By Myung C.
For the past 15 years, Thailand has
been the host of the beauty pageant “Miss Tiffany’s Universe.” But what’s so
special about a beauty pageant? Every country has one of its own, right? The
special thing about this specific beauty pageant is because of a certain criteria.
The eligibility to become a contestant is that one needs to be a “kathoey.”
Kathoey, or ladyboys, is a Thai term for
effeminate gay males and while many Thais and kathoeys themselves perceive
kathoey as belonging to a third gender, others still see them as either a kind
of man or woman (Winter, 2003). Peter Jackson (2003), an Australian scholar of
sexual politics in Thailand, claims that the term “kathoey” was previously used
to refer to intersexuals and has changed to represent cross dressing males in
the mid twentieth century.
4 of 30 contestants who made
it to the finals of 2011 Miss Tiffany’s Universe (Le Fevre, 2011)
Thailand is known for having one of
the highest rates of transsexualism per capita in the world but even then,
kathoey has been discriminated for their differences (Le Fevre, 2011). However,
with the publicity brought in by nationwide beauty pageants and media, the
general view of kathoey nowadays has significantly improved. Kathoey are being
employed in government departments, airline offices as well as retail outlets. Also,
the final gala event of Miss Tiffany’s Universe pageant is frequently attended
by high-profile business owners, celebrities, academics and government
officials, showing the growing acceptance.
However, a
recent advertisement made by IKEA has enraged the kathoey society (Krumboltz,
2013). A 20-second ad, featuring a man and a woman, displays the “negative and
stereotypical” of transgenderism when the woman sees an item on sale and
exclaims in a deep voice, which the man reacts to in shock. Portraying the
negative stereotypes pegged against transgendered people, the Thai Transgender
Alliance wrote a letter to IKEA for the negative depiction and demanded a
formal apology.
What are
your thoughts on this? Do you also think that this ad was advocating
stereotypes? Or perhaps you think the Thai Transgender Alliance was reading too
far between the lines? Could IKEA have had a different intention behind this
ad? The dispute being a result of a common intent versus impact affect?
Winter, Sam (2003). Research and
discussion paper: Language and identity in transgender: gender wars and the
case of the Thai kathoey. Paper presented at the Hawaii conference on Social
Sciences, Waikiki. Retrieved from
Jackson, Peter (2003). Performative
Genders, Perverse Desires: A Bio-History of Thailand's Same-Sex and Transgender
Cultures. In Intersections: Gender,
History and Culture in the Asian Context. Retrieved from http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue9/jackson.html
Le Fevre, John (2011, May 12).
Photo gallery: Thailand crowns its newest transgender beauty queen. CNN Travel. Retrieved from http://travel.cnn.com/bangkok/life/miss-tiffany-universe-thailands-newest-transgender-queen-says-i-am-so-beautiful-887766
Krumboltz, Mike (2013, Jan 24). Ikea ad called ‘negative and
stereotypical’ by Thai transgender group. Yahoo!
News. Retrieved from
For those that haven't seen the video, the couple then laughs and continues shopping. I definitely think that the video had positive intentions. Ikea probably wanted to give transgender people exposure in the media. Unfortunately, it does reinforce that there should be an instinctual negative reaction to discovering that someone is transgender. When I saw the picture of kathoeys, I thought "they are pretty attractive." Then, I read that they were all effeminate gay men. My reaction was "got me good! Haha." A few years ago, my reaction probably would have been more similar to the one in the commercial. I would have reacted in a more negative shock but then moved passed it. I think that the right type of exposure will get people to become more comfortable with realizing that a person's sex does not always match their appearance.
ReplyDelete-Charlie D.
Thanks for adding in that little bit of the ad ending as it does seem to show that the ad had positive intentions and I totally agree on how attractive the kathoeys are. Even to a female, they are very pretty. I also agree that the right type of exposure will help people get more comfortable but what would be the "right type of exposure" for these kinds of issues where there are such strong discrimination present against them?
Delete-Myung C.
It's super interesting that there are beauty pageants such as the one described in this blog! It kind of goes against the idea that transgender individuals are supposed to be predominantly male looking. I think it's impossible not to have a stigma to certain gender traits, especially since society conditions us to do so. "Girls like pink and boys like blue" kind of thing. However, for IKEA to make a commercial like that with the intention of it being comedic and humorous is offensive in that way. The audience is expected to find the situation funny when the voice reveals the transsexuality of the "woman", and that to me is more concerning than the fact that they represented kathoey's with the stigma itself.
ReplyDeleteOf all the things IKEA could have done to for an ad, I felt that having this situation presented as humorous is offensive.
-Cheryl Z
I'm glad to have informed you of this culture in Thailand and I agree that it is impossible for people to not have a stigma related to gender. I also found your opinion interesting in that you the intention offensive rather than what was portrayed. Would you have had a more positive reaction if the ad, still having the same scenario of the man being freaked out when finding out that the woman is a transgender, was anything other than humorous/comedic?
Delete-Myung C.
