Thai Katoy

Thai Katoy

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In Thailand there a lot—at least it seems that way—of transgender and transsexual males and their variations. Known as “katoey” (”ladyboys”) in Thai, they are not persecuted like they are in some countries, and are accepted to a large degree, but you can’t quite say they are embraced either. On one hand they are fixtures of Thai soap operas, often playing spirited side kicks. Many work at cabarets or transsexual bars that feature male performers. Some are quite beautiful and sexy and are difficult to distinguish from real women. But on they other hand many live on the fringes of society and beliefs remain that they either are cursed by bad spirits or did something wrong in a past life. Katoey is also spelled “kathoey” and pronounced “ka-thoey.”
Reuters reported: “Transgenders and transsexuals have greater visibility in Thailand than in many other nations, holding mainstream jobs in a variety of fields. They are are commonplace in the fashion, beauty and entertainment industries and especially common in cosmetics shops or health stores, which almost always have a ladyboy shop assistant. Though there is very little discrimination against ladyboys in Thailand, they are not officially recognized as women and their identification cards will always say "male." [Source: Jutarat Skulpichetrat, Reuters, February 10, 2011]
Know Phuket reports: “Known in Thai by the jokey term 'katoey' and also called called ladymen or she-males, they are of course men who look like women. Some have had varying degrees of gender altering surgery. Some take hormones to increase their female attributes. Some just dress and make up as females. Whilst some are easy to spot, there are others that make very attractive women and if you saw them in the street, you really would not know they were men. There are many stories of men picking up women in bars only to find when they get back to their hotel that she is in fact a he. [Source: Know Phuket website Know Phuket ]
What exactly is a katoey? “Some you can only call someone a katoey if they have had gender altering surgery. Otherwise, you should use the term ladyboy. The thing is, katoey is a Thai word and that is not how the Thais use it. They use the term much more loosely. They use the term for any man who acts like a woman. Transgender male is probably the closest English term. Those who have gender altering surgery are katoeys. So are those who take hormones to create female attributes such as breasts. So are those who just dress up like a woman. In fact, even gay men who flounce around and maybe put on a bit of make up are referred to as katoeys.”
Sam Winter of the University of Hong Kong wrote: Even though katoey “occupy a somewhat marginalised role in Thai society they nevertheless appear to enjoy a degree of prominence and acceptance unknown in most other places. They even have an international profile. As Matzner notes, ‘One of Thailand’s more sensational exports is news about transgendered males’. Many kathoey present outwardly, from their teenage years onwards, as entirely female – in terms of hair (often long), dress, cosmetics, manner, gait, gestures, voice, stereotyped personality traits and interests (including vocational). When they speak they employ a female tone and vocabulary, employing Thai word-forms normally restricted to females. Some kathoey appear indistinguishable from women. Those who can be ‘read’ may find themselves in that position only because of minor cues: height, width of shoulders, 'adam's apple', stereotypically exaggerated female manner, size of hands or feet, minor facial features or soprano voice. [Source: Sam Winter, Division of Learning, Development and Diversity, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, 10/5/2002]
“Kathoey have become entirely common place in Thai society. In Bangkok and other urban centres they go about their daily affairs – shopping, meeting friends, going to the cinema, eating and drinking in cafes, using public transport, visiting the temple. One may be served by a kathoey at a café, market stall, or boutique. The guide leading the tourists around may be one. Nor is the kathoey an exclusively urban or adult phenomenon. Taywaditep remarked that that children and adults can often identify at least one kathoey in every school or village. In short, it seems that, compared to elsewhere, a large number of genetic males in Thailand early on in life decide to make a gender transition that is substantial (indeed, for some as complete as it can get), long-term (apparently for life) and full-time. Whether these numbers reflect a higher incidence of those feelings we call in the West ‘gender dysphoria’ or simply a greater willingness to act on them, is a moot point. As you will see, I take the view that it is both.
