You know, James, it's possible that I'm misremembering the vibe in the straight strip clubs featuring female entertainment. I haven't been to one since my 20s, and maybe back then, I just didn't have the awareness to observe the atmosphere the way I did in Bangkok years later. I looked at a lot of photos and videos of the female shows in Bangkok while working on this article, and the mood definitely wasn't as grim as in the one I went to that night. That said, I always got a sadder vibe when walking by the female workers outside them than I did when walking by the guys outside the male ones. I wonder if perhaps I was bringing a bit of my own sexual bias from years of watching the double standard play out on TV and in movies to how I perceived them. Maybe the women were actually less unhappy than they appeared to be, but after reading your comment, I'm thinking my eyes and potential bias might not have been deceiving me at all.