The kathoey of Thailand have been intriguing to me in the past. Last year I wrote a research paper on homosexuality in Thailand and included the kathoey. This blog post is compelling in that the commercial from IKEA can be seemingly interpreted in a numerous amount of ways. I personally do not know any transgendered individuals, well that I know of anyways, and so I am speaking kind of from a biased perspective when I say that I think that IKEA wasn't out to offend, bash, or take a cheap shot at being transgendered. I think it is inevitable that somebody will be offended in any situation, regardless of the circumstances. I don't know what the purpose of the IKEA commercial was exactly, but I think it was simply to be humorous & not a "gross violation of human rights". I agree with Charlie in that transgendered media exposure was probably the aim of the commercial, sure it wasn't explicitly positive or advocating for rights, but any exposure is exposure in the end. Homosexuality, for example, is constantly being made fun of in the media- but look at how far Gay Rights in America have come, at least in my opinion. Through the ability to laugh at and joke about homosexuality while not blatantly condemning or criticizing it, acceptance will come. I think IKEA could have done far worse if they were targeting negative aspects of being transgendered, and I think then it would have been obvious which side they were actually on. I think that even the fact that this is being debated is shining more light on being transgendered- and that's a step in the right direction. Awareness is critical for acceptance, and at the very least this is making more people aware.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the sense that one cannot please everyone and that IKEA probably wasn't trying to offend anyone, especially the transgender community. However, I have to question the thought of any exposure is exposure and will make more people aware. Is it really the best way to go about making the general public aware of certain issues by framing stereotypes? Cheryl said that she found the ad offensive by making the whole situation funny. What if that is the awareness people are getting? That they could just laugh it off when in reality, the stigma is a serious issue?
Delete-Myung C.
The concept of Kathoey is new to me, and I find it very interesting. I was able to do a quick search of the video (the post was a little ambiguos about it) to watch it. I can see why the commercial might be offensive. The boyfriend is shocked to find that his girlfriend is a boy, but I mean, come on, who wouldn't be? At the end, the boyfriend runs away, which can definitely be interpreted as insensitive. I thought the ad was distasteful, however the comedic world runs around pushing boundaries. It is definitely a hard balance between being politically correct and still putting out unique comedic content. I feel like both ends need to give way, but people definitely need to stop taking things so seriously.
ReplyDelete-Katherine S.
While I agree that people sometimes take things too seriously and read too deep between the lines, I think one needs to think about how much certain words or actions could hurt others. In this case, the ad had picked a specific topic targeting transgender and it offended the transgender community in the end. However, I totally agree with your statement of a hard balance between politically correct and unique comedic content.
Delete-Myung C.
I think more than anything I'm just confused. I don't understand why, of all ways to be comedic, IKEA chose this theme. Like Charlie, I think the right kind of exposure to Kathoey and things like it would be a great way to educate the public and work at eliminating heterosexuality as the 'norm'. That being said, I just wonder who in the heck decided the IKEA commercial would be a good idea. Considering the fact many people don't know much about the culture, I think it was a really stupid way to give uneducated people more stereotypes. I mean, did they really think people would consider it funny and no one would get offended?
ReplyDeleteBonita H.
I love how you looked at this issue by taking one step back and asking a fundamental question of "why this and not something of neutral ground?" However, I feel that this theme has more public awareness in Thailand because of their bigger transgender community and culture. Also, this ad being made specifically to be aired in Thailand shows that producers were aware that this topic would be understood by more people within Thailand, thus making it fair game. I understand your stance about the presence of uneducated people of this topic but the public impact would be vastly different from here (the US) versus Thailand.
Delete-Myung C.
I think thats it's really great that thailand has become more excepting of kathoey and the whole transgendered culture. I believe the tiffany beauty pageants are really important in aiding in the normalization of kathoey. The beauty pageant acknowledges that transgenderism is beautiful and can be acceptable. However even though thailand has began to accept this culture i feel like the rest of the world has a way to go especially western culture. For example this reminded me of the movie Hangover 2, which takes place in Bangkok. One of the characters is kathoey and the way that this is portrayed is very negative in the movie. I believe that as long as western culture carries heterosexual norms behavior like kathoey will be seen as abnormal. As far as the IKEA commercial, yes i do believe that it is slightly offensive but so much of comedy whether it be in adds, movies or television shows may be considered offensive. As we talked about in class with rape culture it is human nature to make light of things we are dont understand or are uncomfortable with. This is sadly unfortunate but true, i dont think IKEA made the add wanting to offend anyone they just are trying to sell their products.
ReplyDelete-Indigo M
I find it really interesting how different cultures choose to address the gender spectrum within their community. I think a lot of people perceive Asian countries as being more conservative in a lot of respects, but it's nice to see proof to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteI'm not crazy about ads that make fun of groups that already receive a heavy amount of discrimination. It seems like it wasn't done in good taste at all and I think the outrage it completely justified. It seems to me like the joke was completely extraneous and just an easy way to get people to pay attention to their ad.
-Rachael L
I found this article to be extemely interesting! I think that it's awesome that the kathoey culture has so much support, and I was kind of surprised because I assumed Asia to be a lot more conservative. But this article clearly proved my assumptions wrong and I am glad it did. It made me wonder: What if America had such a pageant? Maybe something similar takes place in the U.S., but it is usually supported by members of the same group. America, I think, has a long way to go before people start not just tolerating, but accepting things as such.
ReplyDeleteAs for the IKEA commercial, I could totally understand how this is offensive. I did get to see a snippet of it, and even though it was not in English, I think I get the concept. It seems like the woman was really excited about the sale and the man's voice on her was to maybe emphsize that excitement? I think the whole thing is intent vs. impact. I do not think that IKEA was trying to seem discriminatory to the kathoey culture, but everyone interprets things differently as we all know. I think IKEA should issue an apology though, because it seems a little insensitive to have things like this streaming on the media for people to laugh at. Too many things are normalized because of humor, and that is not okay.