Thai research on male homosexuality and transgenderism and the cultural limits of Foucaultian analysis

Journal of the History of Sexuality

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 52-84

  Jackson, Peter A ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BISEXUALITY; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; HISTORY; HOMOSEXUALITY; HUMAN; MALE; RESEARCH; THAILAND;

BISEXUALITY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HOMOSEXUALITY, MALE; HUMANS; MALE; RESEARCH; THAILAND; WESTERN WORLD;

EID: 0031184398     PISSN: 10434070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. In this article, I analyze 207 Thai-language books, chapters, articles, and postgraduate dissertations on male homosexuality and transgenderism published between 1956 and 1994 in order to trace the main patterns and historical trends of Thai academic discourses on these topics. Thai discourses of sexuality, by and large, still await documentation and analysis, and this study is part of a broader project to trace the changing representations of transgenderism and homosexuality within Thai-language discourses from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Because this project is still in its early stages, this article is of necessity at times more descriptive than analytical, and its conclusions are tentative. However, even at this preliminary stage, some interesting patterns emerge that appear to challenge the received wisdom of Foucaultian analyses of the history of sexuality, which assume an intimate link between discourses and sociocultural patterns of sexuality.
2. "Roundup of Group of Youths Employed as Men's Husbands, . . ." Phim Thai (November 25, 1965), p. 1.
3. I use "queer" here simply as shorthand for all nonnormative masculine and feminine categories, not as a reference to contemporary Western queer theory, which to date is all but unknown in Thailand and has had almost no impact on Thai intellectual life. Nevertheless, the term "queer" is useful in alerting us to the existence of sex and gender categories that cannot be contained within the bounds of Western identities such as "gay," "lesbian," "homosexual," and "heterosexual."
4. Peter A. Jackson, Dear Uncle Go: Male Homosexuality in Thailand (Bangkok, 1995), p. 72.
5. The investigative stage of this research was conducted in Thai-language collections in Australia, Thailand, and the United States, including the National Library of Australia; the National Library of Thailand; Thammasat University (main collection and law library); Chulalongkorn University (main collection and the law and education libraries); University of Wisconsin - Madison; Cornell University; and University of California, Berkeley. A significant portion of this work was supported by a Harold White Fellowship from the National Library of Australia, and I wish to thank the staff of the library's Thai-language collection for their invaluable assistance in locating many difficult-to-find items.
6. Tom, from "tomboy," denotes a butch lesbian, while dee, from "lady," denotes a femme lesbian. The limited number of publications dealing with female homosexuality (thirteen [6 percent] out of 207) provides too small a sample from which to draw any reliable conclusions about trends in academic approaches to this topic. However, similar patterns in the treatment of male homosexuality can be found, with four of the thirteen items analyzing lesbianism as a pathology, eight presenting value-neutral information, and only one explicitly considering lesbianism as a legitimate form of female sexuality.
7. Seri Wongmontha, Things We Should Know about Homosexuals (Sing thi rao khuan ru kiao-kap homosekchuan) (Bangkok, n.d.);
8. "I Am a Homo: Interview with Dr. Seri Wongmontha" (Rao pen homo: Samphat Dr. Seri Wongmontha), Klai Mor: A Family Health Magazine 4 (1980 [2523]): 28-32.
9. See Sut Saengwichian, "A Study of the Body and Hormones of a Transvestite (Preliminary Report)" (Kan-seuksa rang-kai lae hormon khorng lakkaphet [rai-ngan beuang-ton]), Jot-mai Het Thang Phaet Khorng Phaetthayasamakhom Haeng Prathet Thai 44 (1961 [2504]): 435-41,
10. Some Information about Kathoeys (Khwam-ru bang prakan kiao-kap kathoey) (Bangkok: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Siriraj Nursing, Medical University, 1967 [2510]),
11. "Changing Sex" (Plaeng phet), Phaetthayasaphasan 2 (1973 [2516]): 71-76.
12. Reproduced in the cremation volume for Lance Corporal Phadung Thomprasert (1976 [2519]), pp. 45-49;
13. Udomsin Srisaengnam, "Klai Mor Sex, Homosexuals (1)" (Phet Klai Mor torn homosekchuan (1)), Klai Mor: A Family Health Magazine 2 (1978 [2521]): 83-86.
