THE ILLUSION OF THAI SOCIETY TOWARDS “PRETTY GIRL” JOB

Abstract

The objectives of this study were 1) to study the illusion of Thai society towards “pretty girl” job, 2) to study the factors which led young women to work for “pretty girl” job, and 3) to study behavior and working pattern of pretty girl. This was a qualitative research conducted by collecting data from in-depth interview.  Key informants were 17 Bangkokians who involved “pretty girl” job.  They were divided into 3 groups who were: 3 pretty girls, 3 persons who closed to pretty girls and 11 persons involved “pretty girl” job. The methods of sampling were purposive sampling and snowball sampling. The data was analyzed by descriptive analysis and content analysis to categorize the data and the results were summarized with case study. The research found that 1) The perspective of Thai society towards “pretty girl” job and women working at night were at risk of being sexual abused. It had caused many following sexual violence problems because of seductive dressing and working in dangerous places full of temptations. For such reasons, there were illusion and negative value towards the “pretty girl” job. 2) The factors for young women to pursue “pretty girl” jobs were high pay compared to other jobs, creating identity and pride in their abilities, freedom in selecting a job, persuasion from others and social appreciation to beauty. Not everyone would be able to pursue this job and outsider might think that it was an easy job of just dressing up beautifully and standing up for just a moment with high earning.  In fact, despite of having beautiful, good shape and personality, they must also had ability to recommend and sell products interestingly, ability to solve problems, good memory, high patience and work experiences that must be accumulated with self-development at all time. 3) The role of pretty girls were to help generate income and drive more sales with outstanding personality, beauty and ability of public relations. Nowadays, pretty girls were an important part of the success for many businesses such as automobile business in the Motor Show event. In addition, pretty girls also played roles in advertising business and creating a competitive advantage, especially businesses that had products required to be presented as the core.   The tasks of pretty girls such as promoting beer, mix alcoholic drink, host, MC in Motor Show event & etc.