Book Description
In Thai society, the hegemonic discourse of female sexuality is a product of middle-class ideology. It is based on a conceptual belief that Thai women should not have sex before marriage. This conceptual belief is exaggerated to the point that physical contact between women and men is believed to cause sexual contamination for women. My ethnographic site at a dance floor in Chiangmai, Thailand offers important perspectives to examine the intersections of gender ideology and class formation in Thai society. My informants, middle-class women dancers, strive to situate themselves in the world of lee laad in the hierarchical Thai society. In order to acquire membership in the middle-class social stratum, these Thai women must observe a “civilizing” discourse of rak nuan sa nguan tua and “proper” body language. The Thai state and the mainstream Thai society regulate female sexuality; however, Thai women’s self-interpretations of practices opposing the regulation are customary. The intersections among the sociopolitical regulation of female sexuality, the discourses of female sexuality expressed in the mass media, and Thai women’s individual interpretations of their behaviors are conjunctures of negotiations over female sexualities and social class formation. My study explores the formation of sexual norms of middle-class women; perceptions and interpretations of rak nuan sa nguan tua among women in Thai society; relationships between “civilizing” practices and middle-class women engaged in the sexually appealing activities of lee laad dance; and the women’s expression of their female sexuality as well as their desires to discipline themselves for class upward mobility.