex workers and their clients to simultaneously downplay their involvement in prostitution and form affective ties with one another. Due to this framing, bar prostitution can be distinguished from most other types of prostitution, where opportunities for destigmatization are either minimal or nonexistent.

本文探讨了酒吧卖淫作为一种独特的性爱竞技场。本文利用泰国六个红灯区的实地调查，确定了位于这些地区的酒吧的主要结构和互动特征。该分析采用“互动仪式”框架来阐明工人和客户之间的脚本化遭遇，连续的仪式链以及偏离或“断裂的链”有助于确认规范链的存在和活力的方式。我进一步论证说，这些酒吧是围绕一种独特的道德经济组织的-一种求爱和约会的模式，该模式允许性工作者及其clients客同时轻描淡写他们从事卖淫并彼此建立感情纽带。由于这种情况，酒吧卖淫可与大多数其他类型的卖淫区分开来，