Phet Ti Saam - The Third Sex

Ladyboys and Buddhism

2011-07-18T01:48:00.000-07:00

When it comes to the question why there are so many Ladyboys in Thailand and why the transsexual community is so lively and integrated in everyday life, people often answer: "Because Buddhism is a very tolerant religion."
We have covered this question earlier on this blog and also looked into the subject of religion.

Buddhism is certainly a religion that is very tolerant towards other religions, also to those that have transgender people as part of their spiritual community (such as the Animism that is thousands of years old and had been there already before Buddhism came to Thailand.
Today, 94 % of the Thai population are officially Theravada Buddhists (although Thai people also believe Animism and Spirits).

In Thailand and there especially in the rural areas where the animist belief is still strong, modern Ladyboys are as much members of the religious community like everybody else in their village. In fact, many of the Ladyboys get even more involved in the daily religious life. They then of course behave like all the other females.
But is Buddhism tolerant to Ladyboys in general?
One has to keep in mind that Buddhism after all is a religion, too. As in every other religion there are many different trends and views on moral and behavior.
So even in Thai Buddhism conservative points of view do exist.
Only a couple of days ago AFP published an article on a temple in the Issan region at the Thai-Laos border where monks are running a programme to teach masculinity to teenagers who are Kathoey (Ladyboys, Transgender).
For example during an assembly the young Transsexuals are confronted with the question: ""Were you born as a man or a woman or can you not specify your gender - not man or woman?" You cannot be anything else but your true gender, which is a man. As a novice you can only be a man."
Also the headteacher Phra Pitsanu Witcharato complains about a transgender novice: "Sometimes we give them money to buy snacks but he saved it up to buy mascara."
"We cannot change all of them but what we can do is to control their behavior to make them understand that they were born as a man... and cannot act like a woman," says Phra Pitsanu in the AFP report.

"Once I leave the monkhood the first thing I want to do is to shout, to scream out loud saying: 'I can go back to being the same again!'"
Of course, statements like this enrage transgender activist: "These kids will become self-hating because they have been taught by respected monks that being gay is bad. That is terrible for them. They will never live happily", says Natee Teerarojanapong, coordinator of a gender identity network.

One of the Kathoey novices puts it like this: "Once I leave the monkhood the first thing I want to do is to shout, to scream out loud saying: 'I can go back to being the same again!'"

Of course trying to change the sexual and gender identity of these teenagers is absurd and will never succeed. Conservative Christians in western countries have tried this and caused more deviation than was started with.
At the same time one has to understand that if more and more Kathoey novices coin the image of buddhist monks it could affect the stability of Thai Buddhism and it's values. I read the AFP not like the monks at the Isaan temple try to get the female gender identity out of their novices (but I assume they would prefer doing so if they could) but try to uphold traditions and rules at the temple.
Novices are are not allowed to use perfume and make-up and are prohibited from singing, playing music and running.
Me and my Kathoey friends often take part in religious ceremonies and have been short-time-nuns on various occasions. While we do so, we are also not allowed to use perfume, nail polish and make-up. And we comply with these rules, like all the other females do.
So when a transgender person is a novice he or she is not allowed to apply these things since even nuns are not allowed to do so. It's simply against the rules.
On the other hand, trying to change these kids is not only in vain but can damage their mental well-being and last but not least - as campaigner Natee puts it - "very out of date".

Picture: My friend Opal during a temple ceremony at her hometown

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy, animism, buddhism, religion, tolerance

Ladyboys at the Ballot Box

2011-07-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

As many of our valued readers will know, we had general elections last Sunday in Thailand. I sure won’t start to talk about the result or the campaigns but I found a bit of news about Ladyboys and the ballot. Until today I tried to find more than the wire copy of REUTERS but I failed. Maybe I simply lack the talent to navigate the Election Commissions website (the Thai version as well as the English one).

Somehow somebody in political Bangkok must have remembered that there is a part of the electorate that they had marginalized during their campaigning. Now, at least the Election Commission secretary Suthipol Thaweechaikarn remembered the Thai transsexuals and advised election officials how to react in case a Ladyboy showes up at the ballot box:

“Their ID card […] may show a woman's face marked "mister", or a boy's face when the ID card holder looks like a woman.”
“In case of any problem in ascertaining the identity of voters, officials have a clear instruction to be polite in making inquiries and they must try their best to refrain from laughing.”

He also recommended that ID card holders who had undergone cosmetic surgery or a major facelift should carry a number of identity cards bearing pictures of their various stages of appearance.
I found this funny since everyone in Thailand is to carry a national ID card at all times from the age of 15. So imagine a 25-year old Ladyboy who was to document her development by keeping her ID cards. Not only would this be pretty humiliating but also useless since I know sisters who change their looks twice a week.
So how to keep record by using an ID card that is renewable only every seven years?!

Image: Trans Female Assiciation of Thailand

Poy Treechada (ปอย รีชฎา) on "Recent" Magazine Covers

2011-07-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

Since those magazines have both been published a year ago, I found it appropriate to use quotation marks around the word "recent". But as far as I know those cover pictures have been the latest big appearances on major magazin covers (I found some others but in too poor quality to show them to our sphisticated readers :-)
The first one is from health magazine. The story on the inside had the title "Born to be Poy" and had been written in the style of a success story about Poy's life and her career.
The second cover picture was in a free issue of a lifestyle and city magazine of the Bangkok-based English language newspaper Bangkok Post. As you can read the title of the respective story was on international "Third Gender" people and Kathoey in Thailand. Unfortunately, I could not get hold of one of those issues. Might have been interesting to read a Bangkok Post editor's view on the Third Sex. It is remarkable though, that they picked most feminine Poy to represent the Ladyboys of Thailand. Rather inadequate as she is one of Thailand's beauty queens for a long time already and definitely above average. On the other hand it is unfair to her to still only reduce her to her being a transsexual. She has a proper career and a loving boyfriend and is hence way more successful than many Thai starlets.

10 Ways to spot a Ladyboy - or Sandra Bullock

2011-06-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include this into yesterday's post but I have to mention it as it is too ridiculous:
There are dozens of websites written by western men that give advice on “How to spot a Ladyboy”.
Since it is always the same copy-and-paste 10-point list, there is certainly nothing more than pretended expertise behind it.
We have been stumbling upon those posts once in a while and found it rather funny, because if a man would stick to those rules he would not be able to tell, at all. But it sure would prevent him from going to bed with Sandra Bullock and Meg Ryan who are known to have a rather prominent Adam’s apple :-)

You can't tell - because we can't either!

Image: flickr/Doctor Hyde

Too Beautiful To Be A Girl?

2011-06-30T02:53:00.000-07:00

When me and my friends walk down the streets of Bangkok and meet other people we are openly admired many times for our beauty. In Thai the word “beautiful” is used in abundance anyway, so when it comes to Ladyboys it is lavished on us generously.
One of the expressions used in this context is “more beautiful than a woman”.
I had never paid to much attention to this particular remark and took it as plain flattery.

Less is more: A natural yet beautiful woman

Yet, when one of us walks down the street sometimes people will murmur to each other: “Is she a real woman?”
For many years I found this most confusing because people always compliment our femininity and beauty. So how can they detect us as transsexual girls?

Two incidents led me to a better understanding of this:
Maybe two years ago I was dressed up rather chic with quite presentable make-up and felt comfortable the way I looked. However, I attracted more attention than usually and felt frustrated, because I was sure that nothing would give my “ladyboyness” away and I asked my female-female friend walking next to me: “Why are people looking at me? What is it?”

She simply replied: “Because you are looking good. Better than anyone around you.”
Still, it did not dawn on me what she meant.

Some months later I went to a party and late in the night a woman I had a conversation with, casually dropped a remark indicating that she knew I was a Ladyboy. Frustrated again I asked: “How could you know?”
She said: “Nothing. You are a perfect woman. I would not have recognized, if you weren’t too beautiful to be a girl.” For a second I found this answer most absurd but during the following days many of the jigsaw pieces fell into place:

All my female-female friends hardly ever apply full make-up, they sometimes have unclean skin, bushy eyebrows, are overweight and have an underdeveloped sense of fashion, whereas none of my Ladyboy sisters would ever allow this to happen to their bodies, as they have been seeking perfection since their early adolescence.
It’s not that we would exaggerate like some stage performers, drag queens etc, with stilt-like high heels, make-up outshining even the most colorful tropical parrot and swishy behavior.
It’s rather that we feel not feminine enough until we have everything perfect but hence make us seem as unreal as photoshopped cover girls of a fashion magazine.

I am still in the process of understanding this, because I feel like having followed the wrong path for too many years and could have avoided many frustrating situations.
But it obviously seems to be true – another occurrence verified it:

There was a meeting of people on a public location to rally for LGBT rights.
When I arrived there was a girl in a pretty dress with flawless make-up and nice hair. I had never met her before but immediately recognized her as a sister of my “tribe” and went to talk to her. Then another girl approached us. She had normal hair, no make-up, simple clothes. She asked: “Is this the Katoey-corner? Then I belong here.” I could not have recognized.

To avoid misunderstandings: I have never been over styled to much and I have been working all my life in regular jobs, mostly without my environment knowing about my being transsexual (only now I understand that it had been because I was wearing simple office dresses).
But recently I started to purposefully “downgrade”. I put on simple earrings, leave half of the make-up away (and feel naked) and jeans and a top seem to be alright, too.

And it works.

Image: flickr/ rexquisite

The Lola Complex

2011-06-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

A year ago I had posted a piece on the song “Talk of all the USA” by the 70’s band Middle of the Road that deals with a relationship between a man and a transsexual women. I had been very surprised to find pop musicians of the early 70’s singing so openly about getting in touch with women of the second kind (สาวประเภทสอง Saao Prapeth Song , a nice thai expression for us that I can mention often enough :-) let alone a relationship
In a comment on that post our appreciated reader Boonsong pointed to the very famous 60’s classic rock song by The Kinks – Lola.

The Lola lyrics:

I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes like coca cola c.o.l.a. cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice
she said Lola L.o.l.a. Lola

Well, I'm not the world's most physical guy,
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
oh my Lola, la-la la-la Lola
Well, I'm not dumb, but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man

Well we drank champagne and danced all night
under electric candlelight
She picked me up and sat me on her knees
said good boy, won't you come home with me ?
Well, I'm not the world's most passionate guy,
But when I looked in her eyes, well, I almost fell for my Lola

I pushed her away
I walked to the door
I felt to the floor,
I got down on my knees
well I looked at her and she at me.
That's the way, that I want it to stay
And I always wanted it to be that way for my Lola
la-la la-la Lola,
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls,
It's a mixed up, mouled up, shook up world except for Lola

Well, I left home just a week before
and I'd never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola's mine and took me by the hand
Said good boy gonna make you a man !"
Well, I'm not the world's most mascular man,
But I know what I am I'm glad I'm a man and so is Lola

Of course everybody has listened to this song a thousand times but most of us have probably never recognized that it deals with a flirt (or even more) with a transgender woman. Even on Wikipedia there is a section on how it came to that song although the story behind it is rather less romantic.

Thinking about those two songs one can be sure, that there is probably a lot of music out there dealing with that topic – but maybe not as obvious.
Now, I am wondering if there had ever been a meaning to those songs and if at all, what the conclusion might be, since, they all refer to their encounters as men. Maybe in those days it had been simply a two sex world (an antique point of view as we know today).

Still, the Lola complex seems to be still inspiring. Israeli pop singer Dana International - certainly one of the world’s most famous transsexuals – who had won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Diva” in 1998 had published a song called “Lola” already in 2005. Watching the video to this song, one will find out almost instantly that Dana picked up the Kink’s Lola complex and played with it:

Dana International – Lola

Maybe in a couple of years there will pop up another piece of music dealing with the Lola Complex and maybe even hint at it’s ancestor from more than 50 years ago.
In Thailand Trans-music is almost a style of music of its own even with different styles. Not only that it has become a fashion to have all-Katoey bands but it appears to sell pretty well, too.
As this is a huge topic I decided to dedicate some post to it.
So the next post will be on the transgender music scene in Thailand and Korea.

Career Step Stones of a Transsexual Beauty Queen

2011-06-27T07:10:00.001-07:00

At had been a big success for Treechada Petcharat (ปอย รีชฎา) who is known over Thailand (but at least in the Katoey community) as Nong Poy (น้องปอย). Not only did she win Miss Tiffany’s Universe transgender beauty pageant at age 19 but also the title as Miss International Queen – both in 2004.
Usually, winners of beauty contests are carted all across the country where they absolve various promotional functions for a couple of months while their publicity is constantly fading until they disappear from the public awareness and continue to live rather common lives.

Not so Nong Poy. Even though her peak of publicity is over for almost six years she is still very present in Thai everyday life and has performances on a regular basis.
Her latest and probably one of the most regarded appearances had been just in the beginning of this year, when Nong Poy played in a TV commercial for the Thai telecommunications company G-Net.

Many years ago –it must have been 2005 – Ploy had one of her first appearances in the Doo Ba Doo music video for the then very famous song Mai Chai Poo Chai (I am not a man). A song that me and many transsexuals in Thailand liked a lot in those years and Ploy playing a love sick maid in the video was big fun.

Watching the Doo Ba Doo music video first and the the G-Net commercial you may recognize how Ploy and the role she plays have changed. From a rather slap stick staging (a role that many Katoey are playing in Thai shows) to a triple A, completely feminine beauty advertising high-tech communication services.
Great progress, considering how many one-time-starlets a vanished even quicker than they had appeared.

There is much more on Ploy to tell and show and I will create some more blog posts on her no that I have her introduced to our valued readers :-)

Third Sex Name Tags?

2011-01-28T05:50:00.000-08:00

This was sure good news for many Ladyboys in Thailand: A new Thai airline announced that they would also accept applications for air hostesses from Transsexuals.
One of the first applicants was the winner of the Miss Tiffany Ladyboy Beauty Contest of the year 2007 Thanyarat "Film" Jiraphatpakorn.
P.C. Air Executive Peter Shan said they will undergo the same air-hostess training as their female colleagues and will then wear “third sex name tags” to avoid “immigration issues”.

Miss Tiffany 2007: Thanyarat Jiraphatpakorn

Among the first round of successful candidates for the job were 17 women, 10 men and three transsexuals.

A great thing since many of us have been dreaming about those jobs for quite some time, but have been rejected so many times.

But: What exactly are “third sex name tags”? And why? And what immigration issues?
In Thailand it is common to always add a Mr. (Naay, นาย), and Mrs (Nang, นาง) for men and women. Since bureaucracy is merciless when it commes to that, Transsexuals get a Mr. in front of their name on their name tags. I have always hated it and it took me always not longer than 5 minutes to storm into the next 7-Eleven storm, buy a pack of razor blades and scrape the “Mr.” off my name tag. I’ve already posted a piece on how embarrassing these titles are for Ladyboys in Thailand.

Because even in Thailand, wgen people are trying to treat us politely, they will address us as “Miss” which goes down very well in my opinion since must of us are unmarried females – the group for who that title is usually designed. But that is sure not a “third sex” title. In fact I don’t want to think of how these tags might look like: “Mr./Ms. or “Transsexual …”

And what are “immigration issues”?

I have traveled a lot and still do and I have never experienced any problems, since border police never checks what is written under “sex”.
In fact, only one time in Hong Kong a female police officer had told me that there was an “M” printed in my passport and said I should have that mistake corrected, which I found very amusing.

So far, I had not been able to find out more about that P.C. Air, nut I’d really ask one of their PR-Agents how they plan to implement these “third sex name tags”.
By now I could not find them on Google, but in news articles about their hiring transsexuals.

So far great PR!

Our Way

2011-01-27T00:43:00.000-08:00

I remember when I was a kid not even at the age of a teenager, I knew what – or better who - I wanted to be. I had seen Trans-People before but it was when I had seen those pictures of lovely women with perfect bodies, beautiful hair and shimmering skin that had that “little extra”. The “extra” was of course nothing that turned me on, but proof that these girls were the same like I was.

Back then I – like all other people who are not trans* - felt an almost mystical admiration for these women.

Today, I am one of them and I experience a lot of admiration myself now but still, I can not completely describe that mystic feeling. Actually, even today I have that admiration when I meet another beautiful sister. For writing this post; I have reflected a lot on that admiring feeling and tried to clasp its substance.

