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ABSTRACT
Research investigating how trans women come to be criminalized is limited. In this article, using a feminist pathways approach, we explore phu-ying-kham-phet (Thai trans women’s) narratives of their journeys to prison. Results show several common threads of discrimination, oppression, marginalization, and harm in their backstories. These encompassed adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, familial disavowal of feminine gender expression, separation from parents, and impoverishment. During adulthood, discrimination in the labor market was common, as was substance dependence, earning a living in the underground economy, criminal (in)justice system mistreatment, and, for some, domestic violence victimization. In addition to identifying common features in the life histories of imprisoned phu-ying-kham-phet, we mapped the circumstances, experiences, and events that culminated in their imprisonment. Three distinct pathways to prison were found: 1) criminalized lives, 2) normative lives, and 3) other. Many of the central mechanisms constituting these trajectories aligned with previous cisgender feminist pathways studies. However, features unique to the imprisonment journeys of phu-ying-kham-phet were also identified.
Acknowledgments
The viewpoints, findings and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Thailand Institute of Justice. The authors would like to extend sincere appreciation to the research participants for their invaluable time and willingness to share their life stories with us and Rodney Hughes for his feedback on earlier drafts of this paper.
Disclosure statement
The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
Notes
1. Research in the United States has been undertaken on gay gang members (e.g., Panfil, Citation2020), criminalized masculine presenting women who are notably vilified and receive harsh treatment within the criminal (in)justice system, including an increased probability of being sentenced to death (e.g., see Anderson, 1996 and Brownsworth, 1992, cited in Holsinger & Hodge, 2016, p. 28), and more recently, trans men’s pathways to ‘offending’ and female-bodied LGBTIQA+ youth some of whom had a trans masculine identity (Mountz, Citation2020; Rogers & Rogers, Citation2021). Additionally, some scholars have examined LGBTIQA+ experiences of policing (Dwyer, Citation2011, Citation2012).
2. Over 90% of Thailand’s population are Theravada Buddhists (United States Department of State, Citation2020 p.2.).
3. The discourse of science has also started to seep into popular interpretations with “kathoeyness” being seen “as genetic” and thus similarly beyond the control of the individual (Kang, Citation2012, p. 484).
4. For example, in neighboring Malaysia, it is a ‘crime’ for any male-bodied person to wear a woman’s attire, or to pose as a woman in a public place (Ghoshal, Citation2014).
5. An explosion in medical tourism has inflated pricing, and the most qualified specialists almost exclusively cater to western clientele (Ocha, Citation2013).
6. For example, see, Russell et al. (Citation2022) and Rao et al. (Citation2022) for feminist research exploring the lives of criminalized Thai cis women at the intersections of gender/age and gender/ethnicity. Also, in the Southeast Asian region, Park and Jeffries (Citation2018) examined the backstories of ethnic minority Vietnamese cis women imprisoned in Cambodia.
7. As outlined by Tantiwiramanond (Citation1997, pp. 180–193), “in matrifocality social organisation revolves around female members of the family … there is [a matrilocal] residence, in which the groom moves in with the bride’s family, the authority as the head of the household [nevertheless] is passed from father-in-law to son-in-law. Sons and daughters have equal inheritance rights, but usually the parent’s household compound is allocated to the youngest daughter”. However, in return, a daughter becomes “somewhat of a bonded labourer to her parents”. Cultural expectations are placed on Thai women to meet extended familial needs. To uphold familial obligations, matrifocality in Thailand requires women to undertake daughter duty. Dutiful daughters take care of parents and other extended family members, including the provision of financial support (Angeles & Sunanta, Citation2009, p. 554).
8. Ethical clearance for this research was granted by the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee
(Reference: 2016/466).
9. A legal benzodiazepine with amnestic and ventilatory depressant effects (Kerr et al., Citation2010).
10. Female-bodied masculine-presenting persons who are intimate with cis women (see, Sinnott, Citation2004).
11. Copper or aluminum tube used in air conditioning units.
12. Microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative insults. These subtle forms of prejudice have a detrimental impact on the mental health and well-being of transgender individuals (Anzani et al., Citation2021).
13. The average monthly income per person in Thailand is around 9,000 THB (National Statistical Office of Thailand, Citation2019[2562]).
14. The World Bank estimated that the total damage and losses from these floods amounted to 1.43 trillion THB (46.5 billion USD). This included an estimated “110 billion THB” in lost wages, and a “large proportion of these loses occurred within vulnerable populations with limited social protection” (World Bank, Citation2012, p. 3).