Shane Henise used to hate the way his clothes fit, the way his voice sounded and how others perceived him. Though he was born with female sex organs, he felt the male gender matched better with his body.
Before Henise, a senior psychology major and LGBT minor at Towson University, could physically alter his body with hormones or surgery, society often treated him as a woman — despite his requests to be perceived as male.
When he began his social transition into a man and asked others to refer to him with male pronouns, people continued to label Henise as a “she.”
“People in America are very afraid and avoidant of things they don’t understand,” he said. “We don’t have space for people who don’t fit neatly into each category.”
But unlike in the U.S. — where the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports the greatest spike in violence against any group targeted transgender men — Thailand generally accepts its transgender citizens.
The Thai term “kathoeys,” which roughly translates to “lady boys” in English, refers to a wide range of transgender women. It describe people of varying levels of femininity, such as men who dress and act like women or men who undergo medical procedures to anatomically become female.
When Stephanie Dwyer, a junior kinesiology major, spent a summer exploring Thailand, she noticed how Thai culture accepted the kathoey subculture.
“Ladyboy culture is surprisingly integrated into mainstream society,” she said. “It isn’t a small subset of society that is ostracized and swept under the rug….Gender seems to be on much more of a continuum.”
Also within Thailand’s gender-bending norms are “tom” and “dee.” A “tom” is a woman who acts masculine, but may not necessarily be a lesbian; a “dee” is a woman who identifies with the female gender, but engages in relationships with other women.
Although researchers don’t know the exact causes of the ubiquitous acceptance of kathoey culture, Buddhism may play a role. More than 85 percent of Thai citizens are Buddhists, according to Operation World.
John L. Caughey, a cultural anthropologist and American studies professor at the University of Maryland, teaches an Asian religions course. He says Buddhism generally promotes unity, despite sexual differences.
“One tendency in various forms of Buddhism is the sense, belief and recognition that humans are all one, despite illusory differences like race, gender and sexual orientation,” he said.
Peter Jackson, a professor of Thai history at the Australian National University, researches the history of Buddhism, gender and sexuality within Thailand. In a study he conducted of Thailand’s same-sex and transgender cultures, he found Thai Buddhism does not ban homosexuality.
“Same-sex and transgender [behaviors] have historically been ignored by Thai religious and legal authorities,” he wrote in his findings. “Thai Buddhism does not regard same-sex eroticism between laymen or laywomen as a sin.”
Jackson found Buddhism teaches that kathoey is a result of karma from a sexual offense in a previous life. Because of this, Buddhist teachers say that although kathoey may not be ideal, it is understandable.
In the U.S., about 76 percent of citizens are Christians, according to 2008 Census Data.
Although 60 percent of Americans are in favor of accepting homosexuality in a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, the Christian Bible has historically condemned it.
Although this does not definitively explain the reasoning behind Thai culture’s widespread acceptance, religion may have an affect on the culture.
Dr. Sam Winter, an associate professor at The University of Hong Kong, estimated there are around 180,000 transgender people living in Thailand, although he said no one knows the exact number.
In his study, Winter found that in some parts of Thailand, citizens have historically believed three genders exist.
“Ideas about multiple genders are found in ancient Northern Thai creation myths which speak of three genders — male, female and mixed,” he wrote. “In short, multiple genders have long formed part of the Thai worldview.
A school in the Thai city of Kampang exemplifies the third sex belief. In 2008, the high school introduced a third bathroom for students, with a half-female, half-male figure on the door.
Winter found that 15 percent of kathoeys in Thailand said they feel rejected by society. This is compared to the more than 80 percent of transgender people in the U.S. who reported verbal abuse because of their sexual identity, according to the Transgender Law and Policy Institute.
“I got the impression that [Thai] society doesn’t shame [transgenders] in the sense that western culture does,” said Dwyer. “It’s fairly common to see ladyboys walking down the street holding hands or flirting with another, and they seem comfortable.”
Kathoeys are still not immune to discrimination. In Thailand, transgender citizens are unable to change their gender on legal documents.
Identification card regulators mandate that cardholders wear clothing traditionally appropriate for their biological sex in their photos. This can make it difficult for kathoeys to land jobs, as employers discard applications once they realize the picture does not match their physical appearance, according to a participant in Winter’s questionnaire research.
In 2009, the Thai government imposed laws making it harder for citizens to undergo medical procedures to alter themselves physically. Any person who wants to change their sexual organs now must live as the opposite gender for a year, inject themselves with hormones and garner approval from two psychiatrists to prove they are psychologically fit, according to the Thailand Law Forum.
The term kathoey is most commonly used in Thailand, but some transgender citizens find it offensive. Instead, they use terms like “phuying khaam phet,” which translates to “women who have crossed sex or gender.”
Henise stresses the importance of educating American society so transgender people can be accepted as broadly as they are in Thailand.
“I understand that not many people know a lot about trans people, or even know a transgender person, so I am always willing to share my story,” he said. “We do exist, and there are more of us than people even know.”
Henise says he has found happiness and is a functional member of society, despite the prejudices he has faced. He is now in a relationship with a woman, and says he has an amazing support system.
“My gender identity is not something that brings me sadness anymore; it is only when other people make me feel less valid because of it that brings me down,” he said. “Who else can say they have lived as both a male and a female and therefore understand the perspective of each?”
