Is Prostitution legal or illegal in Thailand?
[URL]https://www.refworld.org/legal/legislation/natlegbod/1996/58177[/URL]
[URL]https://legal.co.th/resources/thailand-criminal-law/criminal-jurisprudence-thailand/prostitution-legal-or-illegal-thailand/[/URL]
Transcript of the video:
[QUOTE]As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing whether or not prostitution is legal or illegal in Thailand. I have done other videos on this but something recently came up in the news, I will get to that in a moment. Every now and then I kind of reiterate this: yes prostitution is illegal in Thailand. Thailand has a different way of defining it, I'll get into that in a moment but also at the same time common sense should kind of prevail too on these topics, I will get to that. So I thought of making this video after reading a recent article in the Thai Examiner, that's thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Biggest Sex for Sale website shut down by police unit in early morning raid targeting foreigners. Quoting directly: "A cursory review shows that it clearly advertised prostitution services with detailed reviews given by customers from mid-July to the end of July, most of them appearing to be English speaking foreigners, raving about and paying compliments to the sex workers working on the online facility together with photographs of attractive young women in provocative clothing and poses." So I urge those who are watching this video, as usual Thai Examiner does a really meticulous job of going through, reporting on what's going on there. A foreigner and a Thai apparently were arrested in this matter. There was a website up was promoting what ostensibly was escort activities but apparently Thai Police felt that there was enough probable cause to presume that prostitution was being purveyed through this website, so they went ahead and made arrests. Again, I urge those watching this video, go check out the article and get in depth information on that.
The thrust of this video though is sort of legal analysis. Again I am an American Attorney, I am not a Thai lawyer, I am not a Thai Attorney. I am the Managing Director of the firm but we do provide these videos for sort of informational purposes only. I discussed with the Thai lawyers in our office, the analysis of this I am going to do right here and they have said, "yeah this is basically the situation in Thailand." So I took this from [URL]krisdika.go.th[/URL], so this is the Government of Thailand's own website where they published the [b]Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act B.E. 2539, (that's 1996)[/b]. So this is the Act that is currently in force here in Thailand. Under section 4 in this Act, "Prostitution" means the acceptance of sexual intercourse or any other act or the commission of any other act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner, in return for money or any other benefit irrespective of whether the person who accepts the act and the person who commits the act are of the same sex or not." Again it's on the Thai Government's website, it's in English. Now remember, the dispositive language for purposes of Law in Thailand is Thai, so the Thai language prevails but this is pretty informative stuff when you consider it is on the Thai Government's own website and it's an English translation of the Act so it gives you, in my opinion, as much detail as can be given for informational and educational purposes providing it in the English language, so again. But it is this "promiscuous manner" part of the definition of prostitution that in my mind is where the rubber hits the road at least from a comparative law analysis standpoint between for example Western countries, jurisdictions in the United States and how they define prostitution, versus Thailand. This "promiscuous manner" what I would call an almost open and notorious sort of framework when analyzing this, it really in my mind comes into play because Thailand is in my mind very much a "Live and let Live" sort of society. And it takes the position that "hey no we don't want prostitution, we don't want to encourage that kind of behaviour". But as I have said in many other videos, I view it as sort of the Doctrine of Conservative Tolerance in Thailand wherein Thailand is a conservative place but it can tolerate people's different proclivities, whatever; "Live and let Live" basically. And when I read this section of the Act, I think that this is a very mature way to handle a rather nettlesome topic which is yes prostitution is illegal but Thai authorities are not overly concerned with what consenting adults do behind closed doors. [u]So what you do behind closed doors is your business as long as how you got there did not meet the elements of prostitution which promiscuity is one of those elements[/u]..[/QUOTE]Every [B]International Trick[/B] or 18 year old girl that is about to enter prostitution that has questions about it they can refer to this transcript and watch the video. What you choose to believe is as my girls say to me: [I]"Up to you"?[/I].
[B]Wink, Wink![/B]
Things that make me laugh!
A senior member that has almost 7900 posts writes the following:
[QUOTE]However, there are methods, locations and players in Thailand that do virtually guarantee to about a 99% certainty a lovely hassle-free BBBJCIM+Swallow, BBFSCIP with genuine affection, always the customer's choice which or both and with well above average lookers age 18 years or slightly above and for very little more baht than the going rate for standard Covered Everything. And I have been lucky enough to discover them through the years.
[u]I would share that info on ISG[/u] but[/QUOTE]Correct me if I am wrong. But if he has 7900 posts and has been posting for years (seriously, I want you to correct my thinking if I am wrong) hasn't he had plenty of time to share that information before he decided to have a flame war over a issue he feels passionately about (namely 18 year old girls or older entering prostitution here in Thailand) with another Senior Member over the last month or so?
