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Sexuality, Power and Resistance among "Toms" and "Dees" in Thailand

Megan Sinnott, Visiting Lecturer, Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies; Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies; Department of Anthropology, Yale University

This paper engages the relationship between systems of power and expressions of sexuality among women in Thailand. In particular, I examine the sexual meanings of masculine women who identify as "toms" and their feminine lovers, called "dees." By placing these gendered sexualities in a larger political context, I argue that they cannot be understood within simplistic dualities. For example, descriptions of the Thai sexual landscape typically deploy the dichotomous categories of "tolerant" or "intolerant." Likewise, tom and dee relationships are seen as either repressive or liberating. Analysis of the multiple and complex ways that same-sex sexuality, transgenderism, and female sexuality are represented, practiced and experienced dispel these dichotomous constructions, and demonstrate the necessity of a fully contextualized analysis of sexual meanings. Ethnography, historical sources, art, popular culture, literature and the print news media are referenced in order to find the moments of transgression, oppression, and resistance with the sexual lives of toms and dees.

Dr. Megan Sinnott was an Anthropology instructor at the University of Colorado in 2003-04, after spending most of the past decade living in Thailand, teaching anthropology and women's studies at Thammasat and Mahidol University. She also worked with several women's NGOs. Her main area of research is on female same-sexualities and transgenderism in Thailand. She received her PhD in 2002 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Excerpted reviews of her recently published dissertation research, Toms & Dees: Transgender Identity and Female Same-Sex Relationships in Thailand (2004, Hawaii University Press) can be seen at http://www.chinabooks.com.au/newbooks/wwthai.htm