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Popular Culture Review
The popular Thai movie Satree Lex {Iron Ladies) highlights gendered
ambivalence of kathoey. Youngyooth Thongkonthun’s comedy is based on a
true story of the 1996 Thai volleyball team which was comprised of kathoey,
gays and one "straight” player. Asiaweek magazine had compared the movie to a
Thai version of The Full Monty}1 Made from a paltry budget of $360,000,
Satree Lex became the highest grossing Thai movie ever.38 While the movie
touches on issues of discrimination and empowerment, it is mainly fuelled by
kathoey stereotypes. The "camp spectacle” of the movie undermines any attempt
towards informing the audience on the marginalisation of kathoey and gays.
The theme of marginalization and sexual ambivalence is poignantly
evinced by the Thai military which had attempted to overhaul its policy on
kathoey. Based on “an existing conscription law” of 1954, the Thai military
failed to provide a suitable niche for kathoey and gays, whose profiles were
marked as suffering from a "mental disorder.”39 Kathoey celebrity Nong Toom
told a Thai television station, “The words ‘mental disorder’ marked on the
certificate seriously affects our lives.”40 Gay rights activist Natee
Theerarojnaphongm, who crusaded to exclude the words “‘mental disorder’
from the conscript exemption,” added that employers would be reluctant to “hire
anyone with a record of mental disorder.’'41 In typical Thai compromise, the
military created two categories for disqualifying kathoey: The first being those
persons who had an “unacceptable chest measurement.”42 The more ideal
alternative was where a “mismatch between anatomy and birth gender” was
found.43 The publicised case of twenty-one year old Thanakom Chaipura is a
case in point. Thanakom had filed an appeal to be exempted from military
service on the grounds that he was a woman trapped in a man’s body.44 The
official report concluded that Thanapom had physical attributes of male and
female.45 Dr. Sanit Chakrit, Director of the Phrae Provincial Hospital
“recommended Thanakom’s discharge for medical reasons,” saying that he was
unfit to serve in the military.46
The theme of gendered ambivalence is also portrayed in the movie
“The Last Song'’ (1986) which was the first Thai movie to discuss
transgenderedness. The leading character is played by Somying Daorai, a real
life kathoey performer from Pattaya. The story line is based on the dramatic plot
of opportunistic love between Somying and her lover, Boonterm. When the
lover leaves Somying for a “real” woman, Somying shoots herself on stage
Kaewprasert (2005). Kaewprasert states that the movie is important as it
highlights the fluid nature of “gender identities'’ in the Thai cabaret lifeworld.
For Kaewpasert (2005:6), Somying’s death intimates kathoey emotional
weakness and “homosexual inferiority complex'’ in the face of Thai
heterosexuality. The movie attempts to privilege love over social standing, the
latter, being embedded in Thai society, prevails (Kaewprasert 2005).
Tortured Love, the movie sequel to The Last Song, deals with
Somying’s twin brother Somnuk. Having learnt of Somying’s death, Somnuk
conspires to avenge his sibling. Somying’s friends forbid Somnuk from taking