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This book presents the very first analysis of male homosexuality in modern rural Thailand that is based on sociological/anthropological research directly with 25 young same-sex attracted men. It explores changes in the way men view and describe their sexuality over time by interviewing them three times over a period of around 18 months. The men are followed during an important transition in their lives: the end of their high school years and the end (in most cases) of their life as a child with parents or extended family at a rural home. Nearly all decided to move to a city to continue their education or to find work. Some also had stints with sex work in one of Thailand’s well-known centers for prostitution. For nearly all men, this transition brought them into contact with new ideas about gender and sexuality, and many experienced an abrupt increase in their opportunities to have sex, leading to a readjustment of their moral universes. The book presents significant new insights about the Thai sex/gender system, particularly on how it is affected by processes of globalization and the ascent of the Internet and mobile phones as tools for dating and romance.
“Research and scholarship on human sexuality have increased dramatically in the last 50 years in an era of rapid globalisation and changed with the development of critical sexuality studies as a field. Jan W. de Lind van Wijngaarden’s pathbreaking, in-depth study of male homosexuality among young men in modern Thailand as they move into young adulthood is a significant new contribution to our understanding of human sexuality. A must read.” —Gary W. Dowsett, PhD, FASSA, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Introducing the Research Participants; 3. Understanding Thai Personhood; 4. Homosexuality: A Matter of Karma?; 5. In the Beginning … Exploring Early Awareness of Being Different; 6. The Important Role of Gender in Understanding Homosexuality in Thailand; 7. ‘All in the Family’: Tactics for Living and Growing Up in a Heteronormative World; 8. How Dating Friends Plays a Role in Destabilizing Gender-Based Notions of Homosexuality; 9. The Role of the Internet in Learning about and Experimenting with New Sexual Identities; 10. ‘No Money, No Honey’: Love and Sex in Pursuit of a Better Life; 11. Conclusions and Implications for HIV Service Provision and Sexuality Education; Appendix: Glossary of Thai Terms Used in this Book; References; Index.