Sexy Jaosue: Consuming Hindu Deities and Homoerotic Materiality in Thailand

Abstract

In this article, I describe the material and objectified conditions that occur with Jaosue Watcharakorn’s complex operations that take Ganesha’s divine sanctity in Hinduism to reconstruct a sexy and attractive masculine body that attracts gay people. I found that religious spatiality and temporality were not separate from secular matters, but they broke the disciplined order and created the unconventional form of embodiment. Jaosue’s self-manifestation is conducted upon the interacted complexity of religious objects, sexual desire, and consumption of luxury goods. However, the study of materiality must also be considered in the context of the relational powers arising in the operations of various objects organized by capitalist commoditization. I understand daily material practices as a reflection of Thai society, where the disadvantaged are struggling to achieve financial success under the inefficiency of the Thai government. Only people with strong power networks can access opportunities and success within such struggles. Jaosue’s story indicates that to make himself a possible material entity he must constantly strive and attempt to gain sources of power.