lonelywombat
December 13th, 2013, 11:09
This arrived by email where the author talks about stripping in Bali and ladyboy contests in Phuket
His article is here including a photo of the author
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/entertai ... 245422.cms (http://www.bangaloremirror.com/entertainment/lounge/Gay-in-Asia/articleshow/27245422.cms)
Gay in Asia
By Jayanthi Madhukar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Dec 12, 2013, 07.27 PM IST
Gay in Asia
Benjamin Law is irrepressibly funny in his writings and openly gay тАФ a refreshing combination тАФ in his new book, Gaysia
тАЛOf all the continents, Asia is the gayest....is the first line on the first page of Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East. Brisbane- based author Benjamin Law travelled to seven countries, interviewed hundreds of people тАФ including a "hilarious Indian babaji" who claimed to cure homosexuality тАФ and ended up writing the first draft of the book, of over 100,000 words. He confesses: "I suffer from writer's diarrhea and not writer's block." The draft was subsequently slimmed down to a 288-page book. Law regrets that several anecdotes had to be sacrificed at the altar of brevity (one being his impromptu lesson to some men in Myanmar saw him roll condoms over bananas). Here, the author speaks about the book and himself.
What made you write Gaysia?
Firstly, I always thought Gaysia would be a good book title. Like a lot of gay Asian-Australians, I've been called gaysian for a while now. Another reason: I was reading a whole lot of queer news stories about what was happening overseas, and saw that a lot of the stories I was interested in were coming out of Asia тАФ the Indian queer rights movement, transsexual beauty pageants in India and religious ex-gay reparative therapy in Malaysia and Singapore. Whenever I read news stories, I'm always super-curious about the human lives behind those stories. And finally, because I'm the kid of Chinese migrants, I often wondered: What my life would have been like had my parents never moved to Australia? Would I still be openly gay? Would I try to 'cure' myself? Or wouldn't it make a difference?
Did you miss a country?
It took roughly two years to travel between countries, mainly because I kept coming back to Australia тАФ I missed my family and boyfriend too much to travel non-stop. It would've been impossible to write about every Asian country! Instead, I focused on issues like transexuality, LGBT politics, religion, and sought out countries where those issues would be best illuminated.
Your book has so many anecdotes, from stripping at the gay resort in Bali to ladyboy contests in Thailand.
What was the most comical and most tragic experience of all? (The book talks about stripping at a gay resort in Bali to ladyboy contests in Thailand)
Of all the adventures I had in Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar and India, I probably laughed the hardest when I contracted horrible gastroenteritis on the day of the Queer Azaadi Mumbai pride march. I'd spent the entire month looking forward to documenting it. I'd become horribly ill on the day I was scheduled to march for hours in the sun. It was horrific, but I tend to laugh at horrific things. The saddest country, and the only one that left me shaken up for a while after I left , was Myanmar. Partly, this was because I had chosen to focus on the HIV problem, but there was also a general level of poverty in that country that was endemic. One of the people I interviewed was a transgender HIV positive sex worker. When I finished the interview, I asked her what I usually ask: Is there anything you would like to add or ask? And she looked at me, and asked what I was going to do to help. It was a sad and confronting moment.
What about your Indian encounters?
Oh God! There are so many encounters, experiences and discussions I had in India that I had to leave out of the book for reasons of brevity, or actual legal issues. The Indian edition of Gaysia has so many omitted and changed names, mainly because of India's defamation laws. But I have to say, meeting the man I call Babaji was definitely eye-opening, though I doubt he will ever allow me to interview him again. He recommended pranayama practice as a cure (for homosexuality). Prince Manvendra (Singh Gohil of Rajpipla) is a darling. A loveable muppet, a charming gentleman and an effective ambassador for the cause. Writing this book was really about earning people's trust on the ground. It was not about ramming a dictaphone and notepad into their face, but being willing to sit down, have tea, share a meal and demonstrate a genuine curiosity. When you demonstrate to people that you are interested in their day-to-day lives, they open up. When I was in India, I noticed how a young gay man's sense of community really hinges upon whether he is rich, middle-class or poor. And you could argue that there is very little interaction between those groups, because their access to things like LGBT awareness is so different. Of course, that's not a situation exclusive to India тАФ it made me reflect on how that's probably the case all over the world.
Did Gaysia surprise you?
I think it is important for writers to be honest about their preconceptions before writing a book. I can say that each time I landed in a country I had all sorts of misguided notions about what I was writing. I thought writing about Thailand's transsexual women was going to be funny and happy. But the life of a Thai transsexual woman is often deeply tragic and horrible. Conversely, I thought all the stories I'd hear from male sex workers in Bali were going to be tragic, whereas I found many of them were quite happily pragmatic about the work they did.
How relevant is humour in a queer world full of harsh realities?
One thing I notice wherever I travel is that queer people often have the best sense of humour. Whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, so many queer people tell the most sharp, edgy, dangerous and outright scandalous jokes. It is a good and necessary defence mechanism against a world that can so regularly pummel you and your community.