14. Wanlop Tangkhananurak (Khru Yui), "Wrong-Gendered Children" (dek phit-phet), in Thai Society's Forgotten Children (Dek thi thuk leum nai sangkhom Thai) (Bangkok, 1988 [2531]), pp. 128-34, quote at p. 133. Thirty-eight (18.5 percent) of the 207 items surveyed dealt with kathoeys. Of these, twelve items dealt with the physiology of kathoeys (e.g., hermaphroditism), eight considered transsexual kathoeys and the biomedical aspects of sex-change operations, and eighteen items dealt with the legal issues of sex-change operations in the Thai context.
15. The criteria used to determine whether a publication fell within the dominant antihomosexual paradigm were, first, the definition of homosexuality as being either an illness (rok), a sexual deficiency (bok-phrorng thang-phet), a perversion (wiparit), a condition of degeneracy (witthan), a deviation (biang-ben), or a problem (panha); or, second, as a condition that was either in need of treatment/cure (raksa), correction (kae-khai), or prevention (porng-kan).
16. Of the 156 items dealing with masculine male homosexuality, forty-seven (30 percent) can be classified as value-neutral information pieces, while only nine (6 percent) were explicitly gay-accepting.
17. For an account of the rapid growth of the Thai gay subculture, see Jackson, Dear Uncle Go, p. 226.
18. Saranukrom Thai (Thai encyclopedia) (Bangkok, 1956), 2:810. Similar definitions of kathoey had long been common in Thai dictionaries. However, the Saranukrom Thai article marked the first attempt to systematically relate this definition to biomedical knowledge.
19. Sut Saengwichian, "A Study of the Body and Hormones," p. 436.
20. The encyclopedia article is based on three American anatomical and endocrinological texts from the 1930s and 1940s: H. H. Young, Genital Abnormalities, Hermaphroditism, and Related Adrenal Diseases (Baltimore, MD, 1937);
21. A. Grollman, Essentials of Endocrinology, 2d ed. (Philadelphia, 1947);
22. C. D. Creevey, "Pseudo-hermaphroditism: Report of Five Cases," International Science Digest 16 (1933): 195-212.
23. Following English usage, the neologism rak-ruam-phet is opposed to another new term, rak-tang-phet, "love of a different sex/gender" or "heterosexual." However, the sense of the term rak-ruam-phet is ambiguous and carries resonances of the stereotypical view that homosexual men (and kathoeys) are sex-obsessed. Rak-ruam-phet can be translated as "love of the same sex/gender." However, an equally valid literal reading could be "to love to have sex," as ruam-pheth one of the most common formal expressions for sexual intercourse.
24. (Jao Phraya) Thipphakorawong Mahakosathibodi, Nangseu Sadaeng Kitjanukit (A book explaining various things) (Bangkok, 1971).
25. The expression len pheuan is now used almost exclusively to refer to sex between women.
26. Sut Saengwichian, Some Information about Kathoeys (n. 8 above), p. 1.
27. Santi (pseudonym), "The Miserable Lives of Thailand's Kathoeys" (Chiwit ranthot khorng kathoey Thai), Bot Bandit 40 (1983 [2526]): 68-74, quote at 74. "Prince Aunty" and "Prince Granny" are liberal translations of the expression morm-pa morm-yai, a humorous reference to older aristocratic homosexual men, perhaps also including a former prime minister, the late Khukrit Pramoj.
28. Suphot Khwanmit, "Abnormalities of Sexual Desire and Homosexuality" (Khwamphit-pokati thang-kamarom lae rak-ruam-phet), Witthayasan Senarak 15 (1962 [2505]): 88-98, quote at 95.
29. Arun Phaksuwan, "Transvestism" (Lakkaphet), Medical Notes of the Medical Association of Thailand 7 (1961 [2504]),
30. reproduced in Saengwichian, Some Information about Kathoeys.
