A project exploring transgender acceptance in Thailand with a comparison to the United States.

1. Leisl
Johnson
Cross-
Cultural
Leadership
Trans Thailand

2. Research
Question
Does a place in
language mean
that a group
has an accepted
place in
society?

3. Cultural Influences:
Language
• There is no differentiation between sex, sexuality
and gender in Thai language
• Phet: sex, sexuality and gender
• Sao praphet song: second kind of girl
• Phet tee sam: third gender/sex
• Kathoey or pumea: ladyboy – transgendered
• Nang fajam leng – transformed angels
• Flexibility in language implies the potentials of
other genders or sex categories in society

4. Thai Influences
• The only South East Asian
country that was never
colonized by European powers
• Buddhism is the main religion,
little influenced by Christian
notions
• Bangkok is the country’s
largest city with a population
of roughly 9 million people
• Most of the data for research
come from Bangkok, with a
denser population and more
hospitable venues to express
oneself.

5. Cultural
Influences -
Gender
• Conflicts arise about
what makes us male
and/or female, and
what society perceives
as acceptable
behaviors
• Natal Anatomy &
Social Psychology are
the two general ways a
culture views gender

6. Models of Gender Identity
Natal Anatomic
• We are born male or female and
remain so our entire lives
• A baby is male if he has a penis
• A baby is female if she has a
vagina
• Based on a Christian rooted
model: i.e. gender abnormalities
are deviant, depraved, or
disordered
• This includes homosexuals,
lesbians, intersexed, as well as
transgendered
Social Psychological
• We are born with our
physical sex characteristics
but develop our genders
alongside sexual / hormonal
development
• Gender identity is decided in
the brain, not by anatomy
• Does not consider
transgender issues to be a
disorder
• The main problem of
transgender is with society

7. Cultural Influences: Religion
• Buddhism teaches that each of us is the composition of
five elements:
– Physical state
– Sensations
– Perceptions
– Our Thoughts
– Consciousness
• The Self is a mental reality as much as a physical state
• Attributes to culture-wide acceptance of transgendered
males

8. The Third Sex –
Kathoeys
• Thailand recognizes a third
sex: Kathoey or Ladyboys –
an identifier strictly reserved
for male to female
transgendered
• They are “accepted or
tolerated” more readily here
than most other countries
• This is seen, not only in the
language, but in other highly
visible tourist venues as
showgirls and “Miss Tiffany
Universe Pageants”

9. The Third Sex – Kathoey
Self – Perception & Language
Certain words are gender-linked and formed
according to one’s gender identity
English: 1st person pronoun: “I” “me” “my” and “mine”
Thai: 1st person pronoun / male: “phom”
Thai” 1st person pronoun / female: “chan” “dichan”
“noo”
This practice begins alongside language development

10. The Third Sex –
Kathoey
Social
Acceptance
• Over 30% of fathers and 50%
of mothers accepted or
encouraged a kathoey son
• Buddhism allows this
society’s population to walk
their own path
• Allowed to begin hormones
at an earlier age , which
makes for a smoother
transition
• Twenty-three different
brands of hormones are in
urban pharmacies

11. The Third Sex –
Kathoey
Social Alienation
• Most gender identity issues are
due to social, not individuals
• Unable to change sex status on
legal paperwork, such as
passports, licenses, marriage
certificates, adoption, etc.
• Unable to enter into
“heterosexual” marriages
• Government limits
employment opportunities and
advancement (such as teachers,
engineers, etc.)
• Safety against violence
(domestic, street, police, etc.)

12. Roles for Kathoey: Beauty
Queen; Showgirl; Stripper;
Prostitute

13. Toms &
Dees
Male-identified lesbians
and their high-femme
partners
Socially allowed to
mirror heterosexual
social roles
Moving outside roles
may bring social on
alienation

14. Thailand vs. united states
Thailand
• Students view kathoey as a
3rd sex female and not a male
• 53% believe that kathoey is
an aspect of human diversity
• Language creates a pocket for
an accepting attitude
• 12% of the kathoey
population stated they
wanted to be reincarnated as
kathoey again
United States
• Believes in binary sexuality –
the natal anatomic model
• 62% of students believe that
transgendered individuals
suffer from a psychiatric
disorder
• No room in language to
express other gender identities
• Issues of transgender: low self-
esteem, depression, anxiety,
suicidal tendencies

15. Analysis
• Thai Language opens the gateway
for the potential acceptance and
definite inclusion of many genders
within a culture.
• Kathoey are accepted of primarily
because of their beauty.
• The Kathoey are accepted when
they follow prescribed roles – they
are exploited for sex or exploited
for their beauty.
• Presently, Thailand trans-
communities (including the rigid
roles of TomDees) are beginning
to break down preconceived
notions, gaining more visibility and
protected human rights that
mainstream Thailand populations
take for granted.

16. Works cited
• Channel News Asia. “The evolving situation of transgender people in
Thailand (parts 1 through 5).” Almost Famous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_BjyDSEogs. Air date: September
5, 2009. Uploaded on September 6, 2009.
• Sanders, Douglass. “Human rights and sexual orientation in international
law.” University of British Columbia School of Law. April 20, 2012.
• Sinnott, Megan. “Toms and dees: Transgender identity and same-sex
relationships in Thailand. University of Hawai’I Press. Updated:
December 10, 2009.
• Winter, Sam. “Transphobia, a price worth paying for gender identity
disorder?” University of Hong Kong.
http://transxtest.transgender/at/Lib/Soc/S Winter_Geneva06.doc.
Updated: October 2, 2012
• Winn, Patrick. “Don’t call me a lesbian: tom-dee culture in Thailand.”
CNNGO.com. http://www.enngo.com/bangkok/none/don’t-call-me-
lesbian-tomdee-culture-thailand-176517. April 1, 2010.
• Winter, Sam. “Language and identity in transgender: gender wars,
anatomania and the Thai kathoey. Updated September 12, 2012.