the third sex

The other day I was in a five-star hotel in Bangkok, attending a function, when I realised that two of the hotel girls taking care of the guests in the meeting room were in fact ladyboys.

Most of the guests were from overseas and quite possibly unaware of the ladyboy phenomenon, and I amused myself for a while trying to picture their reaction if they discovered what was under those neat hotel uniforms.

The two ladyboys themselves were behaving in a very demure manner, and it was only my enhanced ladyboy vision that picked them out. I watched them, and they knew that I knew, but nothing apart from some inviting sideways glances came out of the encounter.

But I did get to thinking how ladyboys are moving more and more into the mainstream. Pictured on the main site are many students, and they are not all studying beauty and fashion, two of the traditional industries in which mainstream ladyboys make a living. Some are studying marketing, travel and hospitality, accounting, business administration, and other subjects that for want of a better word can be described as totally straight.

1This means that when they leave college or university, they will be well qualified to find mainstream jobs, and embark upon the kind of well-paid, well-respected career that is increasingly open to young Thais, as the country’s economy develops.

The other day I was in the back office of another five-star hotel, and found a ladyboy holding a job of considerable responsibility in the management team. I went into a bank a week or so ago, and one of the tellers was a ladyboy.

I recently saw a ladyboy as a sales agent in a real estate company, and I have seen ladyboy tour guides and travel agent counter staff. I have a ladyboy friend who teaches dance and drama at a junior school, and another who is greatly enjoying her career with one of the big IT distributors. She was offered the job when she left uni, and her employers obviously think well of her, because they fly her around Thailand to deal with corporate customers on a face-to-face basis.

In other words, the acceptance is growing. A few years ago, the idea of a ladyboy holding a job in which she dealt with the public on a regular basis would have been a bit far-fetched.

This is all very heartening. Of course, there is no reason at all why a person of the third sex should not have a satisfying and well respected career. Only prejudice. But with the increasing number of ladyboys in Thailand, and the fact that so many of them are opting for further education, perhaps it is inevitable.