I have come to the finding that it must be not only the result – a sexy girl, with a sometimes elfish smile – but the road she had to pursue to get where she is now. Conformably to my theory, I have recognized that when I was younger and a little more obviously in the progress of becoming, many times I had been asked, almost exclusively by men, about my way and how I’m getting along.

Girls, in contrast, marvel at us much more discreet and will only ask us once in a while for advice on beauty issues or admire our skin, hair etc.

I believe that all of them are aware that we are also pretty strong personalities since we all must have been through the school of hard knocks (and we sure have been there) and still have survived with a (more or less;-) sane mind and even came to pleasant looks and agreeable lives.

Just last weekend a guy, who I’d just meet a couple of minutes ago for the first time, asked me to tell him “my story”. Impudent and overconfident in my eyes since I am herewith telling you that no Ladyboy or Transsexual of our kind will squander the story of their way just like that as if it was an everyday anecdote.
It is something we reveal only a bit at a time. Even among us we only talk about it on rare occasions and very confidently.

This is not because we are ashamed of it, but because many simply could not understand. I have heard all kinds of stories so far: many very sad and almost heartbreaking. Others were rather adventurous and even exhilarant. While some of these roads were bumpy and hardly passable others were sloping highways, rollercoasters and slalom race tracks. Some were as long as to the moon and back, some even too short to be called a fair road.

Astonishingly, the winners of these races are quite similar compared to how different their ways had been and it sure had not been easy for none of us.
In retrospect, I consider the trip down that road even as an advantage that made us mature at an age when we were still teens and gave us experience of life – be it good or bad – which many people have to life a whole life for to obtain.
Maybe we don’t tell you our stories, but be sure they are the sources where our elfish smiles come from.

transsexual transgender transistion ladyboy stories

The realization of what was expected

2011-01-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

It was the first time that producers had admitted a transsexual to participate in the Brazilian offshoot of the Big Brother Show circus. For most it was just another trick to provoke good ratings but for some in Brazilian public it had also been a proof how far homophopia has really –if at all - decreased and how open a debate on transsexuality and transsexuals in Brazil could really be. The result was explicit:
Ariadna Thalia, 26, got voted out of the house as the first of all 17 participants with the devastating amount of 49 % of the people that had called in to cast their vote.

It sure was not because of Ariadna’s behaviour and character, which could have been described as rather humble and quiet – certainly the complete opposite of what most people had as their stereotype on Trans-people so far.

She got voted out as the first - the realization of what was expected.
A comment on a Brazilian blog says: “It was idiotic of her to participate in a homophobic program with a homophobic audience.”

And true. After Ariadna had to leave the house, homophobic remarks and mischievousness kept on.

The statement of a Facebook Community created to protest against her early elimination says: “ It is the victory of prejudice, and the general fear of contact with everything that does not conform to that are rules based on nothing.”

Tags: ariadna thalia ariadna+thalia big+brother transsexual transgender homophobia brazil

Transsexuals and Society - Obliged to Tell?

2011-01-17T13:02:00.001-08:00

Year after year around the globe Big Brother Shows are aired and even though the concept is a pretty worn out Big Brother candidates still make it into yellow press pages and web magazines. Since watching people sprawling in a confined space and not doing anything producers came up with the idea to put more exotic and outstanding personalities in the house to provoke scenes of confrontation and surprise.

In 2004 Australian Big Brother producers had the idea to put Miriam Rivera – then a transsexual celebrity - into the house. The concept worked in other countries as well although the expected scenes of surprise and confrontation never ocurred. Probably the audience was simply curious about those mythical beauties.

This year a caramel-skinned belle named Ariadne Thalia appeared in Big Brother Brasil 2011.

Being a transsexual myself, it is not difficult to tell that she is a member of my tribe, but apparently the brazilian public has not been aware of that fact and so still are the other competitors in the BB house.

Now, there is a widespread debate going on in brazilian social networks in the blogosphere whether or not Ariadne is obliged to tell the other ionhabitants of the house about her transsexuality. While amost every blog I read honoures her as a beautiful women with a very female physique – of the kind that most of the men go for.

So far there’s consensus. But is Ariadne really obliged to tell everyone about her biography? This is where the ethical questions start.

“She is fooling everyone, she should not do that”, says one of the comments in one blog.

But why is she fooling anyone since she is not pretending to be something else than she is. She even had undergone sex reassignment surgery in Thailand. So she is definetely more a women than many born ones.

One blogger puts it like this: “Why is a problem that you had once in your life and that is now resolved still obliging you to tell strangers about it? Do you really have to introduce yourself telling everybody that you had suffered from gastroesophageal reflux a couple of years ago?“

Sure not.

But some counter she had modified her body to look a way nature had not made it.

“She is not telling the truth”, says one of her critics.

So given the case a person had been fat but had had a stomach reducing surgery to help her loose weight. Is this now slim and beautiful person obliged to tell everyone that she had bee fat before?

“What distinguishes a former-fat from a former-male?” says a Brazilian blog.

I believe this to be a life long problem of transsexuals. No matter if they have become much more beautiful and feminine than most born female still people feel being lied to. Many individuals (mostly men) even seem to be really proud having been able to spot a transsexual and yell their “discovery” all over the place.

Many blogs dealing with the Ladyboy topic have at least one post on “How to spot a Ladyboy” many of those blogs even seem to only consist of those guidelines.

Sometimes some men even will tell a transsexual right away that they know. The reason behind that behavior will certainly always be secretive to me. Is it because they believe every transsexual is trying to hit on them and to take them home. Or is it their own uncertainness and and paranoia.

Tags: transsexual brazil transgender big+brother ariadna thalia +ariadna+thalia

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Ladyboy (Freak) Shows

2010-05-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday I posted a piece on the winner of the Miss Tiffany contest in Pattaya, Nalada Thamthanakom, and the background of beauty pageants in Thailand.

But it´s a thin line between a real beauty pageant where charisma and performance form the center of the show and events where Ladyboys are displayed in sexy outfits just to make tourists say: “Can´t believe this is a man.” The latter one equals a freak show set up for budget tourists to take pictures and show them around at home with the same words.

But do these beautiful girls on the stage really want to be shown as freaks and be referred to as “men”? Sure not.
As well as beauty contests, freak shows have a tradition in Thailand, too. Many zoos and animal parks have some cages and pits with freak creatures.

A liberal attitude towards transgenderism is a prominent feature of Thailand and of course there is money to be made with all kinds of Ladyboy shows. It´s a tough business, still, many Thai Katoeys dream of a career as a cabaret dancer.
But I am not so sure if all of these shows really exist only to promote a posititive image of Ladyboys…

What do you think? Are these shows designed to improve the image Ladyboys or just events to make money?

Tags: thai thailand ladyboy sexy miss show beauty contest katoey transsexual

Miss Tiffany Universe 2010

2010-05-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

And the winner is...... Number 26!!!

The really cute 19-year old Nalada “Mick” Thamthanakom.

Beauty contests are big events in Thailand. Even the tiniest villages in the North-East send their girls and Ladyboys to participate in beauty pageants in the district capitals on Loi Krathong festival every year.

Most of the Ladyboys in Thailand took at least once part in such a contest.
The idea of these pageants is not exactly only about offering a stage for the most beautiful but for everybody.
I remember standing on the stage of a beauty contest a couple of years ago next to a really fat and old and not so gifted transvestite. I think she even won a price for “nice try”.

Picture: daylife

The organizers of the big Miss Tiffany Universe contest define their show as to promote a positive image of transvestites. And I think they really do. Most of the girls participating come from good families and live decent lives. They are the complete opposite of what most people expect to see when they talk about Ladyboys.
In fact, these pageants are to create “kwaam suk” –happiness. Watching nice people, dressed up in colorful robes, dancing gracefully and saying charming things. People are allowed for one evening to forget about the struggles of their everyday lives and watch young beauties who struggled hard themselves and some of them succeeded.

Tags; ladyboy thai thailand transgender transsexual katoey miss tiffany universe 2010 Nalada Thamthanakom

Relationships with Ladyboys

2010-05-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

First of all: Why not? There is no reason why it should not work? After all, in a male-katoey realationship roles are clear. Much clearer than in most marriages.
A comment of our reader Boonsong made me think about this topic. He wrote as a comment on our last post on lyrics about a transsexual girl, that the lyrics of the famous “Lola”-song by The Kinks tell almost the same story. The story of a romance between a man and a transsexual.
So what about TS-male relationships?
Many of my Katoey friends are in long term relationships. Many of them close to the point of marriage if only law allowed it in Thailand, which it does not.
Others play the role of the so called “mia noi”- a kept woman. Having more than one wife is nothing unusual in Thailand, though only one is official. So why shouldn´t it be the same with a “mia noi katoey”?
I am not so sure about the way it works in Western countries. I know some Thai Ladyboys who married men from Europe and North America, but have no clue how they live and of which quality their relationships and their loves are.
The only full story I know is about a Singaporean TS who fell in love with a German guy and married him. They seem to be pretty happy the last time I heard about them.
In my opinion the fact that a Ladyboy lives together with a man has no special negative influence on the relationship. More difficult to overcome are certainly all obstacles that come along with cross-cultural relationships.
In fact, a partnership with a transsexual might see even less troubles than “normal” couples have to experience. I don´t want to divagate too much on my point of view how “advantageous” we are, but the as mentioned in the beginning of this post the clear roles of man and woman make may save trouble.
Most important: Both partners have to suit each other. Many men who are looking for a relationship with a Ladyboy and eventually find one that is seeking the same, forget about the fact, that a working relationship needs a bigger deal in common than just having found a Ladyboy.
Also a short research on the net shows the same dilemma: Many men have only encounters with TS-prostitutes and hence respective experiences and expectations. But who is to blame? Wouldn´t the experiences and expectations be the same if they lived together with a “normal” prostitute? Again they forget that only small percentages are sex workers but of course they are more visible than the rest.
We are living in modern times. The internet allows people to meet each other without borders. Societies become more open and hopefully the legal restrictions will soon fade and marriages with Ladyboys will be normal. Love must be the guideline not ignorance.

Tags: thai thailand, Katoey ladyboy, transsexual transgender love realtionship partnership

Transsexuals are the Talk Of all the USA

2010-02-28T02:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I tuned randomly to a radio station just in time to listen to "The Talk of All the USA". A song that I´ve never heard before but which made me crack up instantly.

Check out the lyrics:

Julie puts her make up
on her face ev'ry day

she's a woman
yes I know

she's a woman
even so
she's the talk of all the USA

oh
yeah
the talk of all the USA.

I went out with Julie
to a party one night.

She's a woman...

I was mad I completely
turned blind

she wouldn't let me love her
and it blew my mind
Julie said man
I must be very sure
.
she told me that she'd
never been loved before.
Then I put my coat on
we decided to go.

She's a woman...

On the way back home
I tried with Julie again

She's a woman...

In the car with remote
controlled hands

I knew that little Julie
she would understand

when I got there before my very eyes

I'll tell you man
I got myself a big surprise.
Julie had that something
other girls didn't have.

She's a woman...

Conclusion: That´s what you get when you operate with "remote controlled hands".

Tags: middle of the road julie talk of all the usa transsexual surprise transgender music

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Transsexual Superstar Miriam Rivera Tribute Music Video

2009-12-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

The name of the song is "The secret" and by Sash!

Tags: Miriam Rivera Theres something about miriam TS transsexual transexual shemale transgender trans transgender shemale big brother video victoria xtravaganza

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Big surprise: Ladyboys consider themselves as girls

2009-12-16T03:29:00.000-08:00

I just found the results of a survey by the Researcher Sam Winter:
He asked 190 Ladyboys to say whether they thought of themselves as men, women, Sao Praphet Song ("a second kind of woman"] or Kathoey.

None thought of themselves as male, and only 11 percent saw themselves as Kathoey (i.e. ‘non-male’).

By contrast 45 percent thought of themselves as women, with another 36 percent as “Sao Praphet Song”.

Unfortunately we did not include the category Phet Ti Saam (third sex/gender); conceivably if we had done so there may have been many respondents who would have chosen that term.

This shows that we have obviously chosen the right name for our blog as it integrates more people than any other term.

The fact that a majority of Ladyboys consider themselves as girls is rather obvious.

Technorati: thai thailand ladyboy term transgender transsexual kathoey katoey katoy Sao prapeet song phet tee saam phet ti saam survey

Ladyboys forced to wear pants at Thai University

2009-12-15T06:12:00.000-08:00

Suan Rajabahat University rejects request to wear uniforms matching their orientation

The rector of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University Siroj Polpanthin consideres it "inappropriate" for Katoey students to wear female outfits at their commencement ceremony.

If the university granted the request, then female students might want to dress in male clothing, Mr. Siroj said. He added that universities had been very liberal with the ways their Katoey students dressed.

Jeeradech Usawasdi, rector of the Thai Chamber of Commerce University, who said he was personally against “cross-dressing” at the commencent ceremony, added that dress regulations had failed to be enforced and many universities now permit cross-dressing.

Students had a freedom to dress as they want, but there were certain limits.
The leader of the Cross-Dresser Network of Thailand, Yollada Krirkkongsuanyos, who had forwarded the request, commented, that the ban would hurts the feelings of students who should be allowed to look according to the way they feel.

Technorati: thai thailand ladyboy kathoey katoey transgender transsexual rights University Suan Dusit Rajabhat University

Ladyboys unwelcome at Chiang Mai Loi Krathong festivities

2009-12-12T02:55:00.000-08:00

Usually ladyboys are not allowed to enter the mainstream beauty contests. Still, they contribute a lot to the annual Loi Krathong festivities all over the country as makeup artists, dressmakers, hairdressers, florists and dancers.
They also design and decorate many of the giant krathong used in float processions around the country.
But this year, however, the newly elected Chiang Mai municipal council came up with a new discriminatory rule, limiting the official krathong competition to only “gender-correct” people.

This came not long after the local red shirts renewed a threat through a national tabloid against the presence of gays and Katoey at public festivities.
This brings back to mind the shutdown of the Chiang Mai Gay Pride earlier this year, the threat was fortunately averted through cool-headed dialogue.

A friend of mine launching her Krathong before participating in a beauty contest (but in Udon Thani province)

But a university still banned its Katoey students from participating in its celebrations if they were identifiable as gays or Katoey.

Another friend and last year´s winner of the Loi Krathong beauty contest

Unfortunately, it is Chiang Mai - not only just the festival - that will be all the poorer without Transsexual contributions.
This discriminatory restrictions will do great harm to the city´s reputation as a friendly tourist destination not to mention an affront to the principles of equality and human rights.
It is ironic if the city that claims cultural superiority over “the likes of Pattaya and Phuket” treats its own human citizens as lesser than a foreign animal like a baby panda – celebrated as a presenter of this year´s festival (quote: Daily Express)

Technorati: thai thailand, Katoey ladyboy, transsexual transgender discrimination chiang mai loi Krathong beauty contest

Victoria and Opal in Laos

2009-09-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

I was just organizing some pictures on my computer today and found some pictures of me and Opal when we went on a trip to Vientiane, Laos.

Opal went to live back in her village to help her old grandmother and we don’t meet so often these days. Still. She is my best friend. We had really big fun and moving around in Vientiane is quite easy for us because we have many Katoey friends over there.

Right on the first day we got us traditional Lao skirts and then spend the day screaming around the city and trying to be as chaotic as possible. The nights we spend with extremely good dinner and then hit the bars, where the boys would provided drinks and music. And of course we were dancing big time.

Opal is now in Korea and I really miss her. She calls every week but we are both pretty busy. Maybe I will visit her next month. Or at least I will go to her home town and see if everything is alright over there.

Opal in Vientiane

Victoria and Opal in our friends bar

Opal teaching a foreign girl traditional Lao dancing

Me, myself and I singing to the sound of the guitar

Opal pretending to be a bar girl

Technorati: thai thailand bangkok ladyboy katoey transgender transsexual victoria opal lao laos vientiane

Highschool Ladyboys

2009-09-26T03:24:00.000-07:00

From next week on the school holidays start in Thailand. During many Thai schools organize holiday trips to national parks or the beaches.

During the holidays I am working as a tour guide tutor for these kind of high school tours. For me it is a lot of fun and I can get out of Bangkok. I love to entertain the teenagers and we are joking a lot.

Most of the tours have at least 100 students so the chance is very high that there are some Ladyboys amongst them. At the age of 14 this is not so obvious but since I am a Ladyboy myself I can quite easily spot them. Of course I don´t let them know, that I know and never treat them different. Just yesterday I came back from another tour to Samut Prakan province. I had two Ladyboy students who where 14 or 15 years old. They definitely showed Katoey behavior and they were very proud of what they are.