Also See Separate Article: KATOEYS: THEIR LIVES, WORK, HOW THEY ARE VIEWED AND THOSE THAT UNDERGO SEX-CHANGE OPERATIONS
Sam Winter wrote in the Transgender Country Report: “‘Kathoey’, a word originally used to denote hermaphrodites, is nowadays often used to describe the transgender male. The label is somewhat nebulous, and is sometimes extended to cover male homosexuals. Thais (including kathoey themselves) sometimes employ more specific labels exclusive to male transgender. These include ‘kathoey phom yao’ (‘long-haired kathoey’), ‘kathoey tee sai suer pha phuying’ (‘kathoey dressing as a woman’), ‘pumia’ / ‘pumae’ (‘male-female’), ‘pet tee sam’ (‘third sex’), ‘phuying praphet song’(‘second kind of woman’), ‘sao praphet song’ (‘second kind of girl’), ‘nang fa jam leng’ (‘transformed goddess’), ‘nong-toei’ (‘younger brother kathoey’), ‘ork-sao’ (‘outwardly a woman’), ‘sao-dao-thiam’ (‘artificial woman’), ‘tut’ (as in ‘tootsie’), or the informal English terms ‘ladyboy’ and ‘ladyman’. All of these terms make reference either to a clear female gender identity, or to one that is decidedly non-male.” Transvestites (trans-gender males) in Thailand are called trannies or “second-type” woman. [Source: Transgender Country Report: Thailand, Sam Winter, Division of Learning, Development and Diversity, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong]
According to “Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Thailand”: Katoey “has been defined as a “person or animal of which the sex is indeterminate” in the Thai-English dictionary. The use of the term kathoey to describe male homosexualities, however, has slowly given way to the more contemporary gay and its derivatives. Today, kathoey mostly refers to men who have feminine social behaviors, without much specific reference to their biological gender or sexual behavior. Being associated with feminine characters and other stereotypes (see below), the term is considered derogatory by Thai gay men today, many of whom adamantly distinguish themselves from kathoey. Other derogatory slang words, applied to both gay men and kathoey, are tut and tutsii (the latter from the title of an American movie, Tootsie, starring cross-dressed Dustin Hoffman), which, because their pronunciations are close to the derogatory Thai word for “ass,” suggest anal intercourse. [Source: “Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Thailand (Muang Thai)” by Kittiwut Jod Taywaditep, M.D., M.A., Eli Coleman, Ph.D. and Pacharin Dumronggittigule, M.Sc., late 1990s]
“As implied in the usage today, a kathoey is a man who sees himself more as a woman and often dresses, to varying degrees, as a women, and is likely to have sex with men. Some take estrogens and progesterone to facilitate breast development and other body transformations. A few will undergo surgical sex-reassignment surgery. This surgery is well known and available in Thailand, although it is extremely expensive by Thai standards. In Western conceptualization, the kathoey maybe considered either effeminate homosexual men, transvestites, or pre- or post-operative transsexuals, none of which is readily applicable to the traditional construction of sexuality in Thailand. Thai people mainly see the kathoey as either the “third gender,” or a combination of the male and female genders. Alternatively, they are also seen as a female gender, but of the “other” variety, as reflected in a synonym ying pra-phayt song, meaning “women of the second kind.”
“Because for most Thais, the concepts of gay and kathoey are not clearly distinguished from one another, the stereotypic features of the kathoey are thought to be also attributes of gay men, particular gay queens. Some Thai men who have sex with men alternately refer to themselves as gay for political reasons, and kathoey for self-deprecating humor. These images of the kathoey (and to a lesser degree, “gay men”) in the Thai society bare striking similarities to the stereotyped lives of gay men and drag queens in Western societies before the gay liberation movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Interestingly, the American play, The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley, was translated to the Thai context in the late 1980s and became an immensely popular show. The appreciation that the mainstream audience had for the images of kathoey and gay men - as individuals struggling with societal pressure and self-hatred - sums up the overall social climate toward homosexuality today: characterized by sympathy, fascination, and curiosity, yet riddled with ambivalence and stereotyping.”
