Trans Thai High School Students

[JesusA (imported)]

One of the sex researchers of my acquaintance just sent me the following link to a BBC News story about transsexual students at a Thai high school. I’ve pasted the text of the article below, but the original also has some photographs and a brief video clip of the school and students.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7529227.stm

Thai School Offers Transsexual Toilet

By Jonathan Head

BBC News, north-east Thailand

BBC News

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

With its spacious, tree-lined grounds and slightly threadbare classrooms, there is nothing obviously unusual about the Kampang Secondary School.

It is situated in Thailand's impoverished north-east, and most of the pupils are the children of farmers.

Every morning at 0800 they all gather outside to sing the national anthem and watch the flag being raised.

Then they have a chance to use the toilets, before heading off the first classes of the day.

Kampang is proud of its toilets. Spotless, and surrounded by flowering tropical plants, they have won national awards for cleanliness.

But there is something else about them too. Between the girls' toilet and the boys', there is one signposted with a half-man, half-woman figure in blue and red.

This is the transsexual toilet, and outside, in front of the mirrors, some decidedly girly-looking teenage boys preen their hair and apply face cream.

'Uncomfortable'

The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender - boys who would rather be girls.

"They used to be teased every time they used the boys' toilets," he said, "so they started using the girls' toilets instead. But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work."

So the school offered to build the transgender boys their own facility, and they welcomed it.

Triwate Phamanee is a slightly built 13-year-old who is adamant that he will one day change his gender.

"We're not boys," he told me, "so we don't want to use the boys' toilet - we want them to know we are transsexuals."

Vichai Saengsakul, 15, agrees.

"People need to know that being a transsexual is not a joke," he says, "it's the way we want to live our lives. That's why we're grateful for what the school has done."

Normal treatment

The transgender boys in Kampang tend to stick together as a group, practising their somewhat exaggerated feminine mannerisms together and generally camping it up.

They still have to wear male uniforms, make-up is not allowed (although some manage to sneak in a touch of lipstick and mascara), and of course sex-change surgery is out of the question at this age - the youngest self-declared transsexual is 12.

But they appear to be treated perfectly normally by other pupils and teachers alike.

I asked the headmaster whether they were not too young to be making decisions about their gender.

He said that, in his 35 years of working in the Thai education system, he had come across many boys like this, and they never changed. Many go on as adults to have sex-change surgery, while others will live as gay men, he said.

Thailand is well known for its tolerance of transgender men, and they are very visible in everyday life. Sex-change surgery has become a speciality of the Thai health industry, and it is relatively inexpensive; patients come here from all over the world for the operation.

'Sweet and soft'

The Kampang school's initiative, far from stirring up controversy, has instead prompted a discussion in other schools over whether they should be providing the same facilities.

A ratio of 10% to 20% of boys calling themselves transsexual in a provincial high school does seem very high, but Mr Sitisak assured me that in his experience it was not unusual.

Which brought up a question that has been rattling around my head ever since I first lived in Thailand seven years ago: Why do so many Thai men want to become women?

I asked Suttirat Simsiriwong, who became a campaigner for transgender rights after she was barred entry to a nightclub at an international hotel in Bangkok last year.

Poised, articulate and very feminine, it is hard to tell that she was not born a woman.

"Maybe the numbers of gays, of people with sexual identity issues, might be the same as in other countries," said Suttirat, "but because Thai society and culture tend to be very sweet, very soft, and the men can be really feminine, if we tend to be gay, many of us tend to be transgender."

So does building a special toilet in school advance the cause of winning wider acceptance for transsexuals?

"At that age it's good for them to have a specific place," she said.

"But when they graduate from school or university, they will know how to have medical treatment. They won't want to go into a transgender toilet because they will want to be accepted as a woman - so they will go to the women's toilet."

Discrimination remains

Tolerance, said Suttirat, is not the same thing as acceptance.

Despite their high profile in Thailand, transsexuals complain that they are still stereotyped - they can find work easily enough as entertainers, in the beauty industry, the media, or as prostitutes, but it is much harder to become a transgender lawyer or investment banker.

And their biggest complaint is that they cannot change their legal status.

Despite a proposal during the drafting of a new constitution last year, to allow them to change the gender on their identity cards, this has not yet been approved.

[jemagirl (imported)]

Oh I hope that one all the world will be as wise and yet there even there it is not quite perfect. Perhaps one day we can get past the binary gender paradigm.

[billiejean789 (imported)]

Great story. It's estimated that there is up to 1/3 million "T"'s in Thailand. It has to do with Budda and his philosophy--basically do what you want to do. In this good old U S of A it's called gender disorder. That's the term the doctors have to use to get there insurance reimbursement. Shrinks also use the term. I've been to several--but the one thing none of them can tell me is this--why do I feel the way I do regarding transgenered?