On the Bus I let all the students introduce themselves and the young sisters had big fun and would not stop their show until I took the microphone from them.
Later on the first day we visited some memorial site. The tour guide showed the around and then asked the students to pay respect to the site´s Thai national flag. He told the teenagers that the boys should salute and the girls should curtsy. This left the two Ladyboy youngsters in my group pretty confused and they asked what Katoeys should do. I did not hear what he replied because I had to do my curtsy then, but I guess they did a curtsy and a salute at the same time because all the other kids suddenly cracked of in laughter.

For the whole tour they were always in the center of the events and wherever they were it was always a lot of screeching and singing. I did not hang around with them to much because I did not want the other kids to believe that the Katoey students where priviledged only because their tutor was Katoey as well.
I am not a Bangkokian and where I come from there are much more Ladyboys in the highschools .

In the Thailand we have school uniforms and school haircuts. Girls are not allowed to grow their hair longer than to the shoulders and boys have to have short hair sometimes even a crew cut. But nobody can stop the Katoey students from wearing lipsticks and eyeliner which looks really pretty funny.

Technorati: thai thailand bangkok ladyboy katoey transgender transsexual school

Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand? Answer No. 3

2009-09-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Every month we get a couple of emails from our readers in which they ask this question: “Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand?”

On the net you can find lots of explanations, most of them are complete nonsense. Like “What do they have in the water, that makes so many Ladyboys?”
The answer is rather simple. In fact, there are three reasons for the “Ladyboy-Phenomenon”.

In the following days I will give all three to you. Today, I will give you the third reason.

The Traditional Reason

In Thailand and especially in rural areas the old traditions are still strong. There´s hardly a week whitout a religious ceremony, a wedding, a Ngaan Buat rite or a funeral.

At most of these events the village´s Transgenders play an important role.
While the Ladyboys in tourist capitals like Phuket and Pattaya are rather employed in gastronomy, Cabaret-Shows und in red light entertainment, in Bangkok you find them also connected to their original professions.
No film set without Ladyboys as make-up artists, costume designers or choreographers. The Tomboys, the female counterpart are rather involved in assisting the director or in the light crew.

Opal while organizing a celebration

In villages this is even more clearer to see. Weddings are almost completely organized by Ladyboys. The bride gets her make-up done by Ladyboys, gets her dress put on by Ladyboys, together with her groom she gets her wedding pictures taken by Ladyboys. Ladyboys prepare the food, arrange the flowers (doing that Victoria cut her finger big time the last time we did that ), they dance and sing on the wedding stage.

Opal at a beauty contest

Bei religiösen Festen sind die Ladyboys immer mit am meisten von allen involviert, schmücken die Festwagen und organisieren die obligatorischen Schönheitswettbewerbe.
Ladyboys und ihre Talente sind somit ein bedeutender Bestandteil im dörflichen Leben und in Thailand und entsprechend werden sie und ihre Arbeit geschätzt.
At religious celebrations Ladyboys are most often fully involved, decorate the parade floats and organize the mandatory beauty contest.
Ladyboys are hence a important part of a village´s daily life in Thailand and are respected accordingly.

Opal trägt während eines Umzuges den Gong

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy tradition bangkok phuket pattaya transgender

Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand? Answer No.2

2009-08-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

Every month we get a couple of emails from our readers in which they ask this question: “Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand?”

On the net you can find lots of explanations, most of them are complete nonsense. Like “What do they have in the water, that makes so many Ladyboys?”
The answer is rather simple. In fact, there are three reasons for the “Ladyboy-Phenomenon”.

In the following days I will give all three to you. Today, I will give you the second reason.

The religion reason

94 % of the Thai population are Theravada Buddhists. Together with Buddhism Thai people also believe Animism and Spirits a belief that is thousands of years old and had been there already before Buddhism came to Thailand.

Animism was believed in all over the world. Europa, America, Africa and of course Asia. In all of these ancient animist cultures a member of the “Third Sex” was someone special. Many of them where fortune tellers, shamans and highly spiritual people and therefore well respected.

Only when the monotheistic religions became more powerful, the animist belief lost their influence.
In the new religions, there was no place for a “Third Sex”.
Since Buddhism is not a theistic religion and most tolerant, the Buddhism did not overpower but mostly integrate the old animism. Also, in Buddhism there is no prohibition to a “Third Sex”.

Opal dressed like a nun during a religious festival in her village

So the animist culture with their dancing, spiritual transgender members became Buddhist and still kept the “Third Sex”.

In Thailand and there especially in the rural areas where the animist belief is still strong, modern Ladyboys are as much members of the religious community like everybody in their village too. In fact, many of the Ladyboys get even more involved in the daily religious life. They then of course behave like all the other females.
I found the information that “Buddhism is tolerant to Ladyboys” on many sites on the web. But this is only half of the truth.

Buddhism is tolerant to other religions, also to those that have transgender people as part of their spiritual community.

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy, animism, buddhism, religion, tolerance

Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand? Answer No.1

2009-08-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

Every month we get a couple of emails from our readers in which they ask this question: “Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand?”

On the net you can find lots of explanations, most of them are complete nonsense. Like “What do they have in the water, that makes so many Ladyboys?”
The answer is rather simple. In fact, there are three reasons for the “Ladyboy-Phenomenon”.

In the following days I will give all three to you. Today, I will start with the first one.

The economical reason

Other than in the West the bonds between family members are much stronger. If somebody in your family is in trouble (i.e. debt, hospital) the other members of the family have to help them out.

Also, there is no kind of public old age pension. The younger family members have to support the old as much as they can.

But if a boy grows up, he will have his own family that he has to provide for and who can therefore spend less money on his parents and grandparents.
But if a boy grows up and becomes a Ladyboy, he who is then a she won´t have a family. They will just work for their own livelihood and are able to support their parents much more than their brothers.

So it is sure now economical disadvantage for the parents if their son becomes a daughter.
In addition, many young Ladyboy students learn languages much easier than the boys at their age which enables them to work in business or tourism later where they have a higher income.

And even if they stay in their home, they can still work in the rice fields like the other women and men do too. But other than their male siblings they won´t spend their money on fast motorbikes and whiskey.

This means having a Ladyboy daughter is not the worst deal for Thai parents.

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy, economy

Solidarity among Ladyboys

2009-08-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

I just came home from work and when I walked into my apartment building I saw another person way in front of me. Still, when I arrived at the elevator this person was waiting and kept the elevator´s door open for me. She was a ladyboy, too.
Of course, this is not real solidarity by the true meaning of the word but rather a favor.
And I find this kind of favors pretty often among us ladyboys on many occasions where other people just don´t care. Like guarding the toilet door in a club, when the lock is broken and helping each other.
I really enjoy and appreciate these small favors and I try to help other sisters out as often as I can. And I am not talking about close friends but about strangers who just happen to be of the same sex (the third sex) like I am.

Of course there are also others who take every chance to take advantage of others, but they are for sure a minority among the minority that we are.
Almost everytime I meet people somewhere and they have another ladyboy in company we feel some kind of connection to each other even though we have never met before. I think this is because we know that nobody understands us and our feelings and lives better than another ladyboy.

This sometimes leads to the situation that we start surrounding us only with other ladyboys and isolate ourselves from the other “normal” people. But we should not do that since we are normal, as well and part of the society. Distinguishing between “us” and “them” puts as in a position where we certainly don´t want to be as we as the minority only create an unnecessary disadvantage for ourselves.
But I have to admit I did exactly that when I was younger. Maybe just because I was young then and the solidarity among other ladyboys was comfortable and made me feel more secure. Now I don´t do this anymore. In fact, all my friends are no ladyboys and have no connection to that. I am accepted and I feel pretty normal and as secure and comfortable as I felt before with my sisters.
Just once in a while I miss it to meet other people of my kind and behave and talk more ladyboy style and about ladyboy stuff. But that is alright and I can allow that to myself.

Technorati: solidarity ladyboy katoey katoy thai thailand friendship

Phet Ti Saam – The Ladyboy Blog goes 2.0

2009-06-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, it´s been a long time again since our last post. Sorry for that. But we really appreciate the many emails that encouraged us to keep our project going.
We spent some time thinking about how to publish post more regularly. We reduced the number of team members down to basically only me and Victoria. But still we will have all of our friends and even more Ladyboy sisters on our page.
We will keep the posts shorter but will add some “twittering” to the site. With this booming Web 2.0 tool we can update our blog much quicker and keep the promise to authentically report about the life of Ladyboys.
Victoria will start to twitter and if we get enough followers and feedback, I will join her, as well.
Have a look on the right side of this page. You will find her twitter update there. Or you can check out all updates on her twitter page.

Twittering now: Victoria

Of course, we will still write “old fashioned” post as most things in life are too complicated to tell them in only 140 character.

Have fun!

Technorati: Bangkok Victoria ladyboys thai Thailand katoey katoy transsexual transgender twitter web 2.0

Ladyboys and Drugs

2009-02-12T01:41:00.000-08:00

At least once a week one can read about another Transsexual arrested in Pattaya for drug possession. Of course, this does not put the Thai Ladyboys in a good light and makes it look like Ladyboys and drugs inevitably belong together. Certainly, this is not true by no means. Almost all the other Transsexuals that I know, aren`t like that – they don`t even smoke cigarettes. But of course, I also met some that are not like that. But I don`t have any connection to that. Drug possession is punished very hard in Thailand, so you better stay away from anybody related to drugs.
But why are Ladyboys in connection with drugs so present in the daily press?
First of all, to refer to Pattaya: Everywhere where many people are around and where a lot is happening also crime and criminals are much more present. Accordingly, the number of involved Katoeys is higher, too.
Another reason might be, that a lot of Ladyboys are involved in prostitution. And of course, the environment of prostitution is generative for crime, violence and last but not least drug abuse.
Poverty and self-doubts also contribute to Katoeys trying to flee the dull and seemingly hopeless everyday life into inebriation.
In the past the common widest spread drug had been an amphetamine, which is called “Yaa Baa”, the “Crazy Medincine” in Thai. Recently, also “Yaa Ice” is spreading in Thailand. A nightmare, because it is nothing else than Crystal Meth, a drug that displaced the already demoniac crack and which has even more devastating side effects on its consumers.
“Ice” creates addiction quicker than hardly any other drug. The damages on the organism show up much earlier than with other drugs. The body is detoriating rapidly.
Over here in Thailand rehabilitation is almost not available. And stopping on one`s own is almost impossible.
Still, the problem is rather the surrounding than the people. The Ladyboys living in the poor north eastern part of Thailand, Isaan, are poor, too. But they still don`t smoke “Yaa Baa”. Society over there accepts them and they are highly integrated in the social structure. Hardly someone is alone and lonely with his problems over there. Unlike the girls in the streets of Thailand`s tourist cities.

Technorati: katoey thai Thailand ladyboy transsexual drug pattaya yaa ba ice

Ladyboy Immigration

2009-01-28T07:02:00.000-08:00

Usually you don`t need your passport too often. In fact you only need it at the borders and immigration offices. As I don`t hold a Thai passport I spend some time of the year with immigration officers. Most often - though it`s a little complicated – it is fun: my passport says something different than my picture. And also all those who wrote the reference letters for me did not know what I am. So this leads me almost every time in the situation where the offices get really confused with my passport. Strange thing is, that they are really willing to believe rather what they see standing in front of them and on the picture rather than in the entry for “Sex”.
I just came back to get me a Visa and also the clerk at the Thai embassy would not believe in my passport. But Thai people are very easy going and even when they ask me directly in my face I don`t bother because they don`t mean it in a bad way. Actually, I should let them do what they think is right but I am scared that I will get trouble at the border s the visa stuff is the only thing where I write what my passport says.

Once I was travelling from Hong Kong to Macau and also got in a little trouble with the immigration. The lay behind the desk resolved the case and told me that I had to check my passport at home as it obviously had a misprint.
I year ago I was travelling with my friend Opal to Europe. Of course she had to get her a visa. I went with her to give her a little backup because she thought it was impossible for her to get the visa.
At the embassy I was informed by the clerk that my friend`s passport said that she was not a born girl. “So am I”, I said and we got the visa. Sometimes I think it might be a little advantage to have a discrepancy in your passport. It confuses the officers and they forget to think of how they can trouble you this time.

Technorati: ladyboy katoey transsexual thai Thailand immigration visa passport

Kate at the river

2009-01-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

Techorati: katoey ladyboy transsexul thai thailand kate pictures

Ladyboys and Education

2009-01-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I read in an enlish language blog about an english teacher who described her experiences with ladyboys in class and their attitude towards education. The teacher wrote that most of the ladyboy students picked up the english language much quicker than their born-female or male classmates.
Her explanation for that phenomenon is that even though Thai society is quite liberal concerning the "Third Sex", ladyboys have still to struggle hard for recognition and jobs. Therefore they have to be tougher and better educated than others, says the teacher.
I am not so sure if this is a sufficient explanation. In fact, I think there are some more factors to it. But it's somehow true - more often I am impressed by knowledge,discipline and attitude of a "sister" than by anyone else.
One of the factor leading to this surely is talent: Everybody knows about the two halfs of the brain, one of which provides talent for logic thinking i.e. maths and technology. This part of the brain is better developed with men. The other part of the brain supports fine arts, emotions and language etc. That part is rather prevalent with women and of course - ladyboys. This means we might be just talented with learning languages. People who have already traveled to Thailand might have recognized that many transsexuals working in tourism speak quite good english.I also have a ladyboy friend (Her name's "Am". I will introduce her in a couple of weeks - she's really cute) who can learn a new language in only a week so far that she is able to communicate with native speakers.
To give a balanced view I have to admit that I also know sisters who don't have any language talent at all and hardly speak a word other than Thai although they have been working in guesthouses and restaurants in tourist areas for years.
Another point might be that ladyboys are already at a young age pretty aware of their tasks in life. They start much earlier to be responsible for themselves and develop a disciplined lifestyle earlier than other kids. Of course this works prettty good in school. It is just that we learn early in life how to work towards a goal that will be achived later.
And of course most of us are pretty smart anyway :-)

Technorati: thai thailand katoey katoy transsexual ladyboy education school

Porn Offers and Media Request

2008-12-06T01:52:00.001-08:00

I don`t know but for some reason, some people completely misunderstand what our blog is about. As we mentioned in one of our earliest posts, this blog is not only about sex and definitely no porn. Still, every day we get emails asking us to act in porn movies and even ask to take part in our porn productions (which we of course don´t have). Also some people are "nice" to offer us jobs as their "maids" in western countries. But thanks, we are pretty fine over here. Maybe those people just don`t get it, that we are real people and not only characters in a sex movie.

Instead, we are actually very happy about all the requests we get from the media about everything related with "Being Ladyboy". For the last couple of months this happened quite regularly and we had quite a many opportunities to talk about our point of view on things. And as far as I know, we have always been quoted right in the press and everybody thought good about our blog project.

So, thanks for that. But all those other guys. Better think twice and don`t send your invitations to the world of porn.

Technorati: Technorati: thai Thailand katoey ladyboy porn blog blogging media

Businesswoman Opal

2008-11-30T02:46:00.000-08:00

Yeah, she looks tough in that business dress, but be sure. She is as nice as ever. Looks like a really Bangkok business Girl, doesn`t she?

Technorati: Thailand thai Bangkok busniess ladyboy katoey katoy transsexual transgender pictures

Thailand`s and the World`s most important Ladyboy Beauty Contest Cancelled

2008-11-08T03:35:00.002-08:00

Found at The Star Online, edited by Nong Duu

Thailand’s international transgender beauty pageant this year has to be postponed to 2009 as the ongoing political standoff in Bangkok continues to keep visitors away.
This year Kangsadan Wongdusadeekul a 21-year-old katoey beauty queen was supposed to represent her country in Miss International Queen 2008 (Thailand’s international transgender beauty pageant) after she was crowned Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2008 (the most sought after beauty pageant title for Thai ladyboys) in May.

However, the on-going battle between the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the People’s Power Party-led coalition government has indirectly trampled on her dream to compete against aspiring transvestites around the world including Malaysia – echoing the Thai proverb which says, “In a battle between elephants, the ants get squashed”.

Miss International Queen 2008, which was due to be held in October and then deferred to November, has been cancelled (or in PR-speak postponed to 2009) as the political turmoil in Bangkok takes its toll on tourist arrivals.

