This book analyses how 25 same-sex-attracted men who grew up in rural northeastern and southern Thailand came of age. I interviewed each of the young men three times in a period of 20 months in 2011–12. The first of the three interviews was timed to coincide with the period when they were aged 18, graduating from high school, and were about to move on to the next phase of their lives. The second interview occurred about 6–8 months later, and by the time of the third and last interview, another 6–8 months after the second, most participants were around 19–20 years of age.

I explored the young men's sexual life histories and how they became aware of and created an understanding of their sexuality and gender. Most of them continued their studies in a bigger city; hence I was keen to look for changes between the first and the second, and the second and the third interviews, looking at the impact of the transition many of the men made from a rural to an urban area on the way they viewed their sexuality and gender. I also tried to understand their lives in the context of wider processes of globalization, especially influences that reached them via the Internet and social media, including the growing importance of social media in dating and romance as well as in maintaining friendships.

This book emerged from my fascination with the fluidity and variety in how sexuality and gender are expressed in Thailand. Because I followed each study participant over many months, it became possible to view this fluidity and variety not only between participants in the study but also within the same individual over time. If this book has produced one important insight, it is that it has confirmed that sexual/gender identities, and the linguistic terms to describe them, are not static. Individuals often try on different identities over the course of their life, and even in the limited time frame of this study this became abundantly clear.

The study focused on transition at several levels. I followed the young men during an important transition in their lives: the end of their high school years and the end (in most cases) of their life as a child with parents or extended family at a rural home.