Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Introducing the Research Participants
- 3 Understanding Thai Personhood
- 4 Homosexuality: A Matter of Karma?
- 5 In the Beginning … Exploring Early Awareness of Being Different
- 6 The Important Role of Gender in Understanding Homosexuality in Thailand
- 7 ‘All in the Family’: Tactics for Living and Growing Up in a Heteronormative World
- 8 How Dating Friends Plays a Role in Destabilizing Gender-Based Notions of Homosexuality
- 9 The Role of the Internet in Learning about and Experimenting with New Sexual Identities
- 10 ‘No Money, No Honey’: Love and Sex in Pursuit of a Better Life
- 11 Conclusions and Implications for HIV Service Provision and Sexuality Education
- Appendix: Glossary of Thai Terms Used in this Book
- References
- Index
7 - ‘All in the Family’: Tactics for Living and Growing Up in a Heteronormative World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Introducing the Research Participants
- 3 Understanding Thai Personhood
- 4 Homosexuality: A Matter of Karma?
- 5 In the Beginning … Exploring Early Awareness of Being Different
- 6 The Important Role of Gender in Understanding Homosexuality in Thailand
- 7 ‘All in the Family’: Tactics for Living and Growing Up in a Heteronormative World
- 8 How Dating Friends Plays a Role in Destabilizing Gender-Based Notions of Homosexuality
- 9 The Role of the Internet in Learning about and Experimenting with New Sexual Identities
- 10 ‘No Money, No Honey’: Love and Sex in Pursuit of a Better Life
- 11 Conclusions and Implications for HIV Service Provision and Sexuality Education
- Appendix: Glossary of Thai Terms Used in this Book
- References
- Index
Summary
Because we don't just stay in the gay society, in that small group. We have to share our life with the bigger group too, hmmm. So it is an issue of sensitivity.
–EdIntroduction
In this chapter, the focus is on how the young men positioned themselves in their family and in their social environment during the time they started to discover that there was something different about them. After a brief discussion of discrimination, stigma, acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality in Thai society, a number of tactics for fitting in to Thai society and dealing with parental expectations are presented, and the ways such tactics are applied are discussed.
During the first interview, when the young men were still living at home, I wanted to know whether they were eager to move out of their homes in order to have a freer life in terms of living their sexuality. In particular, I tried to ask the young men whether they aspired to be part of a gay community after leaving home. This question is not without public health relevance, as I will also briefly discuss: There are important implications of these findings for HIV prevention intervention strategies in Thailand, most of which are ‘community based’.
Acceptance of Homosexuality in Thai Society
Most participants said that homosexuality is not accepted in Thai society. However, actual reports of acts of discrimination were virtually absent from the data that were collected. Only 3 of the 25 young men experienced something that could be called discrimination or enacted stigma. One of these men was Dee, a quiet Muslim man from the southern town of Pattalung. Dee's mother had remarried; his stepfather quite strongly objected to Dee's homosexuality. Dee said he had even considered committing suicide as a result:
My stepfather is a person who hates this group a lot. He is the person who is paying for my studies too. He doesn't like [it]. […] He has said, you [derogative – มึง] are a man, don't go and be toot, taew, ying … [Thai slang words for ‘faggot’ and ‘woman’].
Dee's family were Muslims; this may have contributed to his stepfather's negativity about Dee's sexuality.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Male Homosexuality in 21st-Century ThailandA Longitudinal Study of Young, Rural, Same-Sex-Attracted Men Coming of Age, pp. 75 - 102Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2021