If he want to keep that information to himself. The [B]5th Amendment[/B] of The Constitution gives him the right to remain silent.
[QUOTE][b]Miranda Rights[/b]You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?[/QUOTE][U]It should be noted:[/U]
There is no single official Miranda script; the law requires the four core rights be conveyed clearly, not in exact words.
[QUOTE]To become a Royal Thai Police officer, applicants must be [u]Thai nationals by birth[/u], aged between 18 and 35 (with extensions for ethnic minorities), and hold at least a high school diploma or a law degree.[/QUOTE]Even Royal Thai Police officers might have a law degree.
Last point, if our senior member who is not a Thai Citizen, nor a member of the bar is so [B]pussy whipped[/B] by his current Thai Girl Friend that he is afraid to fuck, then why does any of this matter to him?
It doesn't matter what I think about Thai Law!
What [B]EihTooms[/B] fails to understand is that his opinion on the law does not matter. What matters is how Thai Law Enforcement decided to enforce the law and how the Thai Courts choose to interpret the law.
I have used as an example his own words:
[QUOTE=EihTooms;3081104]The laws and regulations regarding Thai nominees for foreign property or business ownership have been clear and on the books for a long, long time.[/QUOTE]The law did not change. How Thai authorities have decided to enforce it has changed.
[QUOTE]May 2026: enforcement tightened, the law did not change
Between 15 and 25 May 2026 the Department of Lands issued three consecutive circulars marked most urgent to every Provincial*Land Office, addressing land held for foreigners through Thai proxies: MT 0515.2/W 10722 of 15 May 2026, W 11266 of 21 May, and W 11493 of 25 May. W 10722 and W 11493 are signed by Director-General Phornphot Phenphas. These are administrative circulars. They create no new law and impose no new reporting duty on the public. W 11493 says so in terms, recording that it does not repeal the earlier Ministry of Interior letters or the Departments own standing directives but gathers them into one sequence. So the legal exposure of a*nominee*arrangement is unchanged while the likelihood of it being examined has risen sharply.[/QUOTE]And yet for twenty years (20) they are not enforced.
[QUOTE]The Thailand nominee company crackdown 2026 is the most aggressive enforcement action weve seen in 20 years of practice. On April 1, 2026, the Department of Business Development (DBD) rolled out mandatory in-person shareholder verification for any company amendment involving foreign participation. Thai shareholders cant hide behind paper anymore. They have to show up, declare their income, and sign forms that carry criminal liability.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.thailawonline.com/thailand-nominee-company-crackdown-2026/[/URL]
It would behoove each and every [B]International Trick[/B] visiting Thailand for international trickin activities that has access to the internet to use the links I have provided to read the law themselves not give away your agency to a Non Thai Citizen, Non Member of the Bar, who lives in Bangkok, Thailand that is obsessed with 18 year old girls (and older) entering prostitution in Thailand.
All I have ever done is just made the argument. Anyone who is from the Dis United Stated of America would understand my background. It is through the adversarial system in the courts where a jury is convened to review the merits of the evidence presented to them. The [B]International Tricks[/B] of ISG reading my posts are my jury.
[B]Decide for yourselves gentlemen![/B]
The Cmdr has a question for Explorer8939 and Paolo99
[QUOTE=Explorer8939;3085868]Very common bar Q&A: Customer: how long you in Pattaya? Lady: 2 days.
But the lady really means she just got back from holiday 2 days ago. She's been working Pattaya for 10 years.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Paolo99;3085748]Good report, I'm surprised such a girl can still make experienced mongers believe she's just started working there. She's been there at least for the last three years, every time I was passing by I could see her, my reaction have always been damn that girl is still working there.[/QUOTE]I ask both of you:
[B]Why in the fuck does it matter?[/B]
EihTooms needs to read Thai Criminal Code (Sections 326 - 333)
[QUOTE=EihTooms;3085875]Probably a reader of ISG and your posts urging arrests and the closure of venures where an otherwise perfectly non criminal offer of prostitution was made.[/QUOTE]Says right in the article what happened.
[QUOTE][u]According to the undercover officers[/u], the workers offered sexual services to customers. Furthermore, they also confirmed that prostitution was offered inside the venue. [u]Consequently, investigators prepared a sting operation based on the findings[/u]. Next, undercover agents arranged to pay for such services. Specifically, they transferred money to the bar owners account.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/03/30/owner-of-prostitution-den-fronting-as-karaoke-bar-arrested-on-friday-and-charged-by-chacheongsao-police/[/URL]
If prostitution is legal in Thailand why was there a sting operation?
