ABSTRACT
The work of beauty is seldom calculated in the assessment of gender subordination in Thailand. But one of the means that has been used to keep Thai women-both rural and urban-in their place is beauty. The attributes of gentleness, silence, and virtue are intertwined with the attributes of grace, composure, and beauty to produce a model of Thai femininity that crosses regions and classes. The Thai state is very much involved in the construction of this model and has been making use of it as part of its nation building strategies since the 1930s. It is this construction of beauty that strengthens the hold of cultural models of the feminine on Thai women. Beauty contests are one means used to encourage women to conform to a passive, morally upright, dutiful stereotype, while men continue to enjoy a double standard-expecting sexual purity of their mothers, wives, and sisters, but condoning and practising sexually exploitative behaviour with prostitutes, subordinates, and minor wives.
