#and very distinctively. lumping them together as equal parts of my identity as i feel the term “nonbinary woman” does doesn't describe me

[nowendil]

been thinking a lot about womanhood lately

[petekaos]

hi so ive been studying thai cultures of sexuality and gender for my (kind of not really) college thesis and obviously my research had been little limited because of the lack of english papers on the subject (so !! if you're thai and LGBT+ PLS correct me) but one thing that i've been wrestling with in criticisms of this show is how people have rallied against wife/husband discourse because it feels like a very Eurocentric look at how people express their sexualities. (And +

this comes from someone who hates top/bottom + wife/husband gendering myself!) Thai conceptions of gender/sexuality don’t really fit into the categories of LGBT(+) as easily as believed, especially since the terms people used can often differ based on the sexuality and gender of WHO they’re attracted to and also on the presentation of gender rather than what people feel they are! +

(Also the word phet means both gender AND sexuality, meaning there is not often a distinction between gender/sexuality and boy can you tell I have nothing to do with my time) Which is oh my god confusing but to give an example, when gay was first introduced as an identity marker people began to refer to themselves as “gay kings” v “gay queens” based on which dude was the sexually receptive partner. +

Lesbians are also gendered in a similar format: “tom” tends to refer to butch lesbians (and can sometimes be seen as part of the overarching kathoey third gender) and “dee” refers to femme lesbians. To clarify, I am Indian-American and therefore would solidly punch someone in the face if they tried to classify me and my (nonexistent lol) partner as the “wife” v “husband,” +

especially when the roles you take in bed become an essential part of how you communicate your identity within the gay community. In the states, you can call yourself a lesbian without having to qualify how butch or how much of a top you are, in Thailand the words themselves inherently hold that connotation. Not saying its right, but there is cultural precedent that I think is interesting to explore in asking WHY this trope is so common. +

I know there have been certain shows that have had characters say that they are bi/gay (ie. Mean’s character from UWMA, Ohm’s character from HCTM) but these are not words that originated from Thailand itself, they are loan words from English. That’s not to say they’re invalid in any aspect, but that DOES say that while people who do fall into gay/bi categories may have existed, there was little/no direct translation for these words in thai until the 1960s. +

When gender and sexuality are not considered distinct categories but are rather all lumped under the term “phet,” it is therefore Hard in Thailand to lump people together as ie. Bi without having an additional sex and gender qualifier in the term. “Seua bai” (which means bi tiger and wtf why is that SO cool) refers to /masculine/ bi men, but seau bai are also not seen as completely male because, +

again, seau bai as a phet implies that they are not 100% phu chai - male - which really only refers to heterosexual men. SO while I would love to see tine/sarawat say that they are bi/gay, I’d also equally love for them to express that they are bi/gay with terms inherent to thai, bc I think that offers a really interesting perspective to int fans (and straight thai fans who are unaware) on how gender/sexuality can be different in other cultures. +

They could also offer criticism on these terms if they feel too narrow, which would be really valuable coming from thai writers/producers themselves. Anyway I thought this would be good food for thought, and if LGBT+ thai people have different perceptions PLEASE talk about it if you feel comfortable bc your experiences and knowledge are very valuable and appreciated! Hope this was interesting, sorry for all the spam! i love ur blog rahul -bear

ah thank you so much for this! i have been wondering about this as well recently as more east asians have been speaking up about sexuality and gender in their cultures and how that doesn’t coincide with how westerners express their sexuality and gender. i mean, there are terms that overlap (in indian culture, we have some of those as well, but then we also have hijra and thirunangai and thirunambi in tamil culture) but there are some words exclusive to thai culture specifically. this was great food for thought and i’ll be more careful in the future when it comes to expressing my thoughts on terms for sexuality in bl shows. 

i think it would be really interesting to see these terms used and criticised, if need be, by actual thai lgbt writers and producers. it would be nice to see more of thai culture paid homage to in shows like these and to see the search for labels or terms that fit oneself, i know that has been hard for me personally considering english terms as well. the way we perceive gender and sexuality tends to be very eurocentric and sometimes we need to realise that we need to see things through a different lens and the influence of culture and society on the reason why a lot of these characters don’t use fixed english loan words to describe themselves. this was a super interesting read, thank you! i should have educated myself on it earlier as i got more into this fanbase, but thank you so much for coming along and providing us this information :’)

furthermore i think it would be interesting, as you said, to get input from actual lgbt thai people on this! so if you are lgbt and thai, feel free to send me an ask talking about your experiences and journey with terms and labels, both thai and english, if you feel the want to. y’all always have a platform here with me and i will try my best to provide my insight as well if asked or needed, be respectful, and listen! your knowledge and inputs are very much appreciated, especially when it comes to shows like these and the sometimes unfair criticism they get from people with a western-centric point of view.

thank you once again, my friend!

[doux-amer]

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts on Black Panther and I don’t want this to turn into a humongous essay, so I’m just going to list stuff I liked and thought was so great about it even though it wasn’t perfect (still great and so deep though):

The extravagant and lush visual aesthetics (WAKANDA!!!! The clothes and hairstyles. The colors. EVERYTHING)

The cast is so strong...and so beautiful

THE TECHHHHHHHH OH MY GOD! OHHHHHHH MY GOD! THE SUITS. THE “SNEAKERS” (I LOVE YOU, SHURI). THE NECKLACES. THE KIMOYO BEADS. THE SHIELDS. THE HEALING BED. THE CAR AND PLANE CONTROLLED FROM THE LAB. EVERYTHING!

