Masculinity, Marriage and Migration

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on masculinity and marriages, focusing on Thai women-farang (Caucasian) men marriages and how these relationships have been conceptualised. The review highlights the shift from emphasising the political, economic and international-relations dimensions that determine marriages to agency analysis, in which individual choices are informed by local and Western cultures/norms, global opportunities and local constraints. While studies have focused on women and their agency, men’s experiences are only beginning to emerge in recent scholarship, indicating both the negotiation and vulnerability of farang men coming from a more advantageous position. Studies of Thai-farang marriages have often centred on the presence of American troops in Thailand during the Vietnam War (1965–1975), while ignoring those that date back centuries. I posit that the history of transnational marriage should be considered in terms of changing structural conditions and that the balance between structural- and agency-centred explanations must be recognised.

Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy

“…In Thailand's sex entertainment business, women create relationships with their customers and extend their services with the help of affective labor seeking feelings of intimacy. The "professional girlfriends," the "rent a wife" trade during the Vietnam War in Thailand, the modern kik, and the committed marital relationships described by Lapanun (see Lapanun 2012Lapanun , 2013Lapanun , 2018 all have a place in the understanding of the Thai sexual entertainment industry. However, the fact is that customers are seemingly looking to purchase a more personalized and ultimately intimate sexual encounter.…”

“…This, again, is seen in the Thai theses by Weerakulthewan (2000), Muangjan (2018), Wongsuphap (1994) and others. It is also seen in the journalism of Wongsavun (1973), and the English language ethnography of Lapanun (2018).…”

“…New values and forms of living were introduced with the arrival of modernity. The new values stood in stark contrast to the pre-modern or traditional societies like Thailand's rural Northeast (see Lapanun 2018), where poor, isolated farming communities persisted until recently outside the global order, with its challenges to traditional morality.…”

“…This typically meant a temporary agreement between the Thai woman and her military "customer/husband" to spend time semiexclusively with each other. Such relationships were often marked by deeper emotional attachment and not always a pure money-for-sex transaction (see, e.g., Jaisuekun and Sunanta 2021;Lapanun 2018;Wongsavun 1973Wongsavun , 2022. When the American soldier inevitably finished their deployment in Thailand, the breakups were often painful, particularly when children were involved.…”

Remarriage in Thailand: A Study of Emerging Trends, Correlates, and Implications for Women's Well-Being

“…The Thai context: Only limited research and literature are available on the marriage situation in Thailand after the year 2000 when the demographic transition from high to low mortality and fertility levels was complete. Almost all of the available studies have looked at marriages associated with migration or transnational marriages between Thai individuals, particularly women, and their foreign partners (Lapanun, 2018; Saisanguan, 2012; Statham, Scuzzarello, Sunanta, & Trupp, 2020). Remarriage has received no attention in this limited literature.…”