the third sex

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Following on from the previous couple of entries, and mulling over as to what it really is that makes a young Thai boy decide to become a ladyboy, I decided to ask the opinion of my maid. Not only is she a fount of information on all things that relate to the Thai working class – which forms the vast majority of the population – but as regular readers of this site will know, she has a son who is a ladyboy. Consequently, she has a huge number of ladyboy acquaintances, and knows a large number of families with ladyboy members.

She confirmed what I had long suspected, that many young Thais become ladyboys as a way of attempting to escape from poverty. Although for us from the Western cultures it is hard to understand how changing one’s sex is a route out of an impoverished life, we do not really understand just how hopeless life can be for a young Thai man from a poor background and with limited education.

My maid told me about the large number of young men, many of them from the rural northeast of the country, where she herself comes from, who go to work in the gay bars of Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and other tourist destinations. She said they are usually not gay, but that by working in a bar and going with a foreign visitor they are able to earn as much in one or two nights as they would in a month working in the rice fields or the factories.

Ladyboys, she said, are really only carrying this idea a step further. Many of them are gay, but some are not. What they really want is a life of glamour and money. Their biggest ambition is to find a wealthy man, usually a foreigner, who will take care of them and their families. They see how girls from poor families use their beauty to make money, and bearing in mind the enormous and increasing demand for ladyboys, feel they can do the same.

As a lot of youngsters are making this decision at a very early age, usually the onset of adolescence, it is not necessarily a rational one. Little thought is given to what might happen later in life. But the attractions of working in cabaret, in one of the big red-light areas, or even mainstream in beauty salons or the media far outweigh the alternatives.

My maid added that such is the vast number of young Thai males who are now opting for work in the gay sector, or becoming ladyboys, there is actually now a shortage of eligible young men in Thailand. I hadn’t known that. But apparently it is a well-known fact amongst the Thais, and when you realise just how big this sector is, it becomes understandable.

Given the current political situation in Thailand things are not going to become any easier in the near or medium future. But one rather frightening aspect is that tourism has plunged in the wake of the political turbulence, and the international meltdown. This is also not going to improve very quickly. Which means there are a lot of young guys and ladyboys chasing a diminishing dollar.