His article is here including a photo of the author
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/entertai ... 245422.cms (http://www.bangaloremirror.com/entertainment/lounge/Gay-in-Asia/articleshow/27245422.cms)
Gay in Asia
By Jayanthi Madhukar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Dec 12, 2013, 07.27 PM IST
Gay in Asia
Benjamin Law is irrepressibly funny in his writings and openly gay тАФ a refreshing combination тАФ in his new book, Gaysia
тАЛOf all the continents, Asia is the gayest....is the first line on the first page of Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East. Brisbane- based author Benjamin Law travelled to seven countries, interviewed hundreds of people тАФ including a "hilarious Indian babaji" who claimed to cure homosexuality тАФ and ended up writing the first draft of the book, of over 100,000 words. He confesses: "I suffer from writer's diarrhea and not writer's block." The draft was subsequently slimmed down to a 288-page book. Law regrets that several anecdotes had to be sacrificed at the altar of brevity (one being his impromptu lesson to some men in Myanmar saw him roll condoms over bananas). Here, the author speaks about the book and himself.
What made you write Gaysia?
Firstly, I always thought Gaysia would be a good book title. Like a lot of gay Asian-Australians, I've been called gaysian for a while now. Another reason: I was reading a whole lot of queer news stories about what was happening overseas, and saw that a lot of the stories I was interested in were coming out of Asia тАФ the Indian queer rights movement, transsexual beauty pageants in India and religious ex-gay reparative therapy in Malaysia and Singapore. Whenever I read news stories, I'm always super-curious about the human lives behind those stories. And finally, because I'm the kid of Chinese migrants, I often wondered: What my life would have been like had my parents never moved to Australia? Would I still be openly gay? Would I try to 'cure' myself? Or wouldn't it make a difference?
Did you miss a country?
It took roughly two years to travel between countries, mainly because I kept coming back to Australia тАФ I missed my family and boyfriend too much to travel non-stop. It would've been impossible to write about every Asian country! Instead, I focused on issues like transexuality, LGBT politics, religion, and sought out countries where those issues would be best illuminated.
Your book has so many anecdotes, from stripping at the gay resort in Bali to ladyboy contests in Thailand.
What was the most comical and most tragic experience of all? (The book talks about stripping at a gay resort in Bali to ladyboy contests in Thailand)
Of all the adventures I had in Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar and India, I probably laughed the hardest when I contracted horrible gastroenteritis on the day of the Queer Azaadi Mumbai pride march. I'd spent the entire month looking forward to documenting it. I'd become horribly ill on the day I was scheduled to march for hours in the sun. It was horrific, but I tend to laugh at horrific things. The saddest country, and the only one that left me shaken up for a while after I left , was Myanmar. Partly, this was because I had chosen to focus on the HIV problem, but there was also a general level of poverty in that country that was endemic. One of the people I interviewed was a transgender HIV positive sex worker. When I finished the interview, I asked her what I usually ask: Is there anything you would like to add or ask? And she looked at me, and asked what I was going to do to help. It was a sad and confronting moment.
What about your Indian encounters?
Oh God! There are so many encounters, experiences and discussions I had in India that I had to leave out of the book for reasons of brevity, or actual legal issues. The Indian edition of Gaysia has so many omitted and changed names, mainly because of India's defamation laws. But I have to say, meeting the man I call Babaji was definitely eye-opening, though I doubt he will ever allow me to interview him again. He recommended pranayama practice as a cure (for homosexuality). Prince Manvendra (Singh Gohil of Rajpipla) is a darling. A loveable muppet, a charming gentleman and an effective ambassador for the cause. Writing this book was really about earning people's trust on the ground. It was not about ramming a dictaphone and notepad into their face, but being willing to sit down, have tea, share a meal and demonstrate a genuine curiosity. When you demonstrate to people that you are interested in their day-to-day lives, they open up. When I was in India, I noticed how a young gay man's sense of community really hinges upon whether he is rich, middle-class or poor. And you could argue that there is very little interaction between those groups, because their access to things like LGBT awareness is so different. Of course, that's not a situation exclusive to India тАФ it made me reflect on how that's probably the case all over the world.
Did Gaysia surprise you?
I think it is important for writers to be honest about their preconceptions before writing a book. I can say that each time I landed in a country I had all sorts of misguided notions about what I was writing. I thought writing about Thailand's transsexual women was going to be funny and happy. But the life of a Thai transsexual woman is often deeply tragic and horrible. Conversely, I thought all the stories I'd hear from male sex workers in Bali were going to be tragic, whereas I found many of them were quite happily pragmatic about the work they did.
How relevant is humour in a queer world full of harsh realities?
One thing I notice wherever I travel is that queer people often have the best sense of humour. Whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, so many queer people tell the most sharp, edgy, dangerous and outright scandalous jokes. It is a good and necessary defence mechanism against a world that can so regularly pummel you and your community.