31. Apha Jantharasakun, "Are Tom-tut-dee Really a Social Problem?" (Tom-tut-dee pen panha sangkhom jing reu), Warasan Seuksasat Parithat 1 (1985 [2528]): 69-83 quote at 72.
32. Wanlop Tangkhananurak (n. 9 above), p. 129.
33. Prachan Wanliko, "Sexually Deviant Behavior: Thailand Has among the Most in the World" (Phreutikam biang-ben thang-phet: Thai tit andap lok), Nittayasan Kan-tha-reua 35 (1988 [2531]): 37-40, quote at 37.
34. Prachan Wanliko, Nittayasan Kan-tha-reua Ibid., p. 38.
35. Somphot Sukwatthana, "Treatment of Homosexual Patients" (Kan-raksa phu-puay rak-ruam-phet), Journal of the Psychiatric Association of Thailand 18 (1973 [2516]): 119-30, quote at 119.
36. Somsri Piamsombun, The Problem of Homosexuality: A Case Study of Gay Performers in Pattaya City (Panha rak-ruam-phet: Kan-seuksa chaphor korani klum gay nak-sadaeng nai meuang Patthaya) (Bangkok, 1986 [2529]), p. 47.
37. Anan Narwilai, The Process of Changing into a Male Prostitute: A Case Study of Men Who Prostitute Themselves to Gays in Bangkok Metropolis (Krabuankan kan-klai ma pen phuchai khai tua: Seuksa chaphor korani phu-chai khai tua hai gay nai khet krungthepmahanakhorn) (Bangkok, 1994 [2537]), pp. 1, 8.
38. Kittikorn Misap, "Homosexuality: Tom, Tut, Dee, and Gay" (Rak-ruam-phet: Tom, tut, dee lae gay), Thirtieth Anniversary of the Establishment of Srinakharinwirot University Bang Saen (N.p., 1985 [2528]), pp. 161-69, quote at 163.
39. Kittikorn Misap, "Homosexuality: Tom, Tut, Dee, and Gay" (Rak-ruam-phet: Tom, tut, dee lae gay), Thirtieth Anniversary of the Establishment of Srinakharinwirot University Bang Saen (1985 [2528]), pp. 161-69, Ibid.
40. Somphot Sukwatthana, p. 120.
41. Kittikorn Misap, Thirtieth Anniversary of the Establishment of Srinakharinwirot University Bang Saen Ibid., pp. 120, 121.
42. Khun-ying is a title similar to "Lady" in the British system of honors.
43. Narongsak Talaphat, Duangman Rerksamran, and Wanchai Chaisit, "The Family, Childraising Methods, and the Problem of Homosexuality" (Khrorp-khrua lae kan-oprom-liang-du nai wai-dek kap panha rak-ruam-phet), Warasan Jitwitthaya Khlinik 1 (1977 [2520]): 24-35, quote at 24-25.
44. Udomsin Srisaengnam (n. 8 above), p. 84.
45. Apha Jantharasakun (n. 23 above), p. 72.
46. Narwilai states that male prostitution came to Thailand from the West and that the images of male prostitution now visible in the country's press and media "are destroying the image of Thailand's beautiful culture and customs" (n. 29 above, p. 2).
47. Phornrung Wongjaratkun, "A Study of the Problems of Male Homosexual Students" (Kan-seuksa panha khorng nak-seuksa chai thi mi phreutikam rak-ruam-phet), (master's thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1990 [2533]), p. 75.
48. Anonymous, "Gays, Kathoeys, and Lesbians Flood the City" (Gay, krathoey, lesbian kleuan krung), Phu-Boriphok (The consumer) 4 (1984 [2527]): 83. Krathoey is an archaic and now rare spelling of kathoey.
49. Sut Saengwichian, "Changing Sex" (n. 8 above), p. 47.
50. Khru Yui uses the expression "wrong-genderedness" to mean both homosexuality and transgenderism, reflecting the view that same-sex interest is caused by biopsychological gender imbalance; Tangkhananurak (n. 9 above), pp. 131, 133.
