Doing and undoing gender of Kathoei under heterosexual discourse

Abstract

This study aimed to demonstrate the doing and undoing gender under heterosexual discourse of Kathoei in the different contexts and the challenges of Kathoei to heterosexual discourse in terms of mismatches of sex, gender, and sexuality. Doing gender demonstrated that gender was done as an interaction in a wide variety of activities (West and Zimmerman, 1984). Undoing gender focused on gender that derived from the performativity or the countless numbers of performances (Butler, 2004). Both concepts emphasized the same structure of heterosexual discourse dictating the gender performance. Butler pointed out that a gender trouble had a way of moving beyond that naturalized binary of the discourse (Butler, 2004). Additionally, Thailand has its unique terms, Phet that includes sex, gender, and sexuality within a single term (Jackson & Sullivan, 1999). Kalatesa is a local concept of balancing to appropriateness under the conditions of time and space, and highlights regional, ethnic and class differences as well as gender (Van Esterik, 2000). To understand Kathoei’s gender performances and their challenges to the discourse, queer theory was used to analyze the challenge by the mismatches between sex, gender, and sexuality (Jagose, 1996). The qualitative methods including in-depth interview and participation observation were applied to understand Kathoei’s gender performance in different aspects of their life cycle. According to the findings, Kathoei could acknowledge gender inequality from the discourse. Then, they dynamically used their identity to challenge the discourse intentionally and unintentionally in each context. Second, Kathoei who had the mismatches did not only challenge Thai society, but they also needed to neutralize the challenge from multiple LGBTQ+ groups within Thai society. Lastly, the diversity of Kathoei was not only a challenge to the western sex/gender/sexuality concept, but it resisted to the local concept of Phet. This meant that newly emerged identity Phet, or identifying more than one Phet neutralized a complexity, paradox, and possibility of moving beyond the discourse through the concept of Phet.