Alisa Phanthusak, whose family owns the world-famous Tiffany show, a katoey cabaret show in Pattaya, is the organiser of Miss Tiffany’s Universe and Miss International Queen, admitted feeling “terrible” that the international pageant had to be “postponed”.

“But we had to take this painful decision because international tourist arrivals dropped after the government declared emergency rule (on Sept 2, after a Thai was killed when anti and pro-government groups clashed on the streets of Bangkok) and several countries advised their citizens not to travel to Thailand,” she explained.

At first the organiser postponed Miss International Queen 2008 to late November this year thinking the political struggle between the PAD and the government in the Thai capital would end by then.

But after two PAD supporters were killed and nearly 500 injured when the anti-government demonstrators clashed with the police outside parliament in Bangkok on Oct 7, Alisa realised the political instability would continue even through Thailand’s high tourism season (October to March).

To paraphrase the Thai proverb, in a battle between political elephants, Thailand’s tourism industry (not exactly an ant as it contributes 14% to the country’s GDP) gets squashed.
Take the example of the Tiffany Show. The audience for Pattaya’s must-see transsexual cabaret show (usually attracting 2,000 guests a day) has dropped by 50%.

“This is the greatest crisis for tourism in Pattaya since I’ve been in the business for the past 10 years,” the 34-year-old businesswoman said, adding that the downturn was unfair as Pattaya was a long way from the epicentre of the political turmoil in Bangkok.

Technorati: Kangsadan Wongdusadeekul Miss International Queen 2008 2009 Tiffany’s Universe Bangkok Pattaya ladyboy katoey katoy thai thailand

Insulted by Post

2008-11-08T01:53:00.000-08:00

In Thailand it does not matter if you already have had your sex reassignment surgery or not. Nobody cares how much you are a women and how long you lived that way. You could be a female top model and a women since your late teens with all surgeries that are possible – still you would have a male Thai passport. And this will mean that you will have all you documents issued like for male.

And every month you will get your phone and electricity bill send to a “Mr.”
I cannot tell you how much that sucks.

So when I have the Chance I will fill out all forms for new contract myself an clearly write “Miss” as my title. But if you just have to send a copy of your I.D. card to the one you are making a contract with, there will be a “male” on your I. D. and therefore you will be male on every bill that you receive.

That is so incredibly degrading for me. Also last time I stood next to somebody who wrote my name into some book that was something official but not THAT official. He asked me what to write and I pointed to the title of another girl whose name he had written before – “nangsao” (Miss).

He just ignored that and that hurt me a lot. Some time ago, I read in the press that someone proposed to address us ladyboys officially as “Miss”. That would have been so nice as it shows that we are accepted also s part of the society and not only as beautiful doll in Thailand`s Cabaret shows and rather clownish characters in TV shows.

Technorati: law rights ladyboy katoey katoy thai Thailand Bangkok

Ladyboy Sex Workers

2008-11-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

Just very recently I have been interviewed by two journalists who wanted to hear my opinion about different topics connected with ladyboy life in Thailand. Of course I was happy to help them, as telling how we really are is the major reason for publishing this weblog. Some of their questions also targeted the issue of transgender sex workers in Thailand and while preparing myself for the interview I spend also some thought this:

Of course, Thailand has still it`s reputation for attracting sex tourists, though a lot of effort has been spend by the concerned agencies to get rid of that image, but I am not so sure if this can be done that easily if ever. Still, it`s a matter of fact that the incomes of those who worked in that business in the tourist areas of Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and others, contributed a lot to the improvements in Thailand`s rural areas. Nevertheless it is clear that the life of a sex worker is certainly everything but easy and fun.

As I mentioned in several other posts before, I know about a dozen ladyboy sex workers and some of them I even would call my friends though with some reservations. That way I got a lot of insights into their “working life” - sometimes even deeper than I wished I had.

For them there are two ways of getting in touch with their potential suitors. Going to clubs and pubs, getting a drink and after some eye contact walk up to the men, address them and try to get into some small talk. After something like a conversation (most of them have very limited knowledge of the English language) they will ask them rather direct if they want to have sex with them. As far as I know the fact, that they are not born girls is seldom revealed at that point of time. I am not sure how and when they tell it but somehow it has to be done. I could not imagine to go to a guy`s room and only there tell him about myself. That can end up in pretty dangerous situations.

I know that not so few bars and clubs in Bangkok don`t allow ladyboys to enter as they had bad experiences of ladyboys pushing themselves to obscene and aggressive on male guests which might give the shop a bad reputation. Fortunately, that restriction has never been applied on me. Good for them because I would give them a rather big scene. Also I guess that the bouncers know me and know that I am harmless (at least I hope so).

The other alternative for transsexual sex workers is to address men on the street. Just a couple of days ago I sat down on a table set up on the street where ladyboy prostitutes gathered and watched the men walking past. I sat down because they invited me and I had nothing better to do. For me there is no question that this way of getting in contact with customers is much harder and much more humiliating. It was hard to see how these nice dressed girls would start from that table and talk to even the ugliest, oldest and drunken men, walked some meters with them and after getting half a dozen rejections to their offered services they would turn away and try their luck with another man. The worst thing to see was, when groups of three or four young drunken westerners started to make fun of them, touching them like pieces of meat and insulting them in the middle of the road. It was then that I decided to leave as that scene started to get me sad.

Some of them endure this live for many years already. Just on that day I asked one of them for her name as we just had a nodding acquaintance together before. When she told it to me I remember having met her already four years ago. Since then her appearance as suffered a lot and she seems to have aged at least the double. Also her nose looks like it had been broken which it did not at the time we met first. As mentioned above: You can get in dangerous situations.

Of course such a long time in that business does not leave your heart and soul untouched. When I sat on their table that night the whole language they used was strongly obscene. Once in a while I like to talk that lewd ladyboy language in Thai for fun but they are using it as the usual way to communicate. It`s easy to imagine what kind of impression this will leave on other Thai people as the Thai language is in fact overflowing of politeness and discretion.
Also, they weren`t shy to flash their boobs and even show their lower parts in the middle of the road. A behavior that I know from other drunken ladyboys but yet I can`t stand it as it embarrasses me. Call me prude but I can`t appreciate that.

When they started to touch my boobs I made my excuses and left.

It´s obvious that it had been their tough environment that made them that way and I wonder how they can take that night after night after night. It makes it quite traceable why so many of those ladyboy slip into taking drugs and stealing. Nevertheless it´s useless to try to blame someone directly for that as it had been their choice. Still, too many ladyboys in Thailand and transgender people around the world are pushed into prostitution to make a living because they are not accepted in other jobs.

If there would be improvement, sure fewer ladyboys would accept sex work as their profession.
Technorati: sex work prostitution ladyboy ladyboys thai Thailand Bangkok katoey kathoey katoy transsexual transgender

Lesbian Ladyboys?

2008-11-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

A nice anecdote of an occurence that happened to me already a year ago:

I went to the island Ko Chang in the Gulf of Thailand to meet some friends. But the night I arrived there, I was told that my friends were still on the mainland and would only come to the island during the next days. As I did not knew how to spend my time I sat down on one of the bars along the road that runs all along the western coast of Ko Chang. The girl behind the bar was a Ladyboy, too so I started chatting with her in Thai as casual as we do among each other.
I ordered a beer and asked her when her shift would end and if she wanted to go out for party later as I did not have anything else to do. But for some reason she was exceptionally reserved and refused to go out for dancing.I could not get my head around that as I never seen a sister that would not start immediately chatting and laughing with me.I finished my beer and went off to another bar.The next day my friends arrived and at night we went out to party at the clubs on Lonely Beach.The taciturn Ladyboy from the night before came with us but this time she was just the wy everybody else was. We danced, laughed, drank and chatted in Katoey language.
It was only then that one of my friends told me that she had though I was a lesbian girl as she had not recognized me as a Ladyboy and of course was confused about my talking to her. Then it dawned on me that the night before I had just worn my hair hidden under a baseball cap and my dress and make up was just the way I had travelled all the way down from Bangkok.
Still, I am not sure if this was a compliment or not. I mean it is nice if even my fellow sisters thinks of me as a girl but somehow there remains a bad taste with this. I guess I will keep it like it like what it is: A nice anecdote.

Technorati: ladyboy katoey katoy thai Thailand stories story ko chang lonely beach lesbian

Pictures from Ladyboy Nueng

2008-09-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

I have already introduced her a little earlier. My friend Nueng a 18 year old Ladboy living in Bangkok. Last week we were taking some photos of each other and why not post them here:

Technorati: thailand thai Ladyboy nueng katoey katoy bangkok pics pictues

Going Ladyboy and back

2008-09-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

As I blogged some time earlier, the concept of what the word Katoey means in Thai is not the same like Transvestite or Transsexual in western languages. For some it ist the urgent wish to become a women, others rather have it as their way they want to live their lives. The word „gay“ does not exist that long in Thailand – actually just a couple of decades. And meanwhile being gay has become more trendy than the old-fashioned Katoeys.
Also in Thailand there are many people around, who are actually just a kind of feminine gays, but just because it is so easy and common to live as a ladyboy they try that out first. Later they will find out, that they are no girls and don`t want to live their lives that way. They just want to be boys loving other boys.
I have two friends of that kind. Both lived their late teens and early twens as ladyboys, wearing their hair long, fancy clothes and make-up. Then they changed quite abruptly to live as boys again. „I just am not“, one of my friends told me. „It`s boring to put on make-up.“ Now he has beenn living as boy for serveral years again and you can clearly see, that he never actually had been a ladyboy like me and my other friends are. We still call him „Katoey Pom Sun“ – „Short Hair Ladyboy“. And this term fits as of course he is still quite effeminate.
And that`s actually the reason why a psychological examination is mandatory before a sex reassigning surgery is done. A trained psychologist would have found out from the very first time he had talked to my friend and told him that he was going the wrong way.
The example of my other friend makes the reasons why people become ladyboys and then come back even more clear. He had been a ladyboy, too and came back to be a boy. Still for him there is no clear border between being a ladyboy and being gay. I have been knowing him for some years right now and I definetly know that he is nothing but gay. Still, on his birthdays he celebrates in a dress. And also in everyday`s life he applies a little eyeliner and wears fancy unisex clothes. I guess that is nothing so special in Europe and the US. I know that there are a lot gay people over there living just that way I described my friend. So maybe the whole idea of putting yourself, your sexual orientation and your way of life in drawer is wrong.
Of course for us transsexual Katoey our way is clear and there won`t be anything that can change us. But for all the other ones – why not? There are no frontiers.

Technorati: ladyboy katoey katoy thai thailand gay change

Ladies and Gentlemen: Kate!

2008-09-11T02:54:00.000-07:00

Time again to introduce another friend of mine: Kate: I have been knowing Kate only since the beginning of this year, but during that time we have become close friends. I guess that from all my friends she is the most loyal one who will never let me down. She comes originally from Udon Thani province in the northeast of Thailand but lives right now in Bangkok. During the last weeks she has been commuting between her home there and Bangkok as she is doing a training as a professional masseuse.
Kate has some fetish about tidyness. A couple of weeks ago she came over to my place on Sunday and helped me to clean my room. Up to that day I had never seen somebody cleaning even the walls with the vacuum cleaner. But I can`t complain. After one hour my apartment was as clean as an OR in the hospital.
As she lives close to the party center, she is almost always alvailable for a fun night out.

It`s always good to have her coming with you as she is one of the most loyal friends I have and she would never let me down. For a ladyboy that might be even more important than for other people. Going out together as some kind of team watching each others back, hair and backup is important. Sometimes when weg go out together and meet foreign men, sit down with them and chat I feel kind of sad, that her ability of speaking English is rather limited. That`s sad because her jokes are great and in Thai language she has a lot to say and a really surprising knowledge about the world and how things work in it that a lot of other people have not.

Technorati: Ladyboy katoey thai thailand bangkok kate portrait

Ladyboys and violence

2008-08-31T06:21:00.000-07:00

During the past weeks I recognized again that there are some Ladyboys out there who don`t hesitate to use violence to settle an argument. It`s not that I had not known before. Those incident will most often happen in the red light industry rather than in everydays life. No need to tell, that this field of business is pretty tough and one got to be strong to survive and send some money home to he poor families. Drugs don`t help much to create a balanced mind.
I know that writing these lines won`t help much to tear down those cliches the world has on Thai Ladyboys. But it would be dishonest and not authentic I we would not mention this facette of Katoey life as well.
I guess the worst fights occur between Ladyboys. Just a couple of weeks ago I have been threatened myself with physical aggression without any reason but managed to escape.
Yesterday I came past another scene of Ladyboy violence where one of the contrahents was heavily bleeding from a wound in her face.
To see and experience that, makes me really sad. Instead of sticking together and supporing each other (like me and my friends do) they harm each other.
But what are the triggers for that?
First of all, even in Thailand growing up as a member of the third sex is emotionally hard to take. In the West support by a therapist is mandatory but over here in Thailand backup by family and friends is the only help one can expect. Most of the times evereything works out well and the young katoey can grew up just as happy as other girls. But for some childhood turns out to be hell. Not only that they never get the support they need but they also get obstacles thrown in their ways. No doubt that this can lead later to a behaviour that hurts others and themselves.
Also, Ladyboys know what it`s like growing up and living as a Ladyboy. So they know were to find the weak points in other Katoey. If there`s an argument they know which words to use to really hurt the opponent which will often lead to an escalation.
The reasons as manifold as with men and women.
When they tried to attack me the last time I am proud to say that I had been for jealousy ;-).
Some think of us as mythical creatures but we are humans like everybody else, though some of us rather look like angels.

Technorati: ladyboy kathoey katoey thai thailand violence

Ladyboy Hot Spots in Bangkok

2008-08-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Somehow it`s strange. I have been living in different parts of Bangkok during the last years and it seems like the density of ladyboy prevalence is not everywhere the same.
Around the Victory Monument are definetly a lot. Sometime it`s difficult to spott hem/us but we are there. I had not been aware of this myself, but on Loi Kratong night – the romantic Festival of Lights at the end of November – It´s THE night vor all transgender girls to dress them up full gear and go out. That had been relly amazing as you could see in all Sois beautiful angels in long dresses and perfect make-up.

Later I moved rather to the outer ring of Bangkok to Suanluang area. I lived there for one year and I never saw a ladyboy in the whole neighborhood. So I was alone. This had been neither a disadvantage nor an advantage. But it was strabge as I was used to stumble every 10 minutes upon a sister back were I lived before.
Now I live pretty close to Khao San Road the notorious backpacker trap. Over I I can count to 10 and will see another ladyboy. And we know each other, so every minute I meet another friend an chat with her. Even in my condominium there live at least two teenage ladyboys and there are some more younger boys who have this definetly as there future.

Technorati: ladyboy bangkok victory monument katoey thai thailand

Transsexuals in Malaysia

2008-08-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

The situation for ladyboys in Malaysia is not that good as everybody knows. Just recently there have been 16 transgender contestants arrested at a Transsexual Beauty Pageant by the Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs Department. See the story here.

So what are the facts? I just found a nice article by Dina Zaman about that topic in the Star Online.

The collected the facts and she did it so good that I allow myself to quote her:

In Malaysia, derogatory slang to describe them would be pondans, laki lembut or mak nyah, though the latter term has been embraced by the community as an identifying factor in their cause.
The fact is, transsexuals have existed in our society even before Independence, and played a significant role in the community.
They’re the dapur pondans – kitchen helpers – who worked for families as cooks and cleaners in a long gone era, and in villages were known as meks, who acted as the local tailor, make-up artist and wedding planner.
It is fascinating to compare the fond memories of the older generation of Malaysians who grew up with transsexuals as neighbours and domestic help.
The argument that is bandied in contemporary Malaysia is that they knew their place, and were not ‘out there’ now as transsexuals who – as moralists have argued – contribute to moral decay.
From a religious standpoint, transsexualism is forbidden. Islam permits hermaphrodites to undergo sex change operations so the person can choose to be either a female or male.
Forbidden are mukhannis – men who behave like women and dress like them, and even undergoing sex change surgery to become women.
Non-Muslim transsexuals fare slightly better than their Muslim counterparts, as there is no official ruling as with the Muslims, even though their religions also forbid such actions. If caught, they would be charged for cross dressing and indecent behaviour under Section 21 of the Minor Offences Act 1955.
A Muslim man caught cross dressing can be charged under Section 28, Syariah Criminal Offences (FT) Act 1997, for immoral behaviour, and is liable to a fine not exceeding RM1,000 or to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both.

