I would loosely define "sleaze" as the hands-on experience I have enjoyed in such places as Niceboys, Goodboys, Golden Cock, Eros, Natureboy and similar bars, as opposed to the more conservative gogo bars like Screwboys, Moonlight and Boyzboyzboyz.
I grew up in a country with an "anything-goes" approach to sex where the general idea was to get down and dirty and as often as possible. I gladly accepted the challenge from an early age. I spent an inordinate amount of time in gay cinemas and enjoyed the free-for-all fun. I was also a paid-up member of sex clubs in the Ueno area of Tokyo. I have since sold my memberships - they are like golf club memberships and are treated like investments - and managed to make a very tidy profit! Would I make the same profit if I sold them today? I'm guessing I would as the interest in the various "activities" offered by such clubs still exists among the Japanese, despite other outlets being available.
I was under the impression that all of this was just par for the course - that this is what sex, especially gay sex, is all about. On moving back to Australia I soon discovered that my new gay friends had very different experiences; very tame indeed, compared to Japan. I enjoyed sleaze, they just had basic sex.
For me, sleazy sex has nothing to do with insecurity. When moving within the gay community I just did what everyone else did. As for feeling in any way rejected by straight people, I can't say I ever really experienced that, even though in my day I'm sure most Japanese would have frowned upon my behaviour despite the fact they were doing the same thing themselves in girlie bars and clubs. But I never experienced any hostility whatsoever and in any case, it would not have bothered me. However, I think your comments may well apply to gays in other countries.Perhaps in our generation we needed to seek out "sleaze" as a way for compensating for our inner insecurities and our feelings of rejection and lack of acceptance by the larger (mostly) straight society?
Saunas are still popular in Japan. So why have saunas been closing down in other countries? I'm guessing that is a matter of hygiene. People these days are much more aware of cleanliness, the lack of which I find a total turn-off. I no longer go to saunas. Another worrying feature is the lack of condom use and general safe-sex practices. That's another reason I won't go anymore. I don't want to go to places where guys are having bareback sex.
I think one of the reasons for the lack of -pre-covid customers is the fact that, although Thailand is infamous fir sex tourism, it mainly relates to straight sex. Everyone, straight and gay, knows about Walking Street, but his many have heard of Sunee Plaza, the world centre of sleazy sex for gay men? Did the average Chinese gay guy know about it? Have the gogo bars done any advertising in China? Or India? I've never seen anything here in Australia about gay Thailand.
Babylon would be well-known by the seasoned gay sex tourist, just like the gay beaches around the world. Anyone into saunas would be aware of its reputation and for that reason alone, it will survive.
But only so long as enough gays return to Thailand after the pandemic.
As for younger people, has Thailand ever really attracted them? So is there anything that needs to be "replenished"? I've mainly seen old guys in the bars. (The only young guys have been Asian.) Besides, sleaze is probably not something they have grown up with so it is not what they are looking for.
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