Prostitution in Thailand has been the subject of media sensationalism for decades. Bangkok's brothels have become international icons of "third world" women's exploitation in the global sex trade. Recently, however, sex workers have begun to demand not pity, but rights as workers in the global economy. This book explores how Thai national identity in such an economy is linked to prostitution and gender. Jeffrey asserts that certain images of "The Prostitute" have silenced discourses of prostitution as work, while fostering the idea of the peasant woman as the embodiment of national culture. This idea, coupled with a will to shape the modern state through the behaviour of middle-class men, has been a main concern of Thai prostitution policy. Gender, Jeffrey argues, has become the mechanism through which states respond to the contradictory pressures of globalization and nation-building. Sex and Borders is essential reading for those interested in gender studies, Southeast Asian studies, and the politics of prostitution.

Prostitution in Thailand has been the subject of media sensationalism for decades. Bangkok's brothels have become international icons of "third world" women's exploitation in the global sex trade. Recently, however, sex workers have begun to demand not pity, but rights as workers in the global economy. This book explores how Thai national identity in such an economy is linked to prostitution and gender. Jeffrey asserts that certain images of "The Prostitute" have silenced discourses of prostitution as work, while fostering the idea of the peasant woman as the embodiment of national culture. This idea, coupled with a will to shape the modern state through the behaviour of middle-class men, has been a main concern of Thai prostitution policy. Gender, Jeffrey argues, has become the mechanism through which states respond to the contradictory pressures of globalization and nation-building. Sex and Borders is essential reading for those interested in gender studies, Southeast Asian studies, and the politics of prostitution.

This Element has two aims. The first is to discuss arguments philosophers have made about the difference God's existence might make to questions of general interest in metaethics. The second is to argue that it is a mistake to think we can get very far in answering these questions by assuming a thin conception of God, and to suggest that exploring the implications of thick theisms for metaethics would be more fruitful.