#so I also fall victim to seeing thai cultural things through a western lens - I just acknowledge it & try to challenge it as much as I can

[namtanlovesfilm]

damnn someone on twitter found this 2021 video and now everyone's shitting on namtan https://twitter.com/tiwporer/status/1653452625193336850

I'm not gonna defend her bc I do not speak for the trans community & especially not the thai trans community, but I think that, once again, inter fans are completely forgetting the cultural aspect as to why namtan might have said that. namtan herself has always described herself as a "katoey" bc she mostly hangs out with queer trans people, and while that doesn't excuse anything it can show you her mindset. moreover, in a culture where "ladyboys" are not really fully seen as trans women, we also have to understand why it's more accepted in thailand to refer to a "ladyboy" as a man or whatever, though I think attitudes are changing with social media introducing the concept of transness from the west to thai people. so I am not surprised at all tbh, when gmmtv have edited a beard on jennie, and most of jennie's humor herself is referring to herself as a man & putting on a fake beard (not saying it's okay, but it just shows the culture surrounding "ladyboys".) moreover, this clip is from jennie's channel which means her & her editors did not find any fault in what namtan said. once again, I'm not saying all of this is okay, I'm just saying that it's not right to not take the cultural aspect into consideration before painting everything with a broad brush, when "ladyboys" have been a reality in thailand for way longer than openly trans people in the west, and also were & somewhat still are regarded as a separate third gender rather than fitting in the binary. in fact, if you are a gay or bi man, you do not fit in the category of "man" either according to thai culture, bc in thailand gender is seen as intertwined with sexuality therefore there are way more than two or three genders. so ALL OF THAT TO SAY that I understand being offended & hurt by this and the many other examples of transphobia or at least insensitivity towards trans people coming from thai actors, but I don't think it's right either to view a different culture through the western lens you were raised with, and cultural difference & history should be taken into account. do with all that info what you will.

xxx