City and Vulnerability in the Body of Desire

Abstract

This article explores the interface between queerness and migration, challenging masculinity assumptions and sexual perceptions of Shan male migrants in Chiang Mai through the critical framework of body politics and representation. The research situates queer migration by sex tourism within transborder processes of globalisation, capitalism and unequal development in the Thailand-Myanmar border region, and rethinks the role of migration in constructing heterogeneous sexual identities, communities, politics, and practices in the context of the commercial gay sex scene in Chiang Mai that is dominated by numerous “boy massage” shops. This article examine how sexuality shapes Shan migration processes and experiences of social status, citizenship, ethnic nationalism, and sexualities by considering how the body of the Shan migrant is masculinized and romanticised among Thai gay men both from Chiang Mai and Bangkok.