Abstract

In Thailand, there is an adage that a woman's vagina is her rice paddy wherein it is considered a natural resource she can harvest when necessary or desired. In a culture where sexual relationships are defined by norms of masculinity and femininity, women's sexual decisions are often aimed at using this natural resource to perform femininity in culturally idealized ways. Through ethnographic work in commercial sex establishments, this chapter argues that heterosexual sex practices help women express and enact hegemonic femininities in Northern Thailand. In contributing to the literature on hegemonic and multiple femininities, the chapter contends that gender is relational and that analyses of men's performances of masculinities are insufficient if reviewed separately from women’s performances of femininities.

Keywords: femininities, gender, masculinities, Thailand, moralities, Sexuality

In the past people were taught that men were the front legs of the elephant and women were the followers. Women were weak … Now, men don’t always have to be leaders or the ‘front legs of the elephant’. Men and women can walk [together]. Women in the past were set to be only a housewife … And now women have more roles than in the past.