Tom and Dee and all the rest

Apologies for the delay in posting, but due to a massive volume of papers I need to correct which I’ve made but a dent in, I’ve been spending my free time doing that type of thing.
One of the more interesting events of the past week was the 4th of July picnic put on by some American Expat group, actually held on Saturday, 2 July. This picnic was held on a soccer field at an international high school in Central BKK. It looked like any 4th of July Celebration, really – loads of BBQ, Burgers, Hot Dogs, Buttwhiper (er, Budwiser,) Miller Genuine Draft, and Ice Cream from Dairy Queen. However, a glance at the crowd quickly revealed that we were indeed far from home. First of all, the Thai Army Band was entertaining the audience. Without looking at them, however, one would guess that they were any other cover band anywhere in the US entertaining at such an event. They were covering such classics as “La Bamba” and “Zombie.” Secondly, the mix of revelers was perhaps the most interesting aspect of this gathering. There were loads of older Western men, younger Thai women (many of whom had almost certainly been hired away from Nana Plaza, one of Bangkok’s sex tourism districts not far from this international school,) and Eurasian children running around. There were games at this picnic as well. Some guy from UW Madison’s law school I had met (wearing my Badger hat always makes me friends,) and I managed to reach the final four in the egg toss. At the end of the day, they had fireworks, which were exploding directly over the crowd. Therefore, we were showered with bits of the rockets that were being shot into the sky, some of them still rather hot. All in all, it was a good time.

I’ve promised a blurb on the differences between gender perceptions in Western and Thai society. Here it is. The concept of gender and sexuality in Thai society is rather interesting. It’s not the simple plus/arrow dual-gendered conception that the West and most of the world espouse, but multiple shades of grey. For example, in many of my student’s notebooks, they have an area where you can check a box by your gender. Listed are Male, Female, Gay, Tom (from the English term “tomboy,” meaning a butch lesbian,) Dee (from “lady,” denoting a more effeminate lesbian than the “tom,”) Tootsie (perhaps the most interesting of these all, the Thai Ladyboy (gatoey in the local parlance) is a transgendered male. Some times you can tell, other times, you can’t,) bisexual, and all of the above. What is really interesting is that this blurring of gender and sexuality was even more commonplace prior to the 1800’s, when European influence first reached the Kingdom of Siam. In an effort to appear more “civilized” to the Europeans and thus take away any excuses for colonization, Thai society begrudgingly adopted the dual gender concept of the west, at least for legal purposes, along with a host of other changes, such as silverware and the Western calendar. Despite this dejure dual gender society, as discussed above, for defacto purposes, it’s more ambiguous. This difference between defacto and dejure practices really highlights the divide between what is “Western” and what is “Thai.” At the University at which I work, along with most of the other Universities in the country, which are all modeled upon Western Universities and thus embrace western scientific and gender models, the students wear uniforms. In an effort to enforce western gender conceptualization, all female students wear skirts as part of their uniform, and all faculty and staff are required to wear skirts or dresses at all times while at work. A woman wearing pants in a western institution such as a university may allow for the “Tom” identity to develop, which the University would not want. Interesting…