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Kathoeys In Thailand

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Kathoeys in Thailand: Literature Review
Introduction
The cabaret show is a representative hot spot in Thailand. Almost every visitor will go to see it. The performers in such shows are Kathoeys, which refer to transgender women in Thailand. Even though they bring joy to the audience, they are plagued by disease and poverty. Some of them have removed genital organs, while most of them are still “male”. They keep the male genitals, but uplift their chests, slim their waists and lose fertility completely. Many Kathoeys not only perform in cabaret shows, but also work in the sex industry for money. Due to their genders and jobs, they are suffering discrimination in their daily life. Because of the unprotected sexual behaviors, they are exposed …show more content…

In the article “Identity diversification among transgender sex workers in Thailand’s sex tourism industry,” Ocha, a PhD member in Gender and Development Studies of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand, and Earth, a professor in Gallaudet University point out that M Kay Martin and Barbara Voorhies offered a new terminology “Third gender” in 1975, which prompted that the two-gender structure could not work well with gender categories in some cultures (196). Katheoys refer to male-to-female (MTF) transgender people or people identified as the third gender now in Thailand (qtd. in Winter 2002). Ocha and Earth argue that even though Kathoeys are “parts of the human landscape in Thailand” and have been more accepted than before, they are still discriminated and marginalized in Thai society (205). This situation was further discusses by Poteat, a professor in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her colleagues in their article “HIV Risk and Preventive Interventions in Transgender Women Sex Workers.” This article focuses on transgender women in the world, and Kathoeys in Thailand are also transgender women and facing same difficulties, discrimination and …show more content…

In the article “Cross-Sex Hormone Use, Functional Health and Mental Well-Being among Transgender Men (Toms) and Transgender Women (Kathoeys) in Thailand,” Gooren, an endocrinologist in Netherlands known for his work with transgender people, discusses the methods that Kathoeys (transgender women) usually take in order to make their bodies match their gender identities: taking cross-sex hormones on a regular basis and doing Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) or other kinds of surgeries (qtd. in Winter 2012). However, the knowledge in psychological, social and functional aspects about these approaches is still limited currently so that Katheoys who used such technologies have to endure many untoward effects

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