Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgendered Youth

ISBN-13: 9780789031150 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 208 str.

LeeRay M. Costa; Andrew J. Matzner

Opis

Get a detailed look at the Thai sex/gender system--through analysis of the personal stories from transgendered youth in Thailand

The Thai term sao braphet song (a "second type of woman") describes males who reject the gender of masculinity for femininity. Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgendered Youth uses the narrative method, stories in the words of these "second type of women" to analyze these transgendered experiences. This previously ignored perspective of the Thai sex/gender system gained through this theoretical and methodological approach offers students and general readers a rich, more readily accessible foundation of knowledge about gendered subjectivity and sex/gender systems.

Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgendered Youth features in-depth, autobiographical life histories from individual Thai transgendered youth. Life stories, told in the participants' own words, provides an engaging, at times touching, always insightful look at Thai culture's sex/gender system. The authors then expertly analyze the narratives to illuminate common themes and constructions within this group, allowing an opportunity for contrast and discussion on transgender experiences in other nations.

Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgendered Youth analyzes the major themes in the stories, including:

• identities
  
• definitions and descriptive labels
  
• etiologies of sao braphet song-ness
  
• the notion of acceptance
  
• narrator motivations for participating in the project
  
  

Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgendered Youth is illuminating, reflective reading for educators, undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, or anyone interested in discovering more about transgenderism in a specific cultural context.

Spis treści

• Foreword (Anne Bolin)
• Acknowledgments
• Note on Thai Transcription
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• The Project
• Positioning the Researchers and Project Goals
• Why “Personal Narrative”?
• Organization of the Book
• Chapter 2: Gender and Sexuality in Thailand
• What is “Thai”?
• Ideologies of Gender and Sexuality
• Alternative Genders and Sexualities
• Kathoey: Semantics and Identities
• Religious Ritual in Northern Thailand
• Kathoey in the Thai Mass Media
• Western Academic Research on Kathoey
• Voices of Sao Braphet Song
• Chapter 3: Narrative Methodologies
• Why Use the Narrative Method?
• Translation and Representation
• Chapter 4: Sao Braphet Song Narratives
• The Setting
• Personal Narratives
• Essays About Rosepaper
• Chapter 5: Analyzing Sao Braphet Song Narratives
• Our Analytical Approach
• Identities
• Definitions and Descriptive Labels
• Etiologies
• Acceptance
• Motivations for Participating in the Project
• Where to Go From Here
• Notes
• References

O autorze

LeeRar Costa (Author)