(no subject)

i just watched 'iron ladies' in gender/culture. it's a movie about a thai volleyball team who won the national championships a few years back. of the six people on the team, 5 of them are kathoey, a thai term encompassing transvestites, transsexuals, and effeminate gay men. all kathoey are technically men, even transsexuals who are now female. for the most part, it was a team full of drag queens. also, the coach was a lesbian. it was a pretty good movie, although the captions had some major issues. sure it was a bit campy in parts, but the main characters are drag queens; camp is to be expected.

apparently the real iron ladies (the team's name) are pretty close to how they're portrayed in the film. and although they won the national championships, none of them were permitted to be on the national team; officials were afraid having transvestites representing their country would 'tarnish their image'.

kathoey have a recognized place in society, and are highly visible. being gay doesn't make you kathoey, though - it seems like effeminacy is the distinguishing characteristic.

and i get to write a paper on this stuff. :)

still looking things up:
apparently kathoey are stereotypically portrayed as having a tendency towards violence, despite their effeminacy.

(no subject)

i seem to have attained a reputation of being a badass among certain people. for example, amelia, jon, keith and i were making cookies. well, they were making cookies, i was just there. someone had to clean all the dishes. amelia claimed immunity because she organized it, jon claimed immunity because he measured things. i just sat there. keith started to claim immunity, and then looked at me. 'shit,' he said. 'i guess that means i have to do it. she'll beat me up.'

all i do is talk big, really. amanda actually wrestles with people, but i'm the one they're like, 'ooh, don't mess with joanna. she'll mess you up.' everyone takes it as a joke, though, so it's not like they're *scared* of me. i think it's fun because it gives me so many opportunities to claim my innocence, which although not very convincing, is rather amusing. "beat you up? i'd never do something like that. unless i felt like it."

btw, this time the icon indicates that i'm fierce, not that i'm angry. raar.