[QUOTE=EihTooms;3085875]Or did you contact and alert the police privately this time?[/QUOTE][B]I did not![/B] Asked and answered.
Repeat the accusation and you will be in violation Thai Criminal Code (Sections 326333). Reference is made to several posts you have made in the RANTS thread. Defamation in Thailand is a criminal offense governed by the Thai Criminal Code (Sections 326333), meaning individuals can face imprisonment and fines in addition to civil liability. Intent is not required for a conviction; any statement that impairs another's reputation before a third party qualifies as defamation, regardless of whether it was made maliciously.
Is that in plain enough language for you?
A simple question for simple men
Is group sex between consenting adults 18 years or older legal in Thailand if a exchange of money is involved?
[QUOTE=AxelHeyst;3085673]I am a simple man too.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=HorseTrader;3085654]I'm not that sophisticated.[/QUOTE]
Why would you think that? Well, anything really.
[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3085905]A senior member that has almost 7900 posts writes the following:
Correct me if I am wrong. But if he has 7900 posts and has been posting for years (seriously, I want you to correct my thinking if I am wrong) hasn't he had plenty of time to share that information before he decided to have a flame war over a issue he feels passionately about (namely 18 year old girls or older entering prostitution here in Thailand) with another Senior Member over the last month or so?
If he want to keep that information to himself. The [B]5th Amendment[/B] of The Constitution gives him the right to remain silent.
[U]It should be noted:[/U]
There is no single official Miranda script; the law requires the four core rights be conveyed clearly, not in exact words.
Even Royal Thai Police officers might have a law degree.
Last point, if our senior member who is not a Thai Citizen, nor a member of the bar is so [B]pussy whipped[/B] by his current Thai Girl Friend that he is afraid to fuck, then why does any of this matter to him?[/QUOTE]Your assumption is everything one could learn and know about Thailand and this hobby was set in stone and right there to know and share in year one, five or ten? Things change. Old options disappear, new one emerge. Covid especially changed much. And mostly not for the better.
Sometimes it takes years to discover something important. You have spent years living in Thailand by now and you have yet to notice that Thai culture, demeanor and language is very flexible and imprecise. For example, when Thai authorities tell the media or others that so-and-so was arrested "for prostitution", you have yet to realize they are merely using the term "for prostitution" as a catch-all for a whole host of prostitution-related crimes even though not one sentence in any legally enforceable document or legislation with paragraph after paragraph of sentences is devoted to stating that the simple and direct act of consenting adults discreetly agreeing to engage in sex for money and then engaging in it in private is illegal, a crime, subject to arrest, punishable by any penalty nor, therefore, has ever in known history has doing that resulted in an arrest or punishment.
You have utterly missed that after all these years and even after having it shown to be totally missing in the Code and the Act. And missing for a very good reason.
BTW, where did you come up with the silliness about me being pussy whipped by anyone and afraid to fuck my girlfriend? LOL. See? You've spent years "learning" things that are not true rather than learning things that are true.
My god, SubCmdr. You are still not grasping it.
[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3085961]Says right in the article what happened.
[URL]https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/03/30/owner-of-prostitution-den-fronting-as-karaoke-bar-arrested-on-friday-and-charged-by-chacheongsao-police/[/URL]
If prostitution is legal in Thailand why was there a sting operation?
[B]I did not![/B] Asked and answered.
Repeat the accusation and you will be in violation Thai Criminal Code (Sections 326333). Reference is made to several posts you have made in the RANTS thread. Defamation in Thailand is a criminal offense governed by the Thai Criminal Code (Sections 326333), meaning individuals can face imprisonment and fines in addition to civil liability. Intent is not required for a conviction; any statement that impairs another's reputation before a third party qualifies as defamation, regardless of whether it was made maliciously.
Is that in plain enough language for you?[/QUOTE][B]SubCmdr:[/B]
[QUOTE]If prostitution is legal in Thailand why was there a sting operation?[/QUOTE]Every detail of the report spells out as explicitly as possible in plain language that the business was operating as a commercial prostitution establishment. The owners were raking off a portion of the sex worker's income as prostitutes.
Everyone knows there are specific Citations and Sections in the Thai Penal Code and the Act stating that activity to be a crimes.
According to your link, the only prostitution-related arrest was of the owner for running the business. The women were busted for foreign worker violations. Similar to what happens on Beach Road, Soi 4, etc.
Meanwhile, there is NO report of the women, the sex workers, the customers or anyone else being arrested "for prostitution", as in consenting adults agreeing to exchange sex for money, money for sex and then engaging in it.