According to Winter: The last ten years have seen the publication of many English language studies of transgender in Thailand. Apart from isolated reports (Beyrer, 1998; Storer, 1999; ten Brummelhuis, 1999; Nanda, 2000, Wong, 2003, Totman, 2003) they come from several sources. First is the work of Peter Jackson, whose interest in transgender connects with an broader interest in gay anthropology and historiography (Jackson 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999a, b, 2003). The more recent work of Megan Sinnott can be interpreted in a similar light (Sinnott, 2000, 2002, in press). Standing in stark contrast is the work of Andrew Matzner, whose interests are in transgender in its own right (as evidenced by his recent work in Hawai’i (Matzner, 2002a)). Much of his engaging and provocative work is available through his own website (Matzner, no date a-g). Some is also available at the TransgenderASIA website (Matzner, 2002b) or in print (Matzner, 2001). [Source: Thai Transgenders in Focus: Demographics, Transitions and Identities, Sam Winter, University of Hong Kong]
Books: 'The Third Sex: Kathoey: Thailand's Ladyboys'. Written by R. Totman. Transpeople (Khon Kham Phet) in Thailand: transprejudice, exclusion, and the presumption of mental illness. Winter, S. (2011). Chapter 13 in Jackson, P (Ed.) Queer Bangkok: 21st Century Media, Markets and Rights. Hong Kong University Press (pp251-267).
Studies: 1) Sex-gender diversity: a cross-cultural perspective. (Nanda); 2) Transpeople in Thailand: Acceptance or Oppression. (Winter) English version. Thai version (thanks to Kosum Ompornuwat); 3) Articles by Andrew Matzner, previously posted on the Transgender in Thailand site; 4) The health risk and health care seeking behaviors of male-to-female transgender persons in Khon Kaen, Thailand. First implications for targeted prevention. (Luhmann and Laohasiriwong); 5) On the question of origins: kathoey and Thai culture (Matzner); 6) The kathoey as a product (Prempreeda) (English (trans. P.L.) / Thai version) ; 7) Why are there so many kathoey in Thailand? (Winter); 8) Counting kathoey (Winter); 9) Language and identity in transgender: gender wars and the case of the Thai kathoey (Winter); 10) Transgressing the Gender Boundary (Wong).
Thailand probably boasts one of the highest incidences of transgender world-wide. No one knows for sure how many there are. One British newspaper claimed there were 5,000 ladyboys working in Phuket's sex industry and a huge demand for their services. On that claim Know Phuket reported: “Where did he get this figure? It seems like a very bold claim. Is there a census? Do the authorities make a katoey count? I really doubt there was a reliable statistic available to this reporter...Phuket's high season population is estimated to be around 500,000. If 5,000 of them are ladyboys then that would be 1 percent of the population. That would seem a little unlikely but not totally inconceivable. But he said 5,000 actually working in the sex industry. Where was this army of available katoeys? [Source: Know Phuket website Know Phuket , April 15, 2007]
In his article “Counting Lathoey, Sam Winter of the University of Hong Kong wrote: “It has been reported that there are now some 10,000 kathoey living in Thailand (Ehrlich, 1996). This figure is almost certainly an underestimate. I have heard informal estimates as high as 300,000. Turning first to the more extreme end of the gender-transition continuum, there are an indeterminate number of government and private hospitals which offer sex re-assignment surgery. The three most active surgeons in this field have together performed around 2000 operations. At the other end of the continuum, Matzner reports that one provincial Thai university of 15000 students boasts a ‘sorority’ for over 100 MtF students (most at an early stage in transition). This represents around one in 150 students overall, and a rather larger proportion of the males! Even if the estimate of 10,000 is an accurate one, this figure would represent an incidence substantially above that estimated for transgender in many other parts of the world. [Source: Counting kathoey, Sam Winter, Division of Learning, Development and Diversity, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, uploaded 17/6/2002]
“How can one count how many kathoey there are in Thailand?” One method, “which I admit has all sorts of problems attached to it, is to adopt an approach rather like I imagine the botanist might who is interested in studying a somewhat rare species of flower on an island. First he would ensure that he can recognise the species. Second, he would go out to likely locations and count how many he can find. Third, he would try to extrapolate to a figure for the entire island.
It is this approach that we are currently taking in a research project in Thailand. We are selecting community locations at which people congregate, identifying a particular spot, and then observing and counting passers-by, making a note of each kathoey who also passes.
