Risky Pleasures

This ethnographic study explores the discourses and practices of male clients of foreign female sex workers (FSWs) who carried out relationships with their regular FSW. Situated in an environment that rejects and stigmatizes sex work, this study explores the paths taken by this small group of men pursuing a relationship with a FSW. Findings from a sample of 23 Malaysian men obtained from an online forum and through snowball sampling display a demand for intimacy that for some clients transcends conventions of commercial sex, while for others display a desire for consumption of commodified intimacy within the sex trade. Participants’ narratives provide an insight as to how FSWs adapt and utilize emotional labor to their advantage. The resulting relationship is one of extreme inequality in power relations, resulting in both sides developing different strategies to compensate for their vulnerabilities.