Thai transgenders in focus: Their beliefs about attitudes towards and origins of transgender

Abstract

One hundred and ninety-five transgendered females (i.e., male-to-female transgenders (or MtF TGs)), with a mean age of 25.4 years, completed a questionnaire examining, inter alia, their beliefs about (a) attitudes (of parents and society) towards them (and to MtF TGs in general); and (b) origins of their own MTF TG status. According to our participants, 62.9% of mothers and 40.6% of fathers accepted or encouraged their child's transgender from its first expression. Many with misgivings became more positive as time went on. According to 40.7% of our participants, Thai people overall held similarly favourable attitudes towards MtF TGs. Many of our participants cited multiple origins for their transgender. Nearly 84% believed inborn biology had played a role. Friends and karma were also commonly endorsed as explanatory factors (50% and 48.4% respectively). Parents, siblings, and other relatives were less commonly cited (30.3%, 24.1%, and 22.2%, respectively). Cluster analysis revealed that, based on their beliefs, 97.1% of the sample could be divided into three groups. Most (61.2%) fell into a 'biogenic' group, emphasising the role played by inborn biology, while 29.4% believed took a 'peer psychogenic' view, emphasising the role played by friends in the development of their transgender. A small 'eclectic' group (6.5%) believed that biology, karma, and parents combined to account for their transgender. © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.