Thai Cross-dresser's Agency through Hannah Arendt Perspective

Abstract

This article is part of research on Thai Cross-dresser's Agency through Hannah Arendt Perspective. The objective is to analyze the agency of Thai crossdressers in Hannah Arendt perspective on private and public realm. By examining relevant research documents and interviewing a group of crossdressers who are men yet have a preference in dressing as women. The research found that their agency is their ability to act through a body dressed as a woman, and this body becomes a living subject and has the ability to live independently in both private and public. And the subject who dresses as a woman is a new life. This is the result of learning the different conditions between masculinity in the body and femininity in clothing, women's situation and the people who interact with them as a woman. The research results are similar to Arendt's argument. The research found that within the private space, crossdressing agency can emerge and operate independently. Within the public space, they can act conditionally under the circumstances or social environment where they bring their bodies dressed as women to socialize.