That`s how it is. Seems like there is a lot to change and improve. But instead to rules are becoming even more rigid.

Technorati: ladyboys transsexual malaysia pondans laki lembut mak nyah rights law

Ladies and Gentlemen: Tammy!

2008-07-22T01:30:00.000-07:00

It`s time again to introduce on more of my friends to you: Tammy. She is 27 and a preety calm one. She`s laughing a lot and once in a while she comes up with jokes that are so sarcastic that I could never make them up.
Two months ago she has changed her job and now works in a nice guesthouse in the Khao San Road area, where she is doing a pretty good job. No one of the customers treats her differnet, may be because westerners can not tell that she is a Ladyboy or just don`t expect it.
She is more the type for relaxed activities such as long dinners with friends or going to the movies. She is also a good shopping partner and always gives good advice, what to buy.
A couple of weeks ago she broke up with her boyfriend with who she had been together with for some years. You could not tell that she was sad and nobody of the others knew about the end of her long-term relationsship. She just told it to me and I tried my very best to cheer her up again.
Today, she can laugh again.

Technorati: thailand thai ladyboy katoey kathoey tammy khao san

Where does the hate come from?

2008-07-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

A pretty unsettling thin happened to me last Saturday: As I wrote in an earlier post, I joined a volunteer paramedic service in Bangkok. We where called out to famous Khao San Road and found a Ladyboy lying unconsciuos and obviously pretty intoxicated on the sidewalk while her friend – a Ladyboy, too – tried her best to comfort her. I knew them both as we are close friends. There was not much that we could do to help her than waiting until the alcohol left her blood. She never drinks and a couple of sips at a Saeng Som-Cocktail had been enough to knock her out.
We just could cool her forehead with a cool towel and protect her dignity. As I mentioned in that earlier post, nobody in the mostly male staff of our medical team cares whether someone is male, female or a Ladyboy. They were all very caring for that young lady who really must have felt terrible (I talked to her for more than an hour the next day, and she really felt miserable) lying helplessly on the ground.
Than a guy, by his accent obviously British, approached me, looked down on our young Katoey patient and asked me: „Is he alright?“ I replied, that she was not in a good condition but we were taking care of her. He asked me ones more if „he“ was alright emphasizing the male pronoun even more. He kept on doing this until I had enough. Maybe he felt smart, that he regognized my usually very beautiful friend as a Ladyboy. But he way he looked down on her and and how he made fun of her made me loose my politeness and I told him to fuck off and called him an asshole.
He might have been drunk, but even then he has no right to disrespect a person on the ground bei it a ladyboy, boy or girl.
But when I turnde around I gladly recognized that not all people around the world are like this – at least in Thailand they are not, as my paramedic friends carefully refreshed her with a wet towel and gave her a massage in order to bring her back to life and grace.

Technorati: hate disrespect ladyboy katoey thai thailand khao san road

Another young Transsexual murdered

2008-07-06T18:47:00.001-07:00

Sad news today. Another beautiful Transgender has been shot in Southeast Memphis at July 1st. She went by the name of Ebony was just 20 years old.
Ebony's mug-shot, taken during a previous arrest for prostitution, shows a beautiful young African-American woman, with reddish streaks in her long blonde hair, arched brows, perfectly applied eyeshadow and lip liner and a gold necklace with tiny butterflies on it.
The most probable reason that led to her death is certainly that she ran across a man who wanted female company. And he thought he had a beautiful young lady. And in the midst of the moment, he found out Ebony wasn't a woman and got mad and shot her.
Another case of “gay panic” that we reported earlier about in the Gwen Araujo Story.

Technorati: hate crime gay panic memphis murder transgender transsexual ebony

Thai Katoey vs. Western Transsexual

2008-07-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of discussions about the difference between Thai Katoey and Western Transsexuals or Shemales (or whatever you want to call them). At first I thought we were all the same as Victoria looks and behaves pretty much like the other Thai „girls of the second kind“. But after some time she told me about a lot of differences, that she heard of during her time in the West and we started to compare the situation with each other. Here is the result:

I think the most apparent is the nomenclature of us. The word Katoey has so many meanings and facets. We already wrote a post about that a long time ago. But being a Transsexual is just a very definite thing - a real girl born in a male body.

Then there is the issue of behavior.
Katoey in Thailand often behave pretty exaggerated effeminate and loud, at times obscene and colorful.
In Western civilizations this kind of behavior seems rather reserved to the transvestites and Drag Queens as the Transsexuals try to live their lives as girls and especially in rather intolerant societies like the US they live their lives even after their full transition in „deep stealth“ which means that they let nobody know, what they had been in an earlier life.

Then there is he fact about sexual preference.
A Thai Katoey identifies herself as Katoey because she has a crush on boys and being into girls is hardly prevalent in the Katoey community. As Victoria told me this is completely different in the West. A lot of Transsexuals have had female partners before and even try to keep them during their transition. Even without having a wife or girlfriend many Transsexuals are into girls.

Then there is he age when people start their transition.
As being Katoey can be lived so open in Thai society most of the Katoey find out what they are at, an very early age. They just have to meet with their neighbor’s „daughter“, who might be a Ladyboy, to recognize that there are more than two genders and being Katoey might bet he answer to the girlish feelings inside ones heart.
In the West this is not the case. Of course most of the Transsexuals over there had the feeling that they were girls at heartat a young age, too, but most often due to the intolerance and ignorance of the societies that they live in and because of the fact, that there is nobody to take their hand and lead them to their new lives, they will only start their transition very late - mostly during their 30s, 40s or even 50s. This step then of course takes a lot of courage which I pay a lot of respect to. Of course there are also younger transsexuals in western countries but they are very rare and have a lot of difficulties too as being a transgender might be even harder as kids are a lot crueler than adults. Anyway, that is he group that Victoria counts herself to, as she had been a girl from early childhood on.
Then there is the thing about beauty. Most of the winners of Ladyboy beauty contests in Thailand are in their late teens and the older once in their late twenties hardly have a chance to win. This is also because the Thai society is much younger than those in western countries. So there are a lot more young people around than in the west which also coins the perspective on age and beauty.
In the West it is nearly the other way round. Many – even those transsexuals who start at a young age - need more time to develop their selves. So when they are young they might be cute, but real beauty unfolds only after a couple of years. The best example is the 2006 winner of Miss International Queen who was as far as I can remember a 36 year old Mexican transsexuals

But even if there might be some differences between us, we must not forget, that we have more in common than „normal“ people. Being Katoey or Transsexual easily builds bridges to other civilizations. Bridges that „normal“ people don’t have.

Technorati: difference katoey transsexual culture transgender kathoey shemale victoria comparison

How Do Ladyboys Grow Old?

2008-07-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

Almost all of the foreigners, that travel to Thailand will always only see the young Ladboys at their different workplaces. A lot of people have been asking already the question about the old Katoey. Where are they? The answer is not so simple as not all Ladyboys are growing old the same way. If they have not been able to make some money during their youth they will probably be back in their villages in the country and just live the life of the poor people. But if they were successful in life and managed to make a good deal of money in their earlier years they might be getting older just like "real" women do. A couple of days ago there had been an article about this in the Singaporean Electric New Paper, that I first did not want to post here, but it kept me thinking for some days and now here it is.

There is also a nice introduction by famous blogger on Transgender issues Monica Roberts that explains a bit about the backgrounds. She`s doing it so good, that I allowed myself to just take it from her blog. Check it out:

TransGriot Note: In the 50's, 60's and 70's, the undisputed home of the
most beautiful transwomen in Asia was Singapore. Ground Zero to find them was
the various clubs on Bugis Street. In the mid 80's the Singaporean government
tore up the area to build a subway station. The reconstruction of the area put
an abrupt end to the world famous nightlife that had evolved over the past three
decades. In the process, Thailand became the Asian capital for transgender
nightlife and as the Singaporean government discovered, grabbed the tourist
dollars that came with it. Here's an interesting article about some of the
ladies and how they are gracefully aging.

From the Electric New Paper:

In the mid-1980s, she was a model, and then a fashion coordinator, and later, she took the stage as a performer at the Boom Boom Room.
Now, at 42, she says: 'Darling, those days are over.'
Miss Amy Tashiana, a transsexual, looks you in the eye and is perfectly open about discussing her life.
She said: 'We have gone through the extremes to get to who we are, fight to live as who we feel we should be. So it is natural that we grow over the years to become very tough and fiercely independent. 'In order for a man to come along to match that and share companionship, you need someone who is really, really big.'
Does that mean loneliness as they grow older?
Some of the first generation Bugis street transsexuals and transvestites are in their 60s today, like Mr Abdul Khalid Othman, the 61-year-old who was murdered, allegedly by a lover less than half his age.
One transsexual in her mid-50s said: 'When you grow older, sex is no longer important. Like normal people, we seek companionship.'
Some from Bugis Street left to open clothing and jewellery shops, but return occasionally to visit the 'sisters'.
When this reporter first met MissTashiana in 2001, it was at a talent management company. Then, everyone called her a diva.
But when The New Paper on Sunday met her again last week at a hawker stall, she looked very different.
She was tidying up the food stall, pushing a cart, with curry stains on her white T-shirt.
When asked how come she looked so different from her days of glamour, she replied: 'No lah, just helping my friend out at her stall for a few days.
'Still glam!'
She laughed, pulling at her cream-coloured shorts.
And she added: 'This is Prada, leh.'
So, was she once the queen of Orchard Towers?
She explained: 'Orchard Towers is a beginning for many of us. Everyone has a beginning when they learn to be a woman.
'Some were teenage girls in secondary school having crushes on boys, learning how to wear heels and put on make-up, and slowly maturing to become a woman.
'We don't have that luxury of time. So we jumpstart our lives at Orchard Towers, dressing flamboyantly, wearing every accessory we can, eager to show breasts and other assets. But that is just the beginning. Nobody wants to be there their whole lives.'
Where, then? With a man?
'After all the people I met in my life, I would find typical Singaporean men extremely boring,' she said.
'We would have nothing to talk about. I need someone bordering towards the extreme.'
There are those who find love.
Said Madam Fiona, 55, (not her real name), a transsexual happily married to a Singaporean: 'The men have to be very strong to stand for his right to love whom he wants.'
Some have gone overseas. In Europe, for instance, they find more acceptance in society.
Another transsexual, Madam Shanu Rekha, who is also in her 50s, is married to a European man 20 years younger. They live in Denmark with two adopted children.
Miss Tashiana herself has been single since 2005, after two serious relationships of three years with a Singaporean and an English man. Around the time of her last breakup, she bought herself a three-room flat in Eunos. Owning her own place is a dream come true.
It's a neat and cozy place, with dark wood furniture, where she lives with at least two well-fed cats.
She has paid off her breast implants and sex-change operation. And now, she is gaining in years gracefully.
Discos don't gel with her lifestyle any more. She said: 'I don't hit Zouk. I stay home and relax, go to photo exhibitions and art galleries. My health is the most important. I do intend to have a boyfriend but I am more fussy about letting a person into my life.'
There is no such thing as 'auntiehood' according to MissTashiana.
'I live my life to the best of my ability. Depression can hit anyone, even married women. If you go along with it, you will age,' she said.
She does not crave having her own family but thrives on the support of a tightly-knit group of middle-aged transsexual friends, much like how the characters from Sex And The City lean on each other and value their friendships as they near 50.
'And I am thankful I don't have to deal with things like pregnancy, menstrual cycles and menopause,' she said.
But like so many of the Bugis Street transsexuals who have gone overseas, she too is planning to venture abroad for love, perhaps when she hits 50.
'I just have to give myself a chic, short crop and I will look younger than most people my age in a European city. Singapore is too small,' she said.
'Look at the older Singaporean men looking for China women or going to Batam to look for mistresses.
'What about me? I can go to Europe, find someone younger than me by 20 years.'
Referring to Mr Abdul's murder, she added: 'Don't isolate him in his situation. The chee ko pek (Hokkien for dirty old man) exists in everyone. Not just transvestites and transsexuals.
'People mix with those who are younger to make themselves feel younger. You want to buy a product that's better than yourself.'

Congratulations about this to article to the author Mindy Tan

Technorati: ladyboys old transsexual singapore bugis street diva katoey

Miriam Rivera: „I have the best of both worlds“

2008-07-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

I know that Nong Duu does not want me to post that much about the transsexual superstar Miriam Rivera. But once in a while I just want to, because Miriam is a shemale latina like myself and I feel some kind of symapthy for her. Also I like the attitude that she expresses in that video: Just easy going without wasting time on depressions and the question what you are. We just have the best of both worlds.

Check out the video:

Technorati: Miriam rivera transsexual latina video shemale

Video: Young Ladyboy Bun doing her Make-up

2008-07-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

I had this video ready for some time already and I don`t know myself why I did not post it. I have already been writing a little about Bun. She is just nice and for us like a puppy. She is also a close friend from Nicky.

Check out the video:

Technorati: young ladyboy bun katoey kathoey thai thailand video

Ladyboy Massage

2008-06-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

Of course that headline sounds a little sexy and even sleazy, but this is what this post is actually about. Getting a traditional massage by a Ladyboy.
Recently I have been trying to work-out at the gym as often as I can during the week to get my body in shape fort he upcoming beauty contest season. And while I am there at the gym I really try to exploit myself. So much that I sometimes can hardly walk the next day.
So I decided to visit a massage parlour and get me a traditional Thai foot massage. This kind of service is pretty cheap in Thailand and especially in the area where I live, there are lots of those salons, which keeps the price for an one-hour-massage pretty low at only 100 Baht (3 Dollars). A foot massage does not only include the feet but also the legs and even your arms, back and neck if you wish. Of course there is nothing sex related in those treatments (as some of the readers might think, when they read the term „Thai-massage“).
Usually customers will get their massage by a member of the opposite sex if the respective staff is available, which means men will get their massage from a woman and women are treated by men. Of course ladyboy customers will get their massage from a man, too.
So when I go to the parlour a man will be assigned to me. But in my opinion some are sometimes to rough and their hands are just too strong, although I know that a good massage that is of use for my aching muscles has to hurt at times.
So the next time I asked to get my massage from a woman. But that felt sometimes a little uncomfortable and tickled.
Then one day I spotted a Ladyboy in the staff and asked to get my massage from her. And that was perfectly right, because a Ladyboy has „the best of both worlds“ (sorry for using a sleazy term again).
Soft hands that just make you feel comfortable but strong enough to really work your muscles when needed. Also she you won`t make you feel uncomfortable if she touches areas where a Ladyboy would feel uncomfortabele if touched by men or women, because she knows about it.
Since then I really became addicted to those massages and now I am not going to the massage because I had been at the gym before but go to the gym because I want to have that massage.
There´s nothing bad about allowing a little comfort in your life, right?

Techorati: Ladboy massage thai thailand foot comfort best of both worlds

Transsexual Superstar Miriam Rivera thanks Fan for Tribute Video

2008-06-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

After Miriam has fully recovered frrom the brutal attack on her life in March 2007, she has surfed the web and found a video on YouTube that was made as a tribute to her by one of her fans. She felt very touched about that work and asked her represantative to contact the fan, who created that tribute video to thank him for his good work. I guess this must have been an extraordinary day fort his fan, to get feedback from Miriam.

Have a look at the video and you will see, why Miriam has been touched. You just have too be:

Technorati: transsexual miriam rivera video tribute superstar

Discussion about the Ladyboy Restrooms in Thailand

2008-06-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

After the News was published that a highschool in northeartern Thailand established toilets for Katoey some English language Bloggers in Thailand picked up that topic. It didn`t take long until a discussion evolved about whether this was a good thing or not and many questions remained unanswered, as most of the people who commented are not Ladyboys themselves.
It was then Matt from the pretty well-known blog „The Lost Boy“ who wanted to present his readers a more accurate evaluation and asked me to write a post about the issue, that he would publish on his blog.
I did so and wrote a little about my point of view. I called it „Girl at Heart“ as I had to explain also the differences and the many facets of Ladyboy life.

Technorati: katoey restroom ladyboy thailand thai bathroom toilet blog

Videos on the Phet Ti Saam Ladyboy Blog

2008-06-26T08:01:00.001-07:00

All videos that we have published on our blog.Just click on the title to get right to the video.

