Peter Jackson College of Asia and the Pacific Australian National University

1. FROM PREMODERN ANDROGYNY TO MODERN GENDER BINARYSemicolonialism and the Making of Gender in Thailand Peter Jackson College of Asia and the Pacific Australian National University

2. “Gender is the repeated stylisation of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, a natural sort of being." • (Judith Butler 1990, p. 33, cited in Annemarie Jagose 1996, p. 84)

3. “Is there a history of how the duality of sex was established, a genealogy that might expose the binary options as a variable construction?” • (Judith Butler 1990, p. 33, cited in Annemarie Jagose 1996, p. 84)

4. Modernising Siam/Thailand in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries is a Site Where We May Perhaps Observe the “Historicity” of Gender. • A Site Where We May Observe the “Congealing” of “repeated acts [or stylisations of the body] within a highly rigid regulatory frame … to produce the appearance of substance, a natural sort of being”, as an Effect of (Bio)Power.

5. Domains STRONGLY GENDERED in Premodern Siam Politics – No Queen in 700 Years of Siamese/Thai History Male-Female Sexual Relations – Sexual Double Standard (Polygyny; Madonna-Whore Binary) Domains NOT STRONGLY GENDERED in Premodern Siam Personal Names Fashion Domain STILL NOT GENDERED in 21st Century Thailand Nicknames

6. 19th Century British, American & French Critiques of Siamese Gender Culture • The “Nakedness” of the Siamese Populace • “When foreigners first arrive in Siam they are shocked almost beyond endurance at the nudity of the people .... Not until Siam is clothed need she expect a place among respectable, civilized nations.” (Bacon 1892)

7. 19th Century Siam “Naked” Men and Women at Work

8. The Universal Androgyny of the Siamese • Commenting on a performance at a royal dinner in Bangkok in honour of a visiting American embassy in 1832, Roberts noted, • “As I cannot tell a Siamese man from a woman, when numbers are seated together, so it is out of my power to say whether any females were present [amongst the audience].... The hair of the Siamese women is cut like that of the men; their countenances are, in fact, more masculine than those of the males.”

9. Lack of visible gender differentiation continued to concern Western visitors in the early twentieth century. In 1902, Campbell wrote, “No one can have been many days in Bangkok without being struck by the robust physique and erect bearing of the ordinary women. It is by no means uncommon at first for a stranger, till quite close to them, to mistake them for men, the similarity of their dress and their short-cropped hair lending themselves to this deception. They do far more than their fair share of physical work.... [T]he average Siamese woman is often the better half of her husband.”

10. Siamese Prince & Princess (c. 1868)

11. Classical Siamese Theatre:All-male (top) and All-female (bottom) Genres

12. Royal Theatrical Cross-Dressing

13. The Ugliness, and “Masculinity” of Siamese Women “The flat nose, wide nostrils, large mouth, thick lips, and black bristly hair form an ensemble of which it is difficult to give an idea by means of the pen only. The natural plainness is even more marked in the women, among whom a pretty face is very rarely to be seen …” (Campbell 1902)

14. Work/Labour is Not Gender-Differentiated – Women Help Men Work the Fields and Conduct Business Independently of Men, Men Help Women Care for Children and Cook Meals (i.e. the “Home/Private/Woman” vs “Work/Public/”Man” Binary is Not Strong) • These are ALL Critiqued as Signs of “Semi-Barbarism” and Lack of “Civilisation”

15. Late 19th Century Responses to European Critiques by Siam’s Absolute Monarchy •Elite Woman Ordered to Let Their Hair Grow Long •Women in the Capital (Bangkok) Ordered to Wear a Top (Cover their Breasts) •Elite Fashions Begin to Be Gender-Differentiated.

