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CHIANG MAI, Thailand - "I don't prostitute myself, I sell my skills," says Ton, a 28-year-old who moved from Bangkok to this northern Thai city because "it's a dream place everyone wants to live in".

Hailing from central Suphanburi province, he used to work in a gay bar in the Thai capital, but prefers his current work at a massage parlour that caters exclusively to gay men. "In a gay bar, the transactions are far more explicit. Customers either come to watch the shows or to avail themselves of commercial sex services," he said.

"Here it's different. We serve our clients by helping them relieve their stress by providing massages. Some of the customers only seek relaxation without any sex involved," he continues.

When a customer wants to have sex with him, Ton says the decision is his to make. "We have the right to negotiate or even to refuse. If we want, we can just give a massage, following the procedures set out by the establishment."

"I like this job and feel there's more dignity to it," he stresses.

Ton, one among many male sex workers in northern Thailand, says he chose to be in this job, but others entered it unknowingly and later learned to accept it.

Meet 23-year-old Neung (not his real name), who works in Udon Thani, just one province away from the border with Laos. He says he had applied to be a waiter at a gay bar and had no idea about what it actually entailed. "I thought I was just going to be a waiter, until the boss explained what my duties were. I was stunned and asked for some time to think it over," he recalls. After several days, he returned to accept the offer and has since learned to regard the job "just like any other".

But whether they get into the sex trade by choice or learn to accept it, these men need to be given priority in programmes that educate them on how to reduce risks of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), health experts and activists say.

Although such programmes are more commonly designed for female sex workers, male sex workers are also very much around and need support when it comes to addressing risky behaviour, they add.

For instance, Phensiri Srichan, head of the AIDS and Venereal Disease Control Agency of the Public Health Office in Udon Thani, says the agency only recently included men in their programmes. Previously, it focused mostly on a large number of female sex workers, in this north-eastern Thai province.

After a study showed a high incidence of HIV due to unprotected sex, the agency revised its policies and started including male commercial sex workers in its target groups. Most of them are Thais, but Phensiri says there are likely to be some also from nearby Laos.

The men receive advice on how to protect themselves from infection, and are given condoms and information on where they could go for blood tests and other health needs. Still, the agency's health programme focuses only on commercial sex workers in gay bars, but not freelancers.

Because freelance sex workers -- those who may accept commercial sex transactions in addition to other work like waiting on tables -- are not easy for health workers to reach, they often remain largely ignorant of safer sex practices and can inadvertently transmit HIV and other diseases. "It's hard to get to these groups. We’re trying our best although our office is only in its initial stages," Phensiri explains.

MINORITIES AND MIGRANTS

The other groups that are often left out of support schemes are members of ethnic minority groups and migrants. This happens in places like Chiang Mai, according to Montien Phromlatthisorn, who is manager of MPlus, a non-government group working with the gay community and male sex workers.

Not having Thai citizenship or identity cards means these often marginalised groups cannot have access to basic health services.

For instance, Montien says, many, if not most, sex workers in Chiang Mai come from the Thai Yai ethnic minority, a good number of whom do not have Thai citizenship. Since they are not Thai nationals, they do not have access to treatment and medication. Even when they contract a disease, they are not entitled to treatment in a government facility," Montien explains.

This is why MPlus is pushing for health care coverage to also be extended to ethnic minorities and migrant workers in Thailand. "We would like to see these groups receive regular medical check-ups," Montien says. "What we're advocating is safer and more responsible sex. Routine check-ups every three or six months can give you and your sexual partner peace of mind.”

BEYOND HEALTH

Health is the reason why Neung says he always insists on using a condom with his customers. Some offer him extra money to forgo the use of one, but he says he always declines. "It's just not worth it. It's much better to be safe."

The owner of the gay bar where Neung works, a former sex worker in her thirties called Ying, says she reminds her employees to use condoms and lubricants for comfort and safety. "Not all of them listen though," she says of her employees who end up with STDs.

Sex workers like Neung, or even people like the owner of the massage parlour where Ton works, have other concerns as well, about their families and their future.

"I let my family know that I'm a prostitute," explains Neung, who has held menial jobs in several other provinces in Thailand. At first, he had told them that he was a waiter, but they became suspicious and started asking questions when he began sending home large amounts of money. "I decided to tell them what I was really doing," he says, recalling that his parents were saddened and asked him to look for some other work.

"I don't think I'll do this permanently. Once I save up some money, I'll quit," he stresses. While his family knows about his work, his friends do not. "It's still too embarrassing to let them know what I do for a living."

Neung's boss, Ying, approaches such matters differently, saying that many of her employees come and go -- some get tired of the job and find other work, others realise they cannot continue having sex with other men. "This isn't something one can do permanently," she says, matter-of-factly. "Once you get older, customers don't find you very appealing anymore. That's why you better get all you can from it while you still have the means to do so."

Some people go into the sex trade because they lack proper training and education required for other types of jobs, adds Ying. "Society does not give them a chance to stand on their own feet and fend for themselves. Eventually, (prostitution) becomes the only way they can survive."

If Ying has few qualms about running a gay bar in Udon Thani, Mick, the owner of the massage parlour where Ton works, concedes that others can question his morals. "If you ask me whether I view (my) business as immoral, I would have to admit that indeed, it's wrong," he says. "As a Buddhist, I have been taught the notions of virtue and righteousness."

"But if we don't do this, how will we make a living? At least it's an honest job that doesn't harm anyone," Mick points out. "We even provide an opportunity for those who otherwise would not have jobs."

In the end, Phensiri, the Udon Thani health official, says it is important that health workers and programmes look beyond diseases and also focus on the behaviour and ways of life of commercial sex workers, regardless of their gender. "Only then will we succeed in freeing them from the prevailing myths in society that strip them of their self-esteem. We will keep on persisting even if it takes us a lifetime of work to do so," she says.