51. Anan Narwilai (n. 29 above), p. 75.
52. In the 1990s, Thai psychiatric and sexology texts continue to represent homosexuality as a "sexual deficiency" or "sexual perversion," and tertiary teaching texts in these fields are the most conservative and the most resistant to change of all areas of Thai academic discourse on homosexuality. Among the 207 publications surveyed in this study were nine psychiatric texts and nine sexology texts published between 1969 (Bophit Feuangnakhorn, "Rok Kamarom" [Venereal diseases] [Bangkok, 1969 (2512)], pp. 363-556)
53. and 1990 (Mayuri Phu-ngamthorng, "Phet Seuksa Lae Sukkhaphap Khrorp-khrua" [Sex education and family health] [Thailand, 1990 (2533)], pp. 115-26). All eighteen textbooks reproduced similar lists of sexual perversions and deficiencies, which included homosexuality, indicating that students taking studies in these subjects continue to be presented with theories and analyses that are now largely discredited within Western academia. The most recent example in this tradition of textbook studies appears to be that of Mayuri Phu-ngamthorng in 1990.
54. Jackson, Dear Uncle Go (n. 4 above), pp. 72-77.
55. Apha Jantharasakun, p. 72.
56. Anan Narwilai, p. 11.
57. Jackson, Dear Uncle Go, pp. 64-69.
58. Jackson, Dear Uncle Go, pp. 64-69. Ibid.;
59. Peter A. Jackson, Male Homosexuality in Thailand: An Interpretation of Contemporary Thai Sources (New York, 1989),
60. "Kathoey < > Gay < > Man: The Historical Emergence of Gay Male Identity in Thailand," in Sites of Desire/Economies of Pleasure, Sexualities in Asia and the Pacific, ed. Lenore Manderson and Margaret Jolly (Chicago, 1997), pp. 166-90.
61. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York, 1979),
62. The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, vol. 1 of The History of Sexuality, trans. Robert Hurley (New York, 1978).
63. Surachai Wisetkun, A Study of the Backgrounds and Adjustment of Homosexuals in the Capital (Kan-seuksa phumilang lae kan-prap-tua khorng homosekchuan nai meuang luang) (Bangkok, thesis from Ramkhamhaeng University, 1978 [2521]), p. 2.
64. Neuangnoi Bunyaret, "Considering the Problem of Sexual Perversion from the Perspective of Philosophical Ethics" (Kan-morng panha kamawitthathan jak ngae jariyapratya), Warasan Aksorasat 18 (1986 [2529]): 96-109, quote at 106.
65. Phinyo Korngthorng, "Gays in Thai Short Stories: A Deep but Not Comprehensive Reflection" (Gay nai reuang san Thai: Phap sathorn leuk tae mai rorp dan), Thanon Nangseu 10 (1987 [2530]): 76-80, quote at 76.
66. See Yot Santasombat, "Sex for Consumption and AIDS: Women, Gays, and the Ideology of Power" (Sek pheua boriphok lae rok-et: Phu-ying gay lae udomkan amnat), Ban Mai Ru Roi 3 (1987 [2530]): 42-50.
67. Somdi Hongphaisanwiwat and Buarat Srinin, "The Lifestyles and Consumption Behavior of Gay Queens in Bangkok Metropolis" (Baep-phaen damnern chiwit lae phreutikam boriphok khorng gay khwin nai krungthepmahanakhorn), Warasan Borihan-thurakit 11 (1987 [2530]): 51-66.
68. P. Prin (pseudonym), "The Third Sex: Degenerate or Constructive?" (Phet thi sam: Sam reu sang-san), Nittayasan Kan-prachasongkhror 6 (1988 [2531]): 27-30.
69. Sukhum Chaloeysap, "The Value of Information to Individuals: The Case of Gays" (Khun-kha khorng sannithet tor bukkhon: Korani gay), Warasan Horng-samut 33 (1990 [2533]): 45-46.
70. Rosalind C. Morris, "Three Sexes and Four Sexualities: Redressing the Discourses on Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Thailand," Positions 2 (1994): 15-43;
71. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet (Berkeley, 1990).
72. "Seri Critical of Gay Ban at Colleges, Rajabhat Institutes Under Fire," Bangkok Post (December 26, 1996), p. 2.