Thailand's One Percent

[Guest thaiworthy]

I found this as a shared link on Facebook today and the video is an absolutely fascinating look at a side of ladyboys I have never seen or realized before. This is an absolute must-see. Please invest the time to watch it. There are some very surprising facts presented here. Some are some of my notes from the video are:

 

• 1 percent of the Thai population are ladyboys.

• Young boys who begin sex changes