Kathoey, katoey or k'teuy, commonly translated as ladyboys, in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, are persons assigned male at birth who present as transfeminine or effeminate. Transgender women in Thailand mostly use terms other than kathoey when referring to themselves, such as (, ). In the context of Thai gender norms, many perceive kathoeys as belonging to a third gender.Winter, Sam (2003). Research and discussion paper: Language and identity in transgender: gender wars and the case of the Thai kathoey. Paper presented at the Hawaii conference on Social Sciences, Waikiki, June 2003. Article online .
In reaction to the sociopolitical obstacles that kathoeys face in Thailand, kathoey activism led to constitutional protection from gender discrimination in January 2015, but a separate third gender category is not legally recognized.
History Androgynous men in Khmer society were observed by the Chinese explorer Zhou Daguan when he visited Angkor Wat in 1296–1297. In The Customs of Cambodia he records the presence of (, ) who tried to "lure Chinese men by promising them sumptuous gifts".
A 19th-century interpretation of the Chbab Srey is also said to contain mentions of "malicious" women being punished in the "four hells" and being reincarnated as kathoey.
Terminology The word kathoey is of Khmer . It is most often translated as ladyboy in English conversation, an expression that has become popular across Southeast Asia.
A study of 195 Thai transgender women found that most of the participants referred to themselves as (, ), with a minority referring to themselves as () and very few referring to themselves as kathoey. Related phrases include (, ), and or (, —both meaning ).
General description
Although kathoey is often translated as 'transgender woman' in English, this term is not correct in Thailand as it is also used for gay men, and was originally used to refer to androgynous people. Before the 1960s, kathoey included anyone who deviated from the dominant sexual norms. Because of this confusion in translation, the English translation of kathoey is usually 'ladyboy' (or variants of the term).
Use of the term kathoey suggests that the person self-identifies as a type of male, in contrast to (which, like "trans woman", suggests a "female" () identity), and in contrast to ('third sex'). The term song, which can be translated as 'second-type female', is also used to refer to kathoey. The Australian scholar of sexual politics in Thailand Peter Jackson claims that the term kathoey was used in antiquity to refer to intersex people, and that the connotation changed in the mid-20th century to cover cross-dressing males.Jackson, Peter (2003). Performative Genders, Perverse Desires: A Bio-History of Thailand's Same-Sex and Transgender Cultures in "Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context," Issue 9, August 2003. See paragraph "The Homosexualisation of Cross-Dressing." Kathoey has become an iconic symbol of modern Thai culture.Winter, Sam. Queer Bangkok: Twenty-first Century Markets, Media, and Rights. Aberdeen, Hong Kong: Hong Kong U Press, 2011 The term can refer to males who exhibit varying degrees of femininity. Many dress as women and undergo "feminising" medical procedures such as breast implants, hormones, silicone injections, or Adam's apple reductions. Others may wear make-up and use feminine speech patterns, but dress as men, and are closer to the Western category of effeminate gay man than transgender.
The term kathoey may be considered pejorative, especially in the form . It has a meaning similar to the English language 'fairy' or 'queen'.CPAmedia.com: Thailand's Women of the Second Kind (archive) Kathoey can also be a derogatory word for gay people.
Religion In Buddhism there are a variety of interpretations on how to relate to kathoey and transgender people. Some within the Theravada school of Buddhism see being a kathoey as the result of karmic punishment for previous lifetimes. Bunmi, a Thai Buddhist author, believes that homosexuality stems from "lower level spirits" (), a factor that is influenced by one's past life. Some Buddhists view kathoeys as persons born with a disability as a consequence of past sins. Using the notion of karma, some Thais believe that being a kathoey is the result of transgressions in past lives, concluding that kathoeys deserve pity rather than blame. Others, however, believe that kathoeys should rectify their past life transgressions. This is done through merit-making such as "making donations to a temple or by ordaining as monks". While other Buddhists believe that the Buddha was never hostile to LGBT people and therefore that seeing being LGBT as a karmic punishment is a mistaken interpretation.
In northern Thailand, kathoeys, women, and gay men are considered to have soft souls and are therefore easily frightened and highly susceptible to possession. These three groups are heavily represented in spirit summoning since people without soft souls are considered immune to possession. Despite this, kathoeys being a large proportion of the spirit medium population is a modern phenomenon since there is little evidence that kathoeys were associated with religious practice and were banned from religious ceremony before the modern period. In rural areas in north Thailand, kathoeys have taken on jobs as spirit mediums where they become known as Kathoey maa-khii. Spirit mediumship provides kathoeys with a source of income as well as a support network.