Data collected in different locations, on week days and weekends during the months of June and August 2002—Location: Duration, Passers-by, Kathoey: 1) Siam Centre, Bangkok: 3.5 hrs 4632, 12); 2) Mah Boom Kong Centre, Bangkok: 1.0 hrs, 930, 0; 3) Discovery Centre, Bangkok: 3.25 hrs, 6910, 25; 4) Gat Suan Gaew Centre, Chiangmai. 2.25 hrs, 1890, 5. The data represent a total of 10.00 hours and 14362 people in the nation's two largest urban centres. I should stress that all these shopping centres are middle-income locations popular with persons of both sexes (by that I mean male and female) and all ages.
If our combined figures for Bangkok and Chiangmai are representative of Thailand in general (1998 population 61,466,178) then we have a national incidence of around 3 in every thousand people (say 6 in every thousand males), extrapolating at nearly 180,000 kathoey nationwide.
In the study “Thai Transgenders in Focus: Demographics, Transitions and Identities,” Sam Winter of the University of Hong Kong wrote: For demographic data, we found that our participants were often among the youngest in their family, that females played a prominent role in their lives (often rearing them without any male help), and that around one in five brothers (natural or step) were also transgendered. [Source: Thai Transgenders in Focus: Demographics, Transitions and Identities, Sam Winter,
University of Hong Kong]
“With regard to transition histories, we found that many participants had transitioned very early in life, beginning to feel different to other males, and identifying as non-male by middle childhood. By adolescence many were living a transgendered life. Many took hormones, beginning to do so by a mean age of 16.3 years, and several from as early as 10 years. Many underwent surgeries of various kinds, on average in the twenties, with one undergoing SRS as early as 15 years.
“As to identity, most of our participants thought of themselves simply as “phuying” (women), with a smaller number thinking of themselves as “phuying praphet song” (a ‘second kind of woman’). A small number thought of themselves as “kathoey” (a more general Thai term embracing a variety of gender non-conformities) While most participants would prefer to be a woman, there were a few who seemed comfortable being transgendered. A few foresaw that they would not be living a transgendered life into old age. The vast majority expressed a sexual attraction to men.
“On a seven-point scale 52 percent of our sample rated themselves as above average in confidence, with corresponding figures of 21 percent for relaxed attitude, 56 percent for happiness, 70 percent for self-esteem, and 33 percent for attractiveness. All of this indicated a fairly positive self-concept among our sample. Notwithstanding, the results were more disturbing for those who anticipated living a non-transgendered life when they were 50. Among these, there was a significantly lower level of happiness (ANOVA p 0.01), with only 45 percent rating their happiness as above average.
According to the Transgender Country Report: Thailand: “Individuals vary of course. However, most kathoey present outwardly as entirely female...A very large number of them take hormones, sometimes from as early as 10 years of age. Many of those who are able to afford cosmetic surgery do so. A rather smaller number undergo sex reassignment surgery. This outward presentation as female reflects their sense of identity. Our own most recent research on 165 kathoey (mean age 25 years) reveals that, by age 10, 71 percent felt different to other boys, 42 percent thought they had the mind either of a girl or a kathoey (or a related term), and 35 percent already thought of themselves as belonging to one of those gender categories. Around 70 percent of our sample said they would ideally want to be a woman and indeed be re-born as one. The vast majority saw themselves living as women or kathoey for the rest of their lives. In short our kathoey typically developed their transgendered feelings early in life, saw their feelings as long term, and desired to be re-born female. However, a minority of kathoey seem comfortable thinking of themselves as kathoey (or one of its synonyms). Around 19 percent said that they would prefer to be a kathoey (or its related terms), and 12 percent said that they would want to be reborn as such.[Source: Transgender Country Report: Thailand, Sam Winter, Division of Learning, Development and Diversity, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong]
“In Thailand kathoey remain legally male, even after sex re-assignment. Their identification cards and passports show them to be male. This leads to all sorts of unfortunate consequences. In school many kathoey will be required to dress as a male and respond to their male name. At university kathoey may be allowed to dress in female uniform for lectures and tutorials, but may be required to dress as male or cut hair for special events (e.g. graduation awards, official visits etc.). In relationships, a kathoey finds that she cannot legally marry a man, though it will almost certainly be a man with whom she enters a relationship. In employment, kathoey commonly experience prejudice and discrimination when trying to get jobs; some employers (large and small) are quite clearly uncomfortable with the prospect of having a kathoey on staff. Finally, kathoey may have difficulty travelling abroad, risking refusal of entry and intrusive questioning and inspection at i
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