Ladyboy (Freak) Shows

Video: Transsexual Superstar Miriam Rivera a.k.a Miriam Xtravaganza

Ladyboy Opals latest video – Funny Ladyboy Opal

The Phet Ti Saam Ladyboys at the beauty contest

Do you wonder where Ladyboys come from?

Ladyboy Opal hits the Gong

Opal - My first video

Young ladyboy Bun

Miriam Rivera: "I have the best from both worlds"

Pictures on the Phet Ti Saam Ladyboy-Blog

2008-06-26T03:53:00.001-07:00

List of the nicest and most popular picture posts on Phet Ti Saam. Just click on the title to get right to the post with more pictures and the background infos.

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong Ladyboy Ban

Kate at the river

Opal as business woman

More of Nueng`s Picture

Ladies and Gentleman: Nueng!

Ladyboy Opal making faces

Ladyboy Beauty Contest on Ko Chang – Pictures Part 3

Young Ladyboy Bun

Pictures from the Ladyboy Beauty Contest on Ko Chang - Part 2

True Tenderness among Thai Ladyboys

Ladyboys, behave please!

Ladyboy Opal likes Jokes

Ladyboys just wanna have fun

Why Ladyboys stick together

Ladies and Gentleman: Opal!

Ladyboys love Volleyball

Can Ladyboys Love One Another?

The Gwen Araujo Story

The Gwen Araujo Story Part II

The Gwen Araujo Story Part III
´

The Gwen Araujo Story - End

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong Ladyboy Ban

Technorati: katoey katoy thai thailand ladyboys picture images

Ladies and Gentleman: Nueng!

2008-06-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Some months have passed since we last introduced one of our friends to our dear readers. The last time it had been Opal and today it will be Nueng. She is 20 years old but frankly spoken behaves often younger. At the moment she works as a waitress in a guesthouse in Bangkok`s Banglampoo area.
Most often when we go out with other ladyboys she stays at home as she saves her money for a new mobile phone which really is her hobby and it`s almost impossible to hang around with Nueng without having your photo taken with her cellphones camera. If no human beings are in sight she even takes photos of stray dogs in the streets and and would not impress me if someone told me that he had seen Nueng taking a photo of a white wall.Of course she loves her photo to be taken to, which ist the reason why her photos today have been taken with my mobile phone, too.The most incredible feature of Nueng is sure the amount of food she can consume. Although she is pretty slender, she ist the one who doesn`t stop eating when we go out to have ne of those 99 Baht-All-You-Can-Eat dinners.But no matter how much she eats – she never gains a kilo.
Not long ago there had been some kind of crisis with Nueng: A European tourist had fallen in love with her and he took her out for dinner and romantic walks on the riverbanks of Chao Praya River.He had no idea that she was a ladyboy. And Nueng did not tell him, maybe because she enjoyed it so much to be romanced.It had been me who persuaded her to reveal what she really is and who typed the text message to tell that admirer as her English is not so good. I also told her that I believed in that she has to tell the boys what she is, if she senses that someone really fell in love with her. Otherwise the guy would be very heartbroken and the situation might easily become aggressive but at least pretty frustated. That was exactly what happened after her adorer received the message I had written. He was so dissapointed that he packed his bags the same day and left the country. He promised that he would never ever come back to Thailand as this place had broken his heart.I found it a little overacted and the strong reaction made Nueng pretty sad.
It helped a little that I and the other sisters told her that his feelings had not been real because if he really loved her for more than her body and her nice features, he would not have left her just because she is not a born girl but a „women of the second kind“. At least she understood how impotant it is to be honest about herself.Anyway, that intermezzo has left no scars with her. She is as silly as she had been before and whenever I come to visit her at her work she never Stopps hugging and cuddling with me as she is really besotted with me.

Technorati: nueng ladyboy thai thailand portrait katoey

A Ladyboys´s integration

2008-06-23T14:03:00.001-07:00

Every now and then I am really amazed how far the integration of ladyboys in Thailands institutions and organisations goes. Last month I joined the volunteer medical service and I was a little bit scared how the rest of the team would embrace me. In western countries the medical service and firefighters are one of the most conservative institutions – beside the military. In Thailand this can bet he complete opposite. I have to admit that the members of the rescue team first did not know that I am a transsexual. I guess they were just happy to have a foreign girl who can speak english in their ranks to help them to treat foreign patients. Of course they later found out mostly because I wanted them to know. I can`t really tell when they recognized becuse I never sensed a change in their behavior. I knew I had to reveal it at least wehn I had to show them my passport – which has a „M“ as the sex entry - to get the Thai paramedic license.
Since then I spend a lot of time with the team and I never experienced strange behavior. They treat me like they treat all the other girls on the team. Maybe they even take care about me a little more (which is nice). They also offerd another Katoey friend of mine to join the service, too. So, this means they did not just make an exception form e, but a kinds of people are welcome.
I have to add that the manners among the team are more polite than people behave. I guess it has been not so much important what me and my friends are, but that we behaved and talked in a polite way and manner, which is most necessary in interpersonal communication in Thailand.For me this means that there are no reservations for a ladyboy in Thailand to integrate in organisations. It semms to be more important what kind of person you are and how you interact with your environment than what you are. Of course there are still a lot (too many) jobs and posititions in Thai society that are closed for katoey just because they are katoey. Thats pretty sad, but my recent experiences make me confident that things and people can change.

Technorati: ladyboy katoey katoy integration society thai thailand organisation institution tolerance

Additon to Yesterday`s „Ladyboy Toilet“ Post

2008-06-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wrote, that I would travel some time upcountry and visit that Kampang Highschool where they introduced toilets for transsexual students.
Fortunately it looks as if someone already went there and took these shots, that were published in the Pattaya Daily News. I hope our dear readers recognize how close my design of that toilet sign, that I painted yesterday, comes to the real one.

Technorati: thai thailand katoey transsexual ladyboy toilet restroom right law

That`s nice - Thai Ladyboy Students get their own restrooms

2008-06-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

I just found that piece in yesterdays West Australien. That sounds nice and also shows our readers how open Thai society treats their Ladyboys. Of course there are still a lot of other problems to solve but schools having restrooms especially for Katoey is a first step. It also shows that Thailands Northeast - as poor and sometimes backward as it might be - has a special attitude towards the Third Sex:

From the West Australian:

A secondary school in rural Thailand has designed a new bathroom that it calls a “transvestite toilet” for its growing community of cross-dressers.
The Kampang School in northeastern Thailand conducted a survey last term that showed more than 200 of the school’s 2600 students considered themselves transvestites, said school director Sitisak Sumontha.
So, when classes resumed in May, the school unveiled a unisex restroom designated by a human figure split into two, half man in blue, and half female in red. Below the figure, it says, “Transvestite Toilet”.
Three transgender students praised the new restroom as they plucked their eyebrows and applied face powder in front of the mirror outside the stalls.
“I’m so happy about this,” Vichai Sangsakul, a teenager with a pixie hairdo pulled back with a pink barrette, told Thailand’s PBS new channel on Tuesday.
“It looks bad going to female restrooms. What would other people think?”
Most rural Thais are conservative in many ways but the trailblazing toilet initiative at the school in northeastern Sisaket province reflects another aspect of Thai society - its tolerance of the country’s very visible transsexual and transvestite community.
“These students want to be able to go to the restroom in peace without fear of being watched, laughed at or groped,” said school director Sitisak Sumontha.
Using female restrooms made some of the other students uncomfortable and using the men’s room often resulted in harassment, he said.
“They don’t have problems with transvestites but going to the same private area, like a toilet, makes them uneasy,” he said.
“The transvestite kids may behave even more effeminately than the girls do but their anatomy is still like that of a boy.”
He said the concept reflected a growing need at Thai schools and universities.
Kampang is not Thailand’s first educational institution to set up transvestite washrooms, though Sitisak said he believed it was a first for a secondary school.
A 1500-student technical college in the northern province of Chiang Mai set up a “Pink Lotus Bathroom” for its 15 transvestite students in 2003.
Deputy Education Minister Boonlue Prasertsopar recently said the ministry plans to count the number of transvestite university students.
He said he was not promoting trans-gender interests “but if there are a lot of them in a university and it’s a problem, we may have to consider building toilets and dormitories for them”.

Up to now I could not locate that school. But as I am travelling quite often up-country I will take some photos and have a look at those new Ladyboy bathrooms

Technorati: thai thailand katoey transsexual ladyboy toilet restroom right law

Katoey Pride – You`re beautiful

2008-05-22T18:28:00.001-07:00

You are beautiful no matter what they say Words can't bring you down You are
beautiful in every single way Yes, words can't bring you down Don't you bring me
down today...

That`s a short, but the most essential part of Christina Aguilera´s song „Beautiful“.
A couple of months ago I read in another blog that the author called for „Ugly Ladyboys“ to stay at home and not show in public. That is a pretty humiliating claim.I have a lot of ladyboy friends who are not exactly beautiful but most of them are the most reliable, honest and true people that I ever met. They are beautiful – much more then many of the ladyboy beauty queens – their beauty is just on the inside.
It is already enough that these girls (yes, they are girls, too) are mocked in Thai language as „Katoey Kwaai“ which means „Buffalo Ladyboys“.
Not everybody of us is gifted by nature but of course everybody tries very hard. Still, some unfortantely never fully succeed.
Then who ist he judge about what is beautiful and what not? Then, what are the criteria for beauty? Is it the size of the tits? The features of the face? The firmness of the ass? Or is it maybe also intellect and trueness?I`d rather call a not so beautiful but smart and real katoey my friend than a beauty with half a dozen of make-up layers that is just as smart as a brick.
If you call for not-beautiful ladyboys to stay out of public, then what about the „real“ girls? There are a lot of them that really hurt one`s eyes.
Last but not least: What about the fat, unshaven farang men, that take a shower at best every other day? Just live and let live- that`s all I am asking for.

Technorati: katoey kathoey thai thailand beauty pride

Annoying ladyboy behavior

2008-05-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

In this blog we sure don`t want to write lopsided post on ladyboy life just because we are ladyboys ourselves. I think it is time for some self-criticism otherwise we would not be authentic:

For the last couple of weeks I often went out to party with a good friend who is kathoey. I think she is a sweet and pretty reliable person. It is fun going out with her and dance. The little problem is: She makes a living by selling her body. Not that she was a street-hooker. No, definetly not. She picks up her guys in clubs and bars. And there is the dilemma: When I go out to party I do it with the intention of having a fun night out. So does she, but as soon as there is an opportunity to get a man, she will take it. First, I did not recognize that behavior so much, because basically there is nothing bad about flirting and even spend the night with a nice man. But for me it is not a basic necessity. Sometimes I am just standing in a club and chatting with a nice guy, who does not even know that I am a transsexual. We are just having a nice conversation, when my friend suddenly spots us and immediately starts to heavily flirt with him. The problem is that she does it just too much, so everybody around us and the man will know that she is not a real girl and because I am her friend I might be one neither. Sometimes the guy will just turn around and talk to somebody else. Not because we are ladyboys, but just for the reason that my friend showed such an annoying behavior.
Even worse: If that friend is successful and gets of with the guy, she leaves me alone – sometimes even without telling me. But I had wanted to spend the evening without company, I would have come alone and not with a friend. Even worse is that after going to clubs and bars with her, people in the area start to think that I was a hooker, too, which I am certainly not. I already asked her to stop that aggressive flirting, but she just won`t listen. As far as I know she has been in the business for some years already and I can image that it`s almost like a reflex with her. As soon as she sees a chance to get a guy, she will take it.My other ladyboy friends told me last week, that they won`t go out with me if this person comes with us, because she would embarrass them. At first I thought they were overreacting but after some nights I found out that it was true.
But what am I supposed to do now? Is reputation worth more than friendship? I am not quite sure how to deal with that. For the last couple of days I tried to ignore her calls and pretended that I was staying at home. But in the long term that`s not fair.
Should I tell her, that I can not be friend with her because she embarrasses me? That would make her pretty sad. I really don`t know. Any suggestions?

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand kathoey transsexual friendship

Ronaldo and his Encounter of the Third Sex

2008-05-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Ronaldo is sure not the only one who had unwillingly a "Third Sex Encounter" but it might have been a record in terms of loss of money because besides loosing his girlfriend he also lost a pretty lucrative advertsing contract. But what is the scandal actually about?
In my opinion it is rather the fact that Ronaldo who is a role model for thousands of soccer youngsters around the world had now been accused of taking drugs and having late night fun with prostitutes.
But this would just make some kind of everyday news. Only the fact that the three hookers were transsexuals makes the story newsworthy.
But in fact just is the only fact that should NOT disturb anybody. Now Ronaldo says: "I am not gay." Sure, he is not, cause if he was he would have picked three men, that look like men, instead of three pretty female brazilian transsexuals. I already wrote a whole post about that topic. But just to make sure everybody gets it right: Men who love ladyboys are not gay!
But back to the brazilian soccer star. It is said that it had been early morning when ROnaldo picked his company for having some fun. I wonder how he could not know that he got some transsexuals, because they sure were not the kind of girl that Ronaldo is used to. Maybe he knew and really wanted to have some fun - in that case he picked the right girls.

Technorati: brazil transsexual tansvestite beautiful ronaldo

Ladyboy Opal making faces

2008-04-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hey, Opal! What`s that? Stop making faces….

Ahh, That`s much better. A nice smile and everybody will love you.

Technorati: ladyboy opal pics fun katoey kathoey thai thailand

Video: Transsexual Superstar Miriam Rivera a.k.a Miriam Xtravaganza

2008-04-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Only a short clip of the shemale Superstar Miriam Rivera but it shows some rare pics of her.

Technorati: miriam rivera xtravaganza transsexual superstar shemale video transgender

Ladyboy Opals latest video – Funny Ladyboy Opal

2008-04-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

It has been some time since we published the last video from Opal. This one won`t be something special but it shows Opal the way she is: She loves jokes and playing around.
Check it out:

Technorati: video katoey opal ladyboy fun katoy

Getting things straight about castration and sex change surgery for Ladyboys

2008-04-09T02:27:00.000-07:00

After reading the reading one of the worst researched articles ever, I think I have to explain some things about the recent ban of cosmetic castration for Thai ladyboys.
The Thai Ministry of Health banned only the castration surgery not the sex reassignment surgery – the so called sex change.
In fact the ministry aimed to ban the backroom surgery during which only the testes are removed. This has been because several doctors conducted that cut on under age ladyboys without their parents knowing.
So there is no „direct defiance” as that pretty bad article by Marianne Kearney says. Also wrong is the statement, that a sex change operation costs in Thailand only “as little as 4,000 baht or £64”.
This is the price for only the castration surgery. The discussion in the foreign media was again – like always when it is related to ladyboys – very confusing. Castration got mixed with the sex reassignment surgery, transvestites became transsexuals and the other way round.
With just a little more web research it is not difficult to write a nice article about the ban. A coverage that is more confusing than providing information and even wrong inb the facts helps nobody – especially not the ladyboys and their doctors in Thailand.

Technorati: castration sex reassignment surgery SRS kathoey thai thailand ladyboys

No more castrations for teenage ladyboys

2008-04-02T22:47:00.000-07:00

It had become like some kind of a trend. Early castration when a ladyboy is still in her teens. Doing so, many ladyboys hope that it will keep their body from developing male features. This may be right, but there are a lot of side effects, that the doctors who conduct these rather small surgeries in their backroom for just 4000 Baht (=120 US$), never talk about. And the young ladyboys don’t know anything about that, too. They just want to have it, because another ladyboy friend had it done and says it`s cool. It`s the kind of peer pressure that teenagers experience whatever gender they are. But when it comes to castration becoming a trend then it`s getting dangerous.
They will age faster than usual, growing taller, but with fragile bones, tend to listlessness and get easily fat. Also they will rather develop depressions.
Most often their parents don`t know, what their will-be-daughters are up to and when they open up after the surgery, the damage is done.
There is he demand fort he surgery and some money to be made. So there will always be an unethical doctor who will conduct the surgery without telling his young katoey patient about the dangers.
Now, the Health Ministry wrote to 16,000 hospitals throughout the country temporarily banning castrations for cosmetic purposes. According to a ministerial committee overseeing hospitals and clinics, boys below the age of 18 have been submitting to the surgery in the mistaken belief that it represents a cheap alternative to a full sex-change operation. The operation takes about 20 minutes and is easy to carry out in secret.
The Gay Political Group of Thailand has campaigned for greater regulation of the industry and an end to the castration of juveniles. “It's a totally wrong perception that castration will make boys more feminine,” its head, Natee Teerarojjanapongs, told the Bangkok Post. “These youngsters should wait until they are mature enough to thoroughly consider the pros and cons of such an operation.”