Such a great score that sets Black Panther completely apart from the rest of the MCU and 99.99999% of studio movies

Inspiration drawn from a rich tapestry of African cultures

Multiple languages (look, some of their accents were...not that strong tbh, but yoooo, they spoke in Xhosa! And Korean! Lupita’s accent made me cringe so hard because it was really bad, but she tried and she spoke a lot more lines of Korean that I would have expected. Ad as someone who always sees Asian people and Asian countries depicted in a certain type of way, I was 1) flattered by what I just said, 2) surprised that the Busan scenes lasted as long as they did (I thought they’d pull an AoU where we saw two seconds of Seoul), and 3) excited that they showed different glimpses of Busan. Ryan picked Busan because AoU got Seoul and he wanted something different and wanted something similar to Wakanda in terms of that balance between being grounded in tradition while being futuristic and thought Busan was perfect.

An African country untouched by white colonialism that’s extremely advanced in every way possible

A discussion about the African diaspora and in this case specifically, the difference between African Americans and Africans? WHAT?!?! A MAJOR TENTPOLE FILM DID THAT! So important because people just lump black people together, but there’s a sense of displacement and loss, an identity struggle, and a lot of generational and historical trauma that a lot of African Americans feel (and Afrolatinos, Afro-Caribbeans, etc.). And Ryan and Chadwick talked about how they thought this movie would resonate beyond black people—and it is, considering how well it’s doing here and abroad (did you see the records they’re breaking? TRUST ME, it’s even more impressive if you go back and see what industry estimates were before the movie came out even when pros were accounting for all the hype and how historic this movie is)—and yeah, this was the part that really got to me and I’m sure that it did for a lot of people who live hyphenated existences because they’re from an immigrant family. Erik being seen as “lesser than” in the U.S. and being seen as an outsider and “not one of them” in Wakanda even though he’s both American and Wakandan...bruh, that was REAL. I mean, thankfully I’ve never had to deal with anything super bad, but if you don’t talk like them and you don’t act like them? I know friends whose relatives frowned upon them because they weren’t ____ enough and they were “too” American when they’re treated as inferior over here. But going back to the African diaspora thing, this is especially important because I feel like people don’t assume African Americans go through this as well (unless they get all racist and shout “Go back to Africa!”). I don’t know. It’s important for black people to see that on screen, for me as a non-black person to see that, and for other non-black people to see that this is a thing too.

The pain that black people suffered at the hands of white people being addressed and more importantly, being shown as something that not only continues to have a massive effect on how black people are treated currently, but also something that STILL continues to be a thing albeit in different forms (so so so brilliant to start the movie off in 1990s Oakland with N’Jobu after the monologue).

The criticism of colonialism, American imperialism (past AND current (Erik is not only a product of that, but he carried it out too)), slavery, xenophobia, and isolationism. 

The timeliness of BP when there’s a refugee crisis, racism is running rampant, xenophobia is a big thing, etc. and BP shows that, no, you can’t just shut yourself behind walls because people are suffering and if you can do something about it, then YOU SHOULD because otherwise you’re complicit (NAKIA WAS RIGHT)

GENDER EQUALITY. They don’t make a big deal out of it! The women are equal to the men and it’s just the way it is. And all of those women? None of them are generic Strong Women. They’re all so distinct in their own ways, and they play such big, meaty roles. Honestly, I’d go as far as saying that they actually outshone T’Challa. T’Challa literally “died” for a good while and I didn’t even miss him because the female characters were written so well and were so important to the story that it was their story too. I remember thinking in the theater what it would be like if any of the other solo movies did that and was mindblown because it would be SUCH A BALLSY THING TO DO. Never mind the women thing, it’s super risky to do that to your main character whom the film is about in general. But BP DID THAT. And it was all the more amazing because the characters who carried the film were black women. I’ve never seen such a balanced act before.

SO MANY WOMEN TOO. I’ve never seen so many women in one MCU film before. Same goes for the Netflix side of things (and uh, if you think Jessica Jones is the show with the best female representation, I disagree with you because Luke Cage exists and did better on female representation than JJ, don’t @ me)

Speaking of women, omg okay, I can’t pick a favorite character because is it Shuri? Is it Nakia? Okoye? (And then there’s M’Baku and T’Challa...and everyone....why is this cast so amazing???!?!!?!) 

Also, with Shuri, I love how you see the friction between tradition and modernity. What a super young POC experience. Really loved the contrast between her and some of the others who put a lot of value in customs and cultural values. Like the way she got fussy over her traditional clothes, the way she got bored with the ceremony? It made me laugh and think about some people I knew growing up. I don’t think they’ll ever get around to it because it’s not important to the story, but it’ll be interesting to see how the scales go back and forth on that for her. 

Speaking of traditions, I love the conversation on respecting them, but recognizing that there has to be change and there has to be progress because the previous generation failed (and it’s on the youth to not rectify the mistakes, but to surpass the previous generation and be better than them) and people got left behind and hurt in the process.

And omg I was worried that Everett Ross would play a bigger role than he actually did, so I’m so relieved at how he was essentially a plot device (same with Klaue). I didn’t think Ryan and co. would want to make him play a big role, but I didn’t know how much Marvel pushed for Ross to be in it. I was surprisingly not irritated by him and ended up liking him enough, mainly because he showed up very little and mainly because of the way he was treated in Wakanda. Lmao forever at “Don’t scare me like that, colonizer!” and M’Baku just shutting him up and judging him at every turn.

LOL I SAID I WAS GOING TO TRY TO KEEP THIS SHORT, BUT OBVIOUSLY I FAILED SO I’M GOING TO STOP HERE. THIS IS THE MOST POLITICALLY CHARGED, DEEP, AND UNIQUE MARVEL FILM EVER AND IT’S SO GREAT! I CAN’T BELIEVE WE GOT SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN THE MCU.