What does "gay" mean in Thailand

[Guest rainwalker]

I think we all know that a large percentage of the boys/men who work in the bars have a primary sexual attraction to women but are "gay for pay"

 

I was talking with friends and we decided that, in order to work in the trade, boys/men have to like sex with their male clients.

 

Or at least they have to think that sex with men is OK.

 

Several friends have long term relationships with guys who have wives and kids and are (mostly) straight but f*** like minks and like, with gusto and enthusiasm, to get f****d.

 

So is this paradise? Has Thailand moved beyond labels? Is gay OK?

 

Or do those labels still exist in Thai society?

 

In a future, more enlightened epoch, homophobia will be vanquished. Anti-gay attitudes will be deemed as ridiculous as flat-earth theories and opposition to votes for women. In this non-homophobic society, the present separate, exclusive sexualities of straight and queer are likely to be eventually supplanted by a more inclusive, polymorphous sexuality.

 

This dissolution of rigid hetero and homo orientations and identities is thus both the precondition for, and the proof of, queer emancipation - for without differentiation and polarity, there can be no conflict and prejudice.

 

The boundaries between hetero and homo will merge and blur, with a greater incidence of bisexuality. Most people will stop defining themselves as straight or gay, and the gender of a person's sexual partner will cease to determine the social validity (or illegitimacy) of their carnal and affectional feelings.

 

Is this a description of Thailand??

 

Peter Tatchell, prominent UK activist mulls over the future of gay and straight here.

[TotallyOz]

I loved the quote by Peter Tatchel. I am not sure that will happen in my lifetime but hope springs eternal.

 

I remember as a child the label of homo was so deadly. There were many gay men that openly lived together that were burned alive and killed on a regular basis. That has been 30 years. We have come a long way in many areas but still have a very long way to go to reach the Tatchel mark.

 

I don

[Guest gonefishing]

In a future, more enlightened epoch, homophobia will be vanquished. Anti-gay attitudes will be deemed as ridiculous as flat-earth theories and opposition to votes for women. In this non-homophobic society, the present separate, exclusive sexualities of straight and queer are likely to be eventually supplanted by a more inclusive, polymorphous sexuality.

 

This dissolution of rigid hetero and homo orientations and identities is thus both the precondition for, and the proof of, queer emancipation - for without differentiation and polarity, there can be no conflict and prejudice.

 

Is this a description of Thailand??

 

 

No, thank God!

 

It is more a description of a boring, "polymorphous", world full of boring, khaki coloured people!

 

While I am all for equality, within certain reasonable limits, on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, creed, skin colour, religious beliefs, etc, and an end to conflict and prejudice (which is not the same as equality) this "dissolution of identities" is contrary to basic human nature. We are all different, it is a simple fact of life; not necessarily any better or worse, just different. The problem is not one of "differentiation and polarity", but one of acceptance.

[PattayaMale]

No, thank God!

 

It is more a description of a boring, "polymorphous", world full of boring, khaki coloured people!

 

While I am all for equality, within certain reasonable limits, on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, creed, skin colour, religious beliefs, etc, and an end to conflict and prejudice (which is not the same as equality) this "dissolution of identities" is contrary to basic human nature. We are all different, it is a simple fact of life; not necessarily any better or worse, just different. The problem is not one of "differentiation and polarity", but one of acceptance.

 

Maybe this is a matter of symmantics, but to me "acceptance" can still bear prejudice. My hope is the elimination of prejudice.

 

I love the fact that we all are different in many ways. But this idea of gay or striaight, christian or muslim, man or lady (Thailand allows the 3rd category ladyboy) is truly a way to separate. I guess we will always have labels. I doubt that a dog or cat cares if they are called a dog or cat and certainly we need something in our language to explain the difference....obviously I have no idea of what I am talking about!!!