Technorati: thai ladyboy kathoey beauty teenage katoey young thailand gay political group

Ladyboy Beauty Contest on Ko Chang – Pictures Part 3

2008-03-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

The last part of the pics of the Ladyboy beauty contest on Ko Chang.
Check it out:

Technorati: ladyboy katoey katoy beauty contest schönheit wettebwerb ko chang bilder thai thailand transsexuell shemale

Young Ladyboy Bun

2008-03-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

Just another friend of our big clique of ladyboys: Bun.
She is just 17 and is now growing her hair. She has been taking hormones for some years already with obvious results as you can see in the pictures of her.
She is one of the more feminine types and fun to hang around with.
We also have a video of her, which we will publish during the next weeks.

Check out her pics:

Technorati: thai ladyboy kathoey beauty bun katoey young

Ladyboys become a new category in Thai army

2008-03-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Thailand's military will stop branding transsexual conscripts as mentally disturbed, and will list them in a new "third category" as neither male nor female, a senior officer said Wednesday. Thai men are required to report for the draft once they turn 21. Under the current system, transsexuals are rejected as suffering from "a mental disorder."
Gay rights groups complained that the label penalises transsexuals for the rest of their lives, because men are required to prove if they have completed their national service when they apply for jobs or bank loans.
When transsexuals submit their military rejection forms declaring they have a mental disorder, they are automatically disqualified from many jobs and mortgages.
Lieutenant General Somkiat Suthivaiyakij, head of the defence ministry's Reserve Command Department, said the military would immediately stop using the mental disorder label.
The military is trying to find a new word for a "third category" that is neither male nor female, that would not discriminate against transsexuals, he said.
Until the army decides on the new category, transsexual conscripts will be turned away with a form saying they have an illness that cannot be cured within 30 days.
"It's a temporary measure to deal with the problem as the defence and interior ministries work on a permanent solution," Somkiat told AFP.
To qualify for the third category, transsexuals will have to report for the draft for three years in a row to prove they are really trying to live as women, he added.
The annual draft takes place in April, and transsexuals make up less than one percent of the conscripts each year, Somkiat said.

Source: AFP

Technorati: thai thailand military army kathoey katoey katoy ladyboy

Not all Ladyboys are Prostitutes

2008-03-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

Sure most of the foreigners meet us ladyboys only in the tourist areas and unfortunately a majority of ladyboys either works as waiters or….as hookers.
But those how are prostitutes are just a very small percentage of all Katoey.
I can not understand why so many people think just because I am a ladyboy I must be a prostitute.
And this perception is not limited only to foreigners. Also Thai people think that way sometimes. For example:
I had to work late during the last weeks so if I wanted to go out I could not leave my room before 10 or 11 p.m. People on the street saw me a couple of times going out late and I could her them talk about me: “She`s a hooker, right.”
This made me feel very sad, as of course I never ever worked in that business. Instead I am a very hard working girl working in a common job like millions of other Thai people.
Also, when I go to a tourist place and just sit down with my friends, I will sometimes be asked by a foreigner how I earn my money. But in a different why than one would usually ask someone for his vocation. I can hear these sounds in between very well.
I don`t have any figures on how many Katoey work in the sex business. I guess there is a higher percentage of Katoey working as prostitutes than Women. This then is because we are excluded from many jobs that men or women could do.

Technorati: ladyboy prostitutes katoey katoy kathoey sex work

New Video - Ladyboy Opal hits the Gong

2008-03-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

It was on a village festival in Opals village. As part of the celebrations there had been a parade, too. And Opal likes parades, especially when it is a reason to dance and make noise.
Check out the video:

Technorati: thailand gong opal ladyboy parade video kathoey

Pictures from the Ladyboy Beauty Contest on Ko Chang - Part 2

2008-02-27T04:51:00.000-08:00

Technorati: opal ladyboy katoey kathoey beauty contest ko chang

Ladyboy Opal likes Jokes

2008-02-27T04:20:00.000-08:00

It’s always good to have my best friend Opal around as the spreads fun everywhere. She’s always good for a joke and I never met anyone more sarcastic than her.
We just love for that Opal.

Technorati: opal katoez fun joke ladyboy

Pictures from the Ladyboy Beauty Contest on Ko Chang – Part 1

2008-02-27T02:57:00.000-08:00

I don`t know myself, why I did not post those photos yet as they are pretty nice and I also have a lot of them. I even have so much that I have to split them on two blog posts. I hope you don’t mind. The beauty contest was a lot of fun. Opal and me started preparing everything already weeks before the event. We went to Bahulat market in Bangkok, where you can buy everything necessary. The jewelry, the dresses and shoes. We had our dresses tailored to order und even worked on them on our own together with the tailor. Most of the other contestants preferred more modern dresses, but Opal insisted on wearing a classic thai dress. A good choice, because that way I won the price for the nicest dress that evening.
Can you spot Opal?

Check out the first part of the pics:

Technorati: thai ladyboy kathoey beauty contest katoey ko chang

True Tenderness among Thai Ladyboys

2008-02-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Maybe it is because so many people are treating us rough and often reduce us to sexual objects. But if katoeys are among themselves they treat each other very fond and soft. There is a lot of hugging and holding hands and when we sleep together in one bed, we will often cross legs. So there is a lot of physical contact, that won`t find with other people. Everything is very close.
As an example I post today a picture of me kissing my friend Ay. It is not that we are a couple, but we are just very close friends.
Call it Ladyboy Love if you want.

Ladyboys, behave please!

2008-02-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

Ladies, behave please. I really have to admit, that some of my friends sometimes exaggerate when they show what they have. Especially on of my friends tends to get rid of her clothes and shows her sexyness. But in Thai society proper dressing in puplic is important and i really agree with that.
But what happens when you are in a good party mood and had a few drinks, nobody can predict.
At that evening at a Mor Lum-Dancing night in Udon Thani a policeman was not amused and asked my friend politly to put her top back on (she was wearing a bra of course).
No problem for us, as the officer did just his job and he would have told any other girl that misbehaved the same thing. We had fun anyway.

Jealousy and Ladyboys

2008-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, jealousy is very widespreaded amongst ladyboys and a can not say that I myself am not jealous on other ladyboys once in a while.
There are many different ways of being jealous on another ladyboy:

Being jealous on another ladyboys beauty

In one way or the other everything in katoey life is connected to beauty. Most of us try to achieve perfect beauty and there are many ladyboys around who are really close to that. If you are a good looking, feminine shemale you can be sure that many of your sisters are jealous on you. Sometimes even your closest friends.

Being jealous of a ladyboy that has a boyfriend

Of course there are thousands of nice men out there who really LOVE us ladyboys. Still it is very difficult for us to find the right partner or a partner at all. Most of the ladyboys are single although they have a strong desire to be loved by a man and have a partner.
So if one ladyboy is lucky and has a working relationship with a man, then the single ladyboys are really jealous of that. Even more than “real” girls.

Being jealous and a ladyboy that gets together with a man, that you like, too

Not such much to say about this point, as this is the same like with man and women, too. Seeing that somebody gets together with the one you like really hurts.

Being jealous and a ladyboy that gets together with a man, because you like HER

This kind of jealousy is rather rare and only occurs when one ladyboy loves another one. Then the thought that a man is about to secduce the one you love is almost unbearable and will drive you close to crazy. This happened to me already as there is one ladyboy that I really love. (More about that speciality in another post).

And of course there is the jealosy on all women, that got everything we are fighting for so hard throughout our lives for free. But that’s the way it is.

Our Ladyboy blog speeds up again

2008-01-25T06:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, looks like we did not post for some time. But this will sure change in the next weeks. Because there are so many topics on ladyboy life in Thailand that we did not write about yet – but sure we will, as this blog has been created to talk about every facet of katoey life.
During the last weeks we went through a lot of adventures (in good and bad ways) and we will tell you about that in the next upcoming posts?
We are getting a lot of feedback both for our blog and about our videos that we upload on our channel at YouTube. Thanks for that. Almost all the comments were very encouraging and we good a lot of respect for our blog.
Of course we don’t want to write just about anything that comes in our minds. In fact, we want to meet the interest of our readers. Therefore we would like to know what our dear readers want actually know about. So please give us some suggestions what you want to read in this blog. Just leave a comment to this post or write us an email to nongduu.phettisaam@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you from you all.

Thanks and kisses

The ladyboy blogging team from Phet Ti Saam

Our Ladyboy blog speeds up again

2008-01-25T05:04:00.000-08:00

Wow, looks like we did not post for some time. But this will sure change in the next weeks. Because there are so many topics on ladyboy life in Thailand that we did not write about yet – but sure we will, as this blog has been created to talk about every facet of katoey life.
During the last weeks we went through a lot of adventures (in good and bad ways) and we will tell you about that in the next upcoming posts?

We are getting a lot of feedback both for our blog and about our videos that we upload on our channel at YouTube. Thanks for that. Almost all the comments were very encouraging and we good a lot of respect for our blog.

Of course we don’t want to write just about anything that comes in our minds. In fact, we want to meet the interest of our readers. Therefore we would like to know what our dear readers want actually know about. So please give us some suggestions what you want to read in this blog. Just leave a comment to this post or write us an email to nongduu.phettisaam@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you from you all.

Thanks and kisses

The ladyboy blogging team from Phet Ti Saam

The Phet Ti Saam Ladyboys at the beauty contest

2007-12-07T04:34:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows about the big ladyboy beauty contest „Miss International Queen“ in Pattaya’s Tiffany. But did you know, that around this time of year, there are so many smaller katoey beauty contests all over Thailand? Of course the Phet Ti Saam-Bloggers took part in some of those contests, too, as we sure don’t need to hide and sometimes even win some prize. For us the contest season started already in September at a contest with 28 contestants on the beautiful island of Ko Chang. It was really fun and we met I lot of other ladyboys from Pattaya and Bangkok with who we went on parties during the contest days.

Then, on Loi Krathong day there was another even bigger ladyboy beauty contest in Nong Han in Udon Thani province. While on Ko Chang it had been pretty hot on the stage because of the spotlights, in Nong Han we were almost freezing to death on the stage as I was the cold season in the north. Fotunately, there were some nice women, who gave us hot water to drink and some nice boys supplied us with Lao Khao (Rice Liquor) to get us warm during the breaks.The contest in Nong Han was even nicer, as all the participants got a small cash prize. So everybody was happy. We entertained the audience with our dresses, sexiness, singing and dancing and therefore we got a couple hundred Baht to buy us drinks and party afterwards.
I guess that’s what you call a win-win situation.

We had fun anyway.

Check out our video (we got it finally finished):

Technorati: ladyboy beauty contest nong han thai thailand kathoey katoy

Ladyboys just wanna have fun

2007-12-04T03:28:00.000-08:00

It is often said, that people that are non-heterosexuals were a lot more hedonistic than straight people. Sure, gay people travel and party more and if they do so it is often easy to spot them.

Of course we ladyboys, too love to have fun and go out as often as possible. Then, it is of course easy to spot us as we will not just sit quietly on a table, sipping on a beer once in a while and mind our own business. In fact we like to dance and sing and unfortunately sometimes look a little to deep into our glasses.

I would not say that we are hedonistic or careless. Actually, we have to struggle very hard every day to live the way we chose to live, support our families and be good people. We have to accept that a lot of opportunities in life, that are always open for straight people, will never be accessible for us. Society accepts us being dancers and artists, so when we go out, we take that chance and dance and sing out loud all the stuff that worries us. This has also the benefit that it entertains the people around us.

I have to admit that sometimes we might get a little too noisy or too drunk, but doesn’t this happen to straight girls, too?

Technorati: ladyboys thai thailand fun party katoey

Shemale Superstar Miriam Rivera attacked and almost killed

2007-11-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

I’m shocked. Just yesterday Nong Duu told, that she had found a video on youtube stating that my idol, the transsexual superstar, Miriam Rivera aka Miriam Xtrvaganza had been attacked by a gay bsher and almost beaten to death. I could not believe. We got pictures of her on the walls of our room and now she was close to death. Nong Duu and me spend nearly the whole night yesterday to search the internet for more facts and news about Miriam`s condition.

It turned out that Miriam was hospitalized February 27 this year with multiple broken bones and internal bleeding after she was attacked with a hammer by one of her suitors and thrown from the 4th floor window of her New York apartment. Miriam was unconscious at the time she was taken to the hospital. Her injuries included in addition to internal bleeding two broken legs and multiple broken bones in her arms and minor brain injury..

Who can be that sick to attack such a beautiful human being –be it man or woman or transgender – with a hammer? That’s just like if somebody went to a meadow full of flowers, picks out the most beautiful one and beaks it.

I am so glad to report, that a little more research turned out that Miriam is back to normal. Shemales are strong and it takes a lot to bring us down: Miriam was thrown room the fourth floor and walks again.

Technorati: miriam rivera new york transgender transsexual shemale xtravaganza attack

Why Ladyboys stick together

2007-10-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

I know it is kind of the clicheè about ladyboys, that katoeys will always appear in groups. I thought about this for a while and when I think back of the last evenings when we went out it is true: We were never alone but at least a group of three. I am not sure why it is that way. Maybe it is because kathoey love to have fun (actually everybody does). And you can't deny that you will have more fun if you go out in a bigger group. Also, when you go out alone, than maybe people will look at you and talk about you. It is easier to deal with this, when you have friends around you you can talk with. Then there are many things just special with ladyboys that you can not talk about to to your female friends. Very katoey related stuff. They would not understand. Another point is, that we sometimes have a very rude kind of humour and a little too sexy way of talking. It is fund speaking our katoey dialect with each other.
For some people it might look a little scary to see an assembly of kathoey - but you can be sure (except in red light districts): We are just friends and will not behave impolite in any way. We just went out for having a good time.

Technorati: ladyboy katoey friensship friends clicheé, katoy

Do you wonder where Ladyboys come from?

2007-10-06T02:14:00.000-07:00

Most of the foreigners visiting Thailand will meet Ladyboys only already in the state of being Ladyboys 100%. But of course we didi not start our kathoey-careers like that. But alredy at very young age we begin to try out how to become a beautiful girl. Just like my beautiful friend Nicky, who is just 16 years old, but will become a beautiful women as she gets a little older. She has still to wear her hair short as she is still going to school.

Check out Nicky's video:

Technorati: nicky ladyboy kathoey thai thailand young ladyboys

Ladyboys in the center of interest at Carrefour on On Nut

2007-10-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday Opal and me came home from a day out shopping at Pratu Naam, where we spend the whole day buying nice clothes and make up - like the clichee expects us to do.
After struggeling the way back to our home with about 100 bags, we found that we were pretty hungry and decided to take a taxi to the Carrefour superstore at On Nut to shop for some more things for our household.
Of course we wanted to try all he stuff we bought that day and dressed up and went to Carrefour. There we were in the middle of all the people just wearing flip-flop shoes and T-shirts - like people usually do when they go to a grocery store. But we were dressed like queens.

Usually, when I go there alone nobody looks at me as everybody thinks I am a real girl. But yesterday in Carrefour it was pretty different, as we draw all the looks on us. I was wondering why. We were just dressed to beautiful for this shopping environment. So we got in the spotlight and then of course everybody started whispering: "puying lue puchai?" - woman or man. Of course we did not care as it was quite funny and we are already very used to situations like that for all of our lives. Also, we knew that people looked at us, because we were looking good, which is quite satisfying.

We did our shopping and had a very tasty dinner at the food court there. And we had fun.

Technorati: ladyboy katoy katoey transsexual carrefour pratu naam opal

Opal - My first video

2007-10-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

We promised it and we will keep it. Some of us are quite a bit shy to show themselves on the internet. But actually nobody of us needs to, as we are all quite beautiful. So I will be the first one to show my video here on our blog.

Check it out:

Technorati: ladyboy opal thai thailand video blog katoy kathoey

Ladies and Gentleman: Opal!