16. Mid-20th Century Reponses to European Critiques by Thai Fascist-Aligned Phibun Government •All Personal Names Gender-Differentiated by Law •Women’s Names Must be “Soft/Sweet” and Men’s Names Must be “Hard/Strong” •All Women Must Wear a Dress and All Men Must Wear Trousers and a Shirt When Entering a Government Building •All-Male and All-Female Genres of Classical Theatrical Performance Are Mostly Abandoned (Men Play Men, and Women Play Women, on the Stage and in Thai movies)

17. The Gendering Effects of Capitalism, Marketised Labour and New Media Technologies in the 20th Century •New Occupations Arrive in Thailand from the West Already Gendered – Petrol Station Attendants are Men, Factory Seamstresses are Women •In Thai Cinema (post-1930) Only Men Play Male Roles, Only Women Play Female Roles

18. “SUCCESS” OF THE SELF-CIVILISING SIAMESE/THAI GENDER REVOLUTION Results of The New Regimes of State-Enforced and Market-Influenced Gendering

19. “Modern” Thai Women Now Lauded for Their “Beauty”(According to Western Gendered Aesthetic Norms).

20. So Much for EurocentricFrench Theorists!!! “The women of Thailand are so beautiful that they have become the hostesses of the Western world, sought after and desired everywhere for their grace, which is that of a submissive and affectionate femininity of nubile slaves -- now dressed by Dior -- an astounding sexual come-on in a gaze which looks you straight in the eye and a potential acquiescence to your every whim. In short, the fulfillment of Western man's dreams. Thai women seem spontaneously to embody the sexuality of the Arabian Nights, like the Nubian slaves in ancient Rome.” Jean Baudrillard, Cool Memories, trans. Chris Turner, London & New York: Verso, 1990, p. 168.

21. Premodern Women’s Fashions Resignifed as Signs of “Tomboy” Female Homosexuality

22. Emergence of A Minority Culture of m-t-f Transgender Kathoey Out of the Ashes of Siam’s “Premodern” Culture of Universal Androgyny.

23. “Performative Genders, Perverse Desires: A Bio-History of Thailand’s Same-sex and Transgender Cultures”, Intersections: Gender, History & Culture in the Asian Context, Issue 9, 2003. (Internet Journal)

24. From Gendered Fashion to Gender IdentityPhē̂t (เพศ) Master Term in Modern Thai Discourses of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

25. Contemporary Thai Terms Formed with Phē̂t • 1.Biological Sex: • phē̂t chai "male"/"masculine” • phē̂t ying–“female”/"feminine” • 2.Sexual Activity: • ruam phē̂t - "to have sexual intercourse” • phē̂t samphan - "sexual relations” • 3.Varieties of Sexual Expression: • rak phē̂t-diao-kan – “same-sex love” • rak-tang-phē̂t - "heterosexuality”

26. Contemporary Thai Terms Formed with Phē̂t • 4.Analytic Concepts: • phē̂t-phawa, phē̂t-saphap, phē̂t-saphawa - "gender” • phē̂t-withi - "sexuality” • khwam-lak-lai thang-phē̂t - "sex/gender diversity” • 5.Academic Fields and Disciplines • phē̂t-sat - "sexology” • phē̂t-seuksa - "sex education"

27. Etymology of Phē̂t • Sanskrit: veṣa (เวษ); Pali: vesa (เวส) • "Dress, apparel, artificial exterior, assumed appearance, often exterior appearance in general." (Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 1019) • “Dress, apparel; (more frequently) disguise, (assumed) appearance” (Rhys Davids & Stede, Pali Text Society Pali-English Dictionary, p. 650)

28. Veṣa (เวษ) Root Sense • Sanskrit root vas, "to put on, invest, wear [clothes, etc.], assume [a form, etc.]" (Monier-Williams 1980, p. 932). • Indo-European Cognates of Vas/Veṣa • Buck gives the Indo-European root for "clothes, clothing" as *wes- (Buck 1949, p. 394) with cognates: • Latin: vestis, vestīmentum (clothing) • French: vêtements • Gothic: wasjan,wasti (garment) • Anglo-Saxon: werian • English: wear

29. SummaryFrom Gendered Fashion to Gender Identity • In modern Thai, an old Sanskrit/Pali term that originally referred to gendered fashion or a person's assumed appearance (veṣa/vesa - "clothing, guise”) now comes to mean their distinctive sex or gender status (phêt).