During the festival of the nine gods in southern Thailand, kathoeys participate as spiritual mediums of the god Kaun Im. The southern Thailand tradition of the spirit medium Nora dance has traditionally been a primarily male performance. However, women and kathoeys have become an increasingly large proportion of the performers, with a majority of male performers in 2014 being either gay men or kathoeys.
Requirements to confirm eligibility for gender-affirming surgery
In Thai cities such as Bangkok, there are currently two to three gender-affirming surgery (GAS) operations per week, more than 3,500 over the past thirty years. With the massive increase in GASs, there has also been an increase in prerequisites, measures that must be taken in order to be eligible for the operation. Patients must be at least 18 years old with permission from parents if under 20 years old.Duncan, Debbie. "Prerequisites - The Transgender Center." Prerequisites - The Transgender Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 March 2017. One must provide evidence of diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a psychologist or psychiatrist. Before going through gender-affirming surgery, one must be on hormones/antiandrogens for at least one year. Patients must have a note from the psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. Two months before the surgery, patients are required to see a psychiatrist in Thailand to confirm eligibility for gender-affirming surgery.
Social context Kathoeys are more visible and more accepted in Thai culture than transgender people are in other countries in the world. Several popular Thai models, singers, and movie stars are kathoeys, and Thai newspapers often print photographs of the winners of female and kathoey beauty contests side by side. The phenomenon is not restricted to urban areas; there are kathoeys in most villages, and kathoey beauty contests are commonly held as part of local fairs.
A common stereotype is that older, well-off kathoeys provide financial support to young men with whom they are in romantic relationships.Thailand , in the International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, Volume I–IV 1997–2001, edited by Robert T. Francoeur
Kathoeys currently face many social and legal impediments. Families (and especially fathers) are typically disappointed if a child becomes a kathoey, and kathoeys often have to face the prospect of disclosing their birth sex. However, kathoeys generally have greater acceptance in Thailand than most other East Asian countries.. See also Céline Grünhagen: Transgender in Thailand: Buddhist Perspectives and the Socio-Political Status of Kathoeys. In: Gerhard Schreiber (ed.), Transsexuality in Theology and Neuroscience. Findings, Controversies, and Perspectives. De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston 2016, pp. 219–232. Problems can also arise in regards to access to amenities and gender allocation.
Employment Many kathoeys work in predominately female occupations, such as in shops, restaurants, and beauty salons, but also in factories (a reflection of Thailand's high proportion of female industrial workers).Winter S, Udomsak N (2002). Male, Female and Transgender: Stereotypes and Self in Thailand . International Journal of Transgenderism. 6,1 Discrimination in employment is rampant as many perceive kathoeys as having mental problems and refuse to hire them. In addition, the difficulty for kathoeys to change their gender marker on official documentation makes finding employment harder.Scuzzarello, S. & Statham, P. (2022). Transgender kathoey socially imagining relationships with western men in Thailand: Aspirations for gender affirmation, upward social mobility, and family acceptance. Advances in Southeast Asian Studies, 15(2), 195-212. For these reasons, many kathoeys are only able to find work in sex and entertainment industries. These sorts of jobs include tourist centers, cabarets, and sex work. Kathoeys who work in the tourism sector must conform to a physical image that is preferred by tourists. Kathoeys who obtain jobs in the civil service sector are required to wear uniforms coinciding with their assigned sex of male. In 2011, the short-lived airline P.C. Air began hiring kathoeys as flight attendants.
In rural areas in northern Thailand, some kathoeys have acquired jobs picking fruit from trees. According to rural traditions, men and women perform separate roles in the process of collecting fruit. Men climb trees while women collect fruit in baskets below. However, kathoeys are allowed to perform both roles. Kathoeys in rural areas in northern Thailand have begun acquiring jobs as spirit mediums as well.
Education Many schools teach students that being transgender is wrong and a form of sexual deviancy. Thai schools utilize gendered uniforms as well. In 2015, Bangkok University revised its uniform guidelines to allow transgender students to wear the uniform of their preferred gender; however, many other institutions still mandate transgender students to wear the uniform that matches their assigned sex. Several kathoey and transgender women choose which schools to attend based mainly on the ability to wear the gendered school uniform they prefer. Some kathoeys report facing violence and discrimination from both their classmates and their teachers at all levels of schooling due to them being a kathoey. This has led to some dropping out or changing schools.
Political context Thailand's 2015 Gender Equality Act is currently the strongest legal tool for advocating for transgender rights. It protects those who are "of a different appearance from his/her own sex by birth" from unfair gender discrimination. Prior to the creation of the 2016 Thai constitution, it was believed that anti-discrimination terms would be set for a new category called 'third gender'. This term, however, was missing from the new constitution and no protections for transgender people were specifically outlined. Instead, the constitution prohibited "unjust discrimination" based on differences in sex.
Identification documents