Tom, dii and Anjaree: “Women who follow nonconformist ways.” In Postcolonial, queer. Erotic anthropology: “Ritualized homosexuality” in Melanesia and beyond.” American Ethnologist 22(4):848–867.Įnteen, Jillana. In Feminist theory reader: Local and global perspectives. Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of “sex.” New York: Routledge.īutler, Judith. Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Columbia University.īutler, Judith. Female desires: Same-sex relations and transgender practices across cultures. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.īlackwood, Evelyn and Saskia E. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. Thai women use these terms (in particular the term “tom” for reasons discussed below) to refer to themselves and to define central aspects of their life narratives, that is, in the formation of their “subjectivities.” 3 Keywords 2 Tom and dee are “subject positions” in that they serve as meaningful ways of categorizing one’s experiences and sense of self in culturally recognized terms.

1 Popular use of the terms “tom” and “dee” has largely overridden regional linguistic variations and has formed a national Thai language discourse on sexual/gender subjectivity. In a Thai linguistic practice that emerged in the 1970s, female-bodied individuals who hold a masculine identity, or are marked as masculine by others, are called “tom,” a term that is derived from the English word “tomboy.” Toms are paired, both linguistically and romantically, with feminine-identified women who are called “dees,” a shortening of the English word “lady” (la-dee).

The Persistent Desire by Joan Nestle