After our amazing conversation with Tata, a sex worker and activist, today we delve deeper into the Thai sex industry.
Thailand is internationally known as a sex tourism destination and for its apparent tolerance of trans identities. Thanks to the fact that Thailand was never colonized by European powers and its privileged position as a trading hub in the region, attitudes towards sex work have been facilitated by economic and cultural factors that have allowed the industry to flourish.
Since the Vietnam War in the 1970s, when U.S. soldiers flocked to the country for entertainment, sex tourism in Thailand has been shaped by a dialogue between the pressures of Western economic influence and indigenous beliefs about gender.
The Thai sex industry is favored by Western tourists because it has been branded as an "exotic" place with "strange" but fascinating customs. This was particularly relevant to sex tourism, as the country was seen as a place where "anything goes" and men could be free from the moral restraints of the West.
An important part of this image is the traditional visibility of a "third gender" in all areas of entertainment, including sex work. According to local Buddhist beliefs, there are three genders: male, female, and kathoey. Kathoey originally referred exclusively to intersex people, but has evolved to include any person assigned male at birth who performs feminine roles. This includes from femme gay men to drag queens, cross-dressers and trans* women.
It is difficult to explain this gender system with Western equivalents without obscuring the specificity of local terms. For example, there is no simple distinction between gender and sexuality. Kathoey femininity has more to do with (sexual) behavior than identity, and traditionally has more to do with being a passive receptor (bottoming). In this way, and perhaps this is why there is a relationship between kathoey and sex work, a man engaging sexually with a kathoey would still be considered heterosexual/male as long as he remained a top, while at the same time not being considered unfaithful because it was not with a cis woman. This opened a 'market' for kathoey to fill that has existed for centuries.
Kathoey therefore needs to be understood as an umbrella term for a spectrum of diverse combinations of gender and sexual identities that cannot be readily translated to Western terms, and that is already complicated nowadays by contact with these translations. According to Western terms, most kathoey would be considered trans* women but it is more accurately described as a third gender. However, the implication of not being considered a woman is offensive to some and they reject this identity, prefering to be called sao praphet sorng (women of the second kind). Some would be happy to be called a woman and nothing else.
The fact that it exists, however, does not necessarily mean that Kathoey identity is celebrated. Kathoey are traditionally seen as paying a karmic debt from a past life, and in a patriarchal belief system, in a lower social status than men and women. However, this leads to a somewhat different attitude than in the rest of the world. According to these beliefs, while Kathoey are still pitied and considered somewhat inferior, they should be treated with tolerance and compassion.
This is the root of the current attitude towards them. In Thailand, Kathoey and queer people in general are tolerated, allowing a high degree of visibility, but traditional families still feel shameful about their queer kids. A similar attitude can be found in work and educational environments, which are happy to avoid being associated with queerness if given the chance. As a result, kathoey are celebrated mostly for their entertainment value and not necessarily as people deserving of equal rights and opportunities.
Kathoey and trans* women have thus traditionally occupied the entertainment sector. Some classical forms of dance are performed exclusively by kathoey, and in contemporary Thailand this has evolved into kathoey being highly regarded in cabaret-style shows, pageants, and theater. Miss Tiffany, for example, is a publicly televised beauty contest open exclusively for kathoey and trans* women.
Sex work is also seen as an aspect of entertainment and is more accessible and better paid than cabaret work. Although illegal in Thailand, sex work is an established industry worth billions of dollars, and it's fundamental to tourism.
For kathoey and trans* women, economic success in these areas depends on "passing" as a woman, which puts enormous pressure on them to transition and pay for surgeries, which in turn pushes them into sex work to be able to afford them.
Gender expression is then undeniably influenced by the willingness of tourists to pay more for a certain type of body that denies some of the agency of kathoey over their own identity. For example, there is an expectation on the part of (Western) tourists to find "ladyboys," usually kathoey with no bottom surgery who can otherwise pass as women when seen with them in public. The economic pressure to conform to this expectation may prevent some kathoey and trans* women from getting bottom surgery if they wish, while pushing others to get other feminizing procedures they may not want. Even the use of the word "ladyboy" may be offensive to those who identify as women, although it has now been re-appropriated by many kathoey.
However, the kathoey identity itself has diversified, and some believe that a "woman with a penis" is the true embodiment of the ancestral kathoey as a third gender altogether. Regardless, this is a personal matter and what's in anybody's pants should be no one else's concern.
The case of sex tourism in Thailand is an example of how economic and social pressures must be constantly negotiated through one's gender identity. What is visible is not necessarily accepted. Kathoey and trans* women in Thailand are not allowed to legally change their gender, are often barred from jobs outside of entertainment and sex work, and are forced into a job that is also illegal, protected only by the economic gains that depend on the demands of primarily Western tourists. This is also a form of colonization that is directly reflected in their bodies.
Above all, gender identity should never be measured and categorized by the condition of our bodies. No one should feel pressured to change or not change in order to have their identity accepted. Our bodies belong to us, and we should be able to do what we want to feel at home in the skin we inhabit.
Without local protections and a government reluctant to change, the apparent tolerance and gender diversity that Thailand promotes as a tourist destination is nothing more than an image that exploits queerness for monetary gain.
References:
Jarret D. Davis, Glenn M. Miles & John H. Quinley III (2019), "Same same, but different”: A baseline study on the vulnerabilities of transgender sex workers in the sex industry in Bangkok, Thailand. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(7/8) https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-01-2019-0022
Vivienne Chen (2014) The Third Gender: Documentary on Thailand's Trans Community. LB Documentary, Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEAbjowQLv8
Witchayanee Ocha & Barbara Earth (2013). Identity diversification among transgender sex workers in Thailand’s sex tourism industry. Sexualities, 16(1–2), https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460712471117
Witchayanee Ocha (2015). Queering Thailand: On the Emergence of New Gender and Sexual Identities. The Global Trajectories of Queerness. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004217942_011
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