2007-09-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

We set up this blog to tell people about us and what life is like being a ladyboy. So now we will start to introduce ourselves to our dear readers. The first one will be me today:

My name is Opal and I am a 25 year old girl of the second kind. My lovely friends Victoria and Nong Duu asked me to take part in this blog project. Of course my English is not so good, so my sisters have to review it for me. But I am learning. I am working as a professional hairdresser right now. I have been doing this already five years in Bangkok and for the last time I worked in my hometown close to Udon Thani.
I feel very sad to hear about people speaking bad about Kathoey. We are not bad people. Most of the foreigners only get in touch with the ones that sell their bodies in Phuket, Patpong or Pattaya. How can you conclude by that on the character of every ladyboy living in Thailand?

I like to have people around me who are jai dee – who have a good heart. I really like to give to my good friends. In my hometown I am very respected although I am Katoey. I take part in the daily religious life together with the other women.

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone visiting our blog as this project is really a good thing. I took also some video with my friend Victoria that we will publish soon, but it is not finished yet.

Kiss Kiss

Opal

Foreign Shemale whirls Bangkok Cabbies mind

2007-09-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Crazy thing happened to me yesterday. I have been visiting some good friends in Banglampoo, Bangkok. When it was time to go home we entered a taxi. My friends left the taxi as I just took them some meters down the road. After they had closed the door. The taxi driver asked me in Thai if I was a boy or a girl. I replied that I was a girl, but laughingly said, that I belonged to the third sex. He did not believe.
Most of the people I meet in Thailand will not know that I am a transsexual until I let them know. So did the taxi driver.
He was really funny – a young good looking man from the Isaan region and we had a really good conversation in Thai on the long way home. We talked a lot and even sang songs together. He then asked me one more time if I was a boy or a girl and then I said like: My body is male but my heart female (roughly translated from Thai). He then got very excited a I got a lot of compliments from him he you could easily see, that he liked me very much. Then there was really some tension in the air like we were both young, good looking and liked each other. When we arrived at my home, it was of course strange to give him money. After I got out of the car, he did not drive away like every other taxi would have done. He stood there and looked after me. Then he drove several times around the yard looking for me to appear in one of the windows and asking him to come up to share some sexy minutes with me. But I did not. I try to be a good girl. At least on that day ;-)

Ladyboys love Volleyball

2007-09-25T02:58:00.001-07:00

You sure read our post about the Satree Lek – Ladyboy volleyball team that won the National Championship. Actually it is nothing unusual to form volleyball teams. In every Thai town you will have the boys play football together in the evenings and the ladyboys play volleyball. This shows one more time that we are really a sex for ourselves. It is not necessary, that just because we are wearing make up and our bodies have gracile shapes we are bad at sports. Maybe the rough sports like football is not fitting very well to us, but volleyball does.
In my town me and my Katoey friends are playing volleyball together every evening. Young and old ladyboys – some have short hair because they are still going to school. Some are very beautiful others not so much. We don’t care.

My friend Bia playing volleyball

Technorati: ladyboys volleyball satree lek iron ladies katoey friend

Just beause I’m Kathoey?

2007-09-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happened to me yesterday: I went out with some friends to relax a little from the job. We went out and had a good night out. There was also a foreigner who was the friend of my friend and he was visiting Bangkok. I have never met him before, so he did not know that I am not a girl but a ladyboy. And my friends did not tell him. For what?
It was nice to talk to him, but I had not been interested in anything further.
After everybody got tired and wanted to go home, we decided to share a taxi as we both had to go to the same direction. In the taxi he started to touch my knee and put his arm around me. He also tried to hold my hand, but I rejected very politely. This was not bothering me too much, but I was not interested in anything.
But he suggested to have another drink at some bar. I should have gone home, as I had to work the next day. But I was in the mood to talk to another foreigner so I agreed. We sat outside and just talked while sipping on our beers. I was in good mood an did not conceal the fact that I am a “woman of second kind” from the Thais around me when I spoke Thai to them. I usually do not care to much if people get to know about my secret. But most people will not know until I tell them. So I could see it from his eyes the moment he realized that he had been talking to a transsexual all the time. You could see change him his behaviour and he became absent and not taking part in our conversation any more. . Then I went for the bathroom. When I came back the foreign man was gone. He never showed up again.
That was not nice. Why did he do that? I was still the same person who he liked to talk to for the last ours. Also my bust, which he kept staring at most of the time was still in place.
I did not flirt with him and he asked me to go to the bar, so why did he treat me like that and leave me all alone at that place in the nightime? Just because I am Kathoey? Why could not he pretend he was tired, say good night and go home. He would never have done this to neither a man nor a born lady. It made me sad until today. But actually, this has not happened to me the first time and all my ladyboy sisters will have the same experience.

Why do people treat us that way?

Technorati: ladyboy transsexual sad kathoey manners

Ladyboy lovers are heterosexual

2007-09-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

There is a big misunderstanding about the sexual perference of men lovin ladyboys. Most people with limited knowledge assume that a man who is attracte to ladyboys is gay. But that is untrue. You will find hardly any man who loves feminine katoey and claims himself gay. Most of the men loving us have never had sexual encounters with men before and would never call themselves “gay”.
Gay men can not love ladyboys because –of course –gay men are only into other gay men. But we are girls. A friend of mine, who is gay, said to me some weeks ago, that he would never feel attracted to me being a ladyboy. But when he saw pictures of me being younger and more boyish, he said he would have liked me if I looked that way.

Also, my best friend – she as a ladyboy as me - had a boyfriend some years ago. But he was actually gay. So he asked her to cut her hair short dress and behave more like a man. She did, because she loved him very much, but of course she could never be happy that way. Hey separated. For me this is the best proof, that men, who love katoey, transsexuals, shemales, or whatever names you call us are just as heterosexual as men loving born women.

Also, many men are discrimated for loving ladyboys. That is a sad thing, as there is nothing bad in it. It only makes it harder for both ladyboys and men seeking ladyboys to find true love and be happy together.
I wish this would change soon.

But I also hear from farang men, who are not shy about loving katoey any more but actually they are a little proud that they found the one they love. As you can imagine, for transsexuals it is pretty hard to find real love and a nice caring boyfriend.
But times are changing.

Technorati: ladyboy lover heterosexual gay katoey boyfriend love

Is it a Ladyboy or not? What does it matter!

2007-09-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

“Adam’s apple”, “a longer humerus”, “hands”, etc. I have read about a lot of ways how to check if a person is katoey or not. But I read this only on websites created by foreigners. Very seldom that I read about that in Thai forums, and if you will find it there, then it is in a funny context.
But foreigners (actually only men) seem to make a science out of it, how to know if their encounter is a ladyboy or not. Sure, most of those are interested in sex and don’t want to be fooled by a katoy prostitute. But this applies only to the tourist areas and the red light districts. But what about everyday life and those men who are not only interested in sex…why do they want to know? What will change, if they find out that one is not a born woman?
I guess some of them are just scared that they might feel attracted to woman and find out later, that it was a woman of second kind. Some will feel gay then and will feel ashamed – the so called gay panic. Some may even turn aggressive against the transsexual although it was not her fault.
But listen: If you are a man and you feel attracted to a girl which turns out to be a ladyboy, then this makes you not even a little less heterosexual. Gay people are not into ladyboys, because we are too feminine for them. If you are into women than it is no shame if you talk also nice to a ladyboy and treat her as a female, too.

I had a boyfriend before who loved me a lot and we also shared passionate moments in bed. At that time I was still looking a little like boy. Today he will and can not love me any more because I am too much a girl –although I am physically the same as before. He was just into boys. But Ladyboys are girls.

Technorati: ladyboy science how to know gay panic love heterosexual

Ladyboys becoming criminals just for sex surgery? Sure not!

2007-09-05T02:40:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I read an article in the queer news section of Phuket Gazette's online edition. The author wrapped the news hat a ladyboy in Samut Prakan had stolen from a temple with everything he knew and all kind of infos about ladyboys. So, the outcome was a weird mixture:

The life of a Thai ladyboy is full of challenges that most members of Thai society could hardly fathom – let alone deal with. On the bureaucratic front, this can be seen from the current debate raging on whether to let those who have undergone “sex reassignment surgery” use the title “Miss” on their ID cards.

Furher on in the text

Earlier this month Aussie ladyboy Stefanie Imbruglia, a first cousin of pop star Natalie Imbruglia, told Sydney’s The Sun-Herald newspaper that she was flying out to Phuket – recognized as a world leader in “sex reassignment surgery” – to take the final step into femininity at a cost of over 534,760 baht.

Then the author came to the initial story of the katoey thief:

With employment options often limited for those of the third sex, one ladyboy in
Bangkok recently turned to crime to raise the funds needed for the surgery.Unlike the rogue ladyboys who prey on foreign tourist through drink-drugging, pickpocketing and other means, this ladyboy targeted temples in and around metropolitan Bangkok.

I think it was rather because that ladyboy is an drug addict an already a criminal than that she really needed the money so bad for surgery. The desire to become complete women is in most of us and everybody who is not drug addict and/or a criminal finds a way to deal with it. Most often it is hard work.

So what do you think?

Technorati: ladyboy thief stealing Phuket Gazette katoey

Where in the world people like Ladyboys

2007-09-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

Our new webblog is running some days already and we are happy with it. We already got a little feedback, but we wish to have more. Please leave also a comment on our blog, as this makes us quite happy. We found out by Google Analytics that we have a lot of readers in Germany and the United Sites. So, Welcome everbody from the US and Herzlich Willkommen Deutschland.

As we recognized German people are so much interested in the Third Sex in Germany we discussed, if it was useful to have a German langage copy of our Blog for our German readers. Of course we could never do this on our own as it is quite a struggle for us to publish proper English on our weblog, which was not possible if not our sister Victoria and some English friends would help us and edit what we write. We are lucky that, through the help of the author of the German language Webblog Pratu Namo, we got in contact with a german sister named Dork Mai, who declared that she will support us and translate our posts into German language and publish them on our sister blog. She will do this just to help us and she did not ask for money. We are very thankful for this. So, now we also got already a German version of our webblog just three weeks after we started the English language weblog.

Ladyboys are moving fast ;-)

Technorati: USA germany ladyboys blog german english

Yes, we added advertisement (for charity)

2007-09-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

We added advertisment to our weblog. We did not do it because we are greedy as this blog should actually be a non-commercial blog with god intentions. we looked at the bare space on the right side of the Site and wanted to put something ther. In the next weeks we will show ladyboy videos and pictures from us and our friends and how we are living. In the meantime we will have the ads at this place. As we did not set up this blog in order to make money, we will not keep it (if ever some money turns out ;-).
We discussed, what to do and we thought it a good idea to spend it for welfare purpose.
In the Northeast of Thailand there is a beauty shop run by an old Katoey. Even in Thailand and even in the Northeast (Paak Issan) young boys will be kicked out of the house, if their parents (most often the fathers) discover katoy eahvior on their sons.
The old katoy with the beauty shop gives then a home to the young ladyboys, provides food and a bed and gives them vocational training in cosmetics nd hairdressing.
She never makes any benefit from that. because we think her lifestyle is very honorable, we will give the money to her to support er good idea.

Transsexual beauty queen buys buffaloes to help poor

2007-09-01T02:10:00.000-07:00

I rediscovered this story on my computer,where I saved i some months ago. I guess it comes originally from The Nation Newspaper, but I want to publish it anyway, because I think it had been a good thing what Khun Klinthai has done. It should be a example for others, too not to think only about themselves:

A former transsexual beauty queen has spent her prize money on saving Thai buffaloes and distributing them to poor farmers in Lop Buri to help boost their income.
Former beauty pageant entrant, Sararat "Arf" Klinthai, who was born
Sawek Klinthai, now 30, said she underwent a sex-change operation at 17 and had entered nearly 700 beauty contests. She enjoyed considerable success including the Miss Alcazar runner-up at Pattaya and the Miss Siam Contest in Bangkok, and has 200 trophies.
After retiring, Arf returned to her hometown in Tambon Tai
Talad in Muang Lop Buri and raised some 100 Brahman cattle, on which she also conducted artificial insemination without help from veterinarians.
Arf said she spent her prize money - and donations from fellow ladyboy contestants - to save 50 buffaloes and cows bound for the slaughterhouse and gave 30 of them to the locals and let them sell the calves.
She said her love of animals and the province's sharp decline of buffaloes inspired her, and along with some
friends, she bought the buffaloes and cows and distributed them for poor locals to raise. She said this not only helped raise people's incomes but also conserved the animals for future generations.
Arf's 58-year-old father, Ode Klinthai said at first he was alarmed when he discovered Arf was a transvestite
but soon accepted the fact as he did not want to scold her or cause her misery. He said he taught Arf to be a good person, refrain from drugs, work hard and save up because a career in beauty pageants would not last.
Ode said he was glad that, despite undergoing a sex change, Arf was still capable of doing things and had never let her family down.
He said Arf had always loved animals and he was proud of her for having saved the buffaloes and helping poor
neighbours.
Technorati: Sararat Lop Buri Klinthai Arf Miss Alcazar Miss Siam ladyboy transsexual beauty queen

Katoey in Cosmetic Shops

2007-08-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

Some days ago I already wrote about the workplace "Cosmetic Shop" for ladyboys in Thailand. Nongduu told me that our blog needs some more pics, so I took my camera with me today, wen I went shopping and shot this picture of a ladyboy working in such a shop.

I shot it from this angle, because I wanted to keep her privacy and not show her face to the world without having her permission to do so. The boy in the background is also a very "beautyiful" boy and would be considered as katoey as well.

The company they are working for can be proud to have them as staff, as they belong to the most qualified people for this job available in Thailand. Thai people will recognize it as a good thing that "beauty-experts" are employed by the company. Also, it shows that the corporation is aware of it's diversity managment, which is becoming more and more important in today`s business life.

So, keep on employing us!

Technorati: katoey ladyboy thai thailand cosmetics work workplace

'Miss' proposed for transsexuals, transvestites

2007-08-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

The Gay Political Group of Thailand is to propose allowing both transsexuals and transvestites to use the title Miss to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) today.

from: The Nation (published on August 28, 2007)

"Natee Teerarojjanapongs, the group's president, said he was
concerned about problems that occurred after the law revision that allowed only transsexuals to change their title. "I think physical genders are not as important as those people's minds. The NLA should also allow transvestites to use Miss as their title because their characteristics and lifestyles are now the same as women, which I think is more important to consider," Natee said.
"Besides, this group of people [transvestites] is much larger than transsexuals. Not only transsexual people but also transvestites have faced problems when applying for a job or travelling in foreign countries because authorities do not always check
their physical gender." The president will also make two other proposals to
the NLA - framing a law that anybody who wants to change sex must be given full
information before they make a decision; and issuing documents confirming
the transsexuals' change of title in order to prevent deception.
Natee said he did not want to see transvestites or gays rushing to change their
sex due to the right to use the title Miss and then being upset after they
have changed their sex. He wanted those people to have a chance to make sure
which gender they actually wanted to be.
He also believed that issuing the document would be useful for checking that those transgenders had been
men to reduce problems when they competed in sports competitions with women or when they married men.
"I agree with allowing transsexuals to use
Miss as their title, but I want the NLA to consider my recommendations. I want to see an efficient solution covering more people," said Natee.
Meanwhile, TG Thailand group leader Yollada
Krerkkong Suanyot said 10 representatives of his group would attend a meeting of
the NLA subcommittee on women's affairs today to discuss the issue.
In addition, an expert from Australia will attend the meeting to provide details of
laws concerning people with various sexual preferences in countries such as the
US, England, Australia and New Zealand.
"We will ask the subcommittee to allow both transsexuals and transvestites with female characteristics to use
Miss, but only the ones who request, not all of them," Yollada added.
Transgenders and transvestites wanting to use Miss should be examined
physically, mentally and socially before being given permission, he said.
Yollada said his group wanted only their current personal documents - ID
card, passport and driving licence - to be changed."

Right now I am not sure if author Wannapa Phetdee is really sure about the meaning of transvestite and transsexual. Actually quite scary for a journalist living in Thailand. I guess she referrs to katoey that want to have their sex reassigned surgically as transsexuals and to all others as transvestites. Of course this ic completely wrong by the meaning of these words. Transvestites just dress up as women for fun or sexual stimulation. Ladyboys or katoey will mostly be transsexuals by western measures, as we are women every day 24/7.

I hope the law will pass as soon as possible and will include as many people as possible.

See also my sister victoria's article Words don’t come easy: กะเทย, Katoey, Ladyboy, Transsexual or Shemale?

Technorati: transsexual transvestite Shemale names miss title law thai thailand National Legislative Assembly Gay Political Group of Thailand

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2007-08-30T00:12:00.000-07:00

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