[punkypink (imported)]

Great story. It's estimated that there is up to 1/3 million "T"'s in Thailand. It has to do with Budda and his philosophy--basically do what you want to do. In this good old U S of A it's called gender disorder. That's the term the doctors have to use to get there insurance reimbursement. Shrinks also use the term. I've been to several--but the one thing none of them can tell me is this--why do I feel the way I do regarding transgenered?

Well one reason why thais are so accepting of trans people is because they believe that one is trans in this life due to bad karma from the past life.

Of course, this logic only holds true if one regards being trans as a bad thing. The way I see it, it's just genetic human diversity at work. I've had a pretty good life thus far compared to many others and for sure my own transsexualism hasn't affected me as badly as it has done to many others, and I've come to terms with it very quickly, so if anything that much good fortune surely is a sign that I am not being punished for bad karma even though I am trans.

Funnily enough, I have thai blood in me. I seriously feel we need to consider genetics as a possible answer to the "why" question, given how thais seem to have an unusually high incidence of transsexualism.

[kristoff]

Well one reason why thais are so accepting of trans people is because they believe that one is trans in this life due to bad karma from the past life.

Of course, this logic only holds true if one regards being trans as a bad thing. The way I see it, it's just genetic human diversity at work. I've had a pretty good life thus far compared to many others and for sure my own transsexualism hasn't affected me as badly as it has done to many others, and I've come to terms with it very quickly, so if anything that much good fortune surely is a sign that I am not being punished for bad karma even though I am trans.

Funnily enough, I have thai blood in me. I seriously feel we need to consider genetics as a possible answer to the "why" question, given how thais seem to have an unusually high incidence of transsexualism.

I suspect many of the "trans" folk in Thailand is simply gay. It is socially acceptable to be a lady boy but not an effeminate gay man, nor as acceptable to just be a gay male. so seems to be my understanding from the few Thais I have known, and what I have read... Feel free to enlighten if you know more...

[punkypink (imported)]

I suspect many of the "trans" folk in Thailand is simply gay. It is socially acceptable to be a lady boy but not an effeminate gay man, nor as acceptable to just be a gay male. so seems to be my understanding from the few Thais I have known, and what I have read... Feel free to enlighten if you know more...

I would be inclined to agree with you actually. The crux of the matter is what I've discussed in another thread, the asian, especially thai tri-polar view on gender identity versus the sort of main duality with an all-inclusive grey area view that some of the more liberal western countries have with regards to gender identity.

[chilliwilli (imported)]

I would be inclined to agree with you actually. The crux of the matter is what I've discussed in another thread, the asian, especially thai tri-polar view on gender identity versus the sort of main duality with an all-inclusive grey area view that some of the more liberal western countries have with regards to gender identity.

Pink,

It would be interesting to see how western tourists participating in the sex trade have influenced Thailands attitudes on sexuality and gender. Perhaps transexualism, which has likely been around longer than even eunuchism, is in some regard sanctioned by the Thai government today.

just a thought

chilli-

[punkypink (imported)]

Pink,

It would be interesting to see how western tourists participating in the sex trade have influenced Thailands attitudes on sexuality and gender. Perhaps transexualism, which has likely been around longer than even eunuchism, is in some regard sanctioned by the Thai government today.

just a thought

chilli-

Considering that other countries in the region which are part of the sex trade including Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos don't have as high an incidence of transsexualism, and acceptance, I am inclined to say that the root of transsexualism in Thailand is quite possibly due to genetic influence and the acceptance down to religious influence and culture. Afterall the sex trade is only a very recent development, not long enough, in my opinion, to have the same impact as hundreds of years of religious and cultural influence would have.

[chilliwilli (imported)]

Considering that other countries in the region which are part of the sex trade including Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos don't have as high an incidence of transsexualism, and acceptance, I am inclined to say that the root of transsexualism in Thailand is quite possibly due to genetic influence and the acceptance down to religious influence and culture. Afterall the sex trade is only a very recent development, not long enough, in my opinion, to have the same impact as hundreds of years of religious and cultural influence would have.

Punkypink-

The Thai people do seem to have a greater acceptance of blured gender roles. Many of the polynesian and micronesian cultures also support transgender people. There is an entire social/emotional connection that is provided in these cultures. It seems healthier for a transgender person to be with their families and connected with their communities. It just seems that in this country transgenders live disconnected lives serving the sex trade in the large cities. I'm all for acceptance/understanding of self/others in high school. Their finally teaching something useful!

chilli-

[jemagirl (imported)]

One of the things I like about what they are doing in Thailand versus American is that they have managed to be inclusive and keep the student is the same High school. That isn't always possible here where we have bullying. So we now have some "gay" High schools. I'm not knocking that we have gay high schools because for a lot of the students it is an improvement. However it shows how far we still have to go to be on par with Thailand.