The sting was based on a complaint that the business was employing foreign workers. Were you the one that complained to the police about that? While they were in the club for that, they also discovered the owner of the place was taking a cut of the money some ladies made as prostitutes. How many times have I pointed out in plain language as also stated in plain language in the Code and Act as a crime?
Lolol. [B]SubCmdr[/B], you are truly hilarious! LOL.
The details in that report posted by you is practically a text-book example of what is and is not a crime with regard to prostitution in Thailand. And the part that is not a crime is the part where consenting adults agree to exchange money for sex, sex for money and then engage in that activity, presumably in private in this case since no one was arrested or charged with doing anything "openly and shamelessly in a public place causing a nuisance to the public. ".
Damn. I wish I had posted it first as a clear and unambiguous lesson in plain language of an example of the police not arresting consenting adult prostitutes or their consenting adult customers "for prostitution".
Now you're misstating the Admin on the purpose of ISG
[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3086004][B]Its especially important to do a historical review of a individual's posting history[/B]
Since September 2018 when this RANTS thread was started, [B]Senior Members[/B] have been talking their [U]male bovine excrement[/U] to each other. They are accusing each other of lying on their dicks mostly. One senior member claimed that he can cum in the mouth of any chick he is with. The other senior member called him out on his claim. Other senior members called out other senior members in a circle jerk that has been going on for eight years.
[U]Looking at it that way I am a relative new on the scene[/U] I did not make my first post in the RANTS thread until 2023. So the idea that others have proffered that some how I have messed up this space is historically inaccurate. It also made me realize that the response I get are more like an a initiation. They have been at it a long time. Now with the new kid on the block they want to see if I can take it. They have seen that. Not only can I handle the personal insults, racism and [B]ad hominem[/B] attacks. I can handle them without any problem and I give back as good as they can give. That pisses a lot of [U]Senior Members off[/U]. So, new people feel free to wade into the RANTS discussions. We need new input and new ideas. Because the Senior Members posted up in this space are getting long in the tooth and they are just repeating the same same arguments in the same circle jerk manner that they have been doing since 2018.
Now there is a specific registered democrat, non-thai citizen, non-member of the bar, [I]pussy whipped[/I] mother fuck who lives in Bankgok Thailand, who has made it his mission to make sure as many Thai Girls over the age of 18 enter prostitution. First he argued that my posts were getting in the way of his objective. Now he argues that 18 old girls who read my posts will not understand them. If that is the case he should have no worries. Also, if you review my posting history you will know that I see new girls of all ages signing up to [U]Thai Friendly[/U] the dating site. Where perhaps they will meet their life long partner. Or maybe they will leave the site and have a private conversation with someone that allows them to have a meeting in person to pursue other objectives.[/QUOTE]You wrote, [B]"The purpose of ISG is to share information on having sex with girls!"[/B].
As you have repeatedly misstated the law regarding prostitution in Thailand now you are repeatedly misstating the purpose of ISG as it appears in the General FAQ of this Forum.
InternationalSexGuide FAQ:
[QUOTE][b]What is the purpose of this Forum?[/b]
The purpose of this Forum is to facilitate the exchange of information between men who are looking for sex with women.[/QUOTE]Note the plain language words in the official stated purpose of ISG that are very different from the words you use that fundamentally change its meaning.
This really isn't complicated or fraught with complex "legalese" that requires an attorney to sort it out for us; you keep getting it wrong. And, worse, you continue to assert the wrong thing and hope others will get it wrong too. To what purpose, nobody knows. Do you?
Inability to understand the las EihTooms is not a defense
[B]Undercover officers confirm foreign workers and prostitution offered openly inside the venue[/B]
[QUOTE]According to the undercover officers, the workers offered sexual services to customers. Furthermore, they also confirmed that prostitution was offered inside the venue. Consequently, investigators prepared a sting operation based on the findings. Next, undercover agents arranged to pay for such services. Specifically, they transferred money to the bar owners account.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/03/30/owner-of-prostitution-den-fronting-as-karaoke-bar-arrested-on-friday-and-charged-by-chacheongsao-police/[/URL]
[QUOTE=EihTooms;3086009]The sting was based on a complaint that the business was employing foreign workers.[/QUOTE]That is NOT what the article says. It is what you said. I quote the article.
[QUOTE=EihTooms;3086009]Were you the one that complained to the police about that?[/QUOTE][B]No![/B]
Why are you asking me that question yet again [B]EihTooms[/B]. I am a guest in the Kingdom of Thailand. I have never had a encounter with the Royal Thai Police since I have been visiting the Kingdom of Thailand.
