7/27/2019 sexuality in southeast asia
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Teano, Jeramie M. SEA 30 WFW2
2008-15669 Prof. Del Rosario
Sexuality in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has been referred by scholars as a culture area or in simple terms, an
overlapping culture area because of the several similaritiesin linguistic structures, dietary habits,
religious beliefs and practices, and patterns of kinship/gender, sexuality and socio-political organization.
Gender and sexuality are among of the most interesting features of Southeast Asia in cultural terms
which are closely related to the broadly institutionalized traditions of pluralism. Pluralism in gendered
fields or simply gender pluralism, includes pluralistic sensibilities and dispositions regarding bodily
practices (adornment, attire, mannerisms) and embodied desires, as well as social roles, sexual
relationships, and ways of being that bear on or are otherwise linked with local conceptions of
femininity, masculinity, androgyny, and etc. which are considered legitimate. Under this is the conceptof transgenders. Transgenders refer to those that go beyond the distinct separation of men and
women as individuals by changing their nature, physically and emotionally.
According to Peletz, in his composition entitled, Transgenderism and Gender Pluralism in
Southeast Asia since Early Modern Times, the roots of this trangenderism idea were evident during the
15th
and 16th
centuries, specifically on religious traditions. Religious customs during these periods were
highly dualistic. Relatively egalitarian relations between males and females, good deal of female
autonomy and social control as well as considerable fluidity and permeability in gender roles, were seen
during those times. Many communities of Southeast Asians gave enormous prestige to male-bodied
individuals who dressed in female attire while performing certain rituals associated with royal regalia,births, weddings, and key phases of agricultural cycles. These individuals were highly respected in the
society.
However, the second half of the early modern period, roughly the 17th and 18th centuries,
witnessed dramatic changes which caused alterations and reproduction of transgender practices and
roles. These changes led to the rise of male-oriented, legalistic, and hierarchical world religions such as
Sunni Islam, Theravada Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, and Iberian-style Catholicism. These eventually
constricted the ritualistic practice of transgender and women, which were experienced during the
Spanish colonization in the Philippines (Spaniards always linked the female shaman with Satanism).
Continued in the present times, all those non-heteronormative genders and sexualities becamedecidedly un-Asian which were once considered as Asian, in spite of the abundant historical and
ethnographic evidence indicating that transgendered practices and identities. It is clearly seen that
transgenderism have been delegitimized due to changes brought by pre-colonial, colonial, and
postcolonial state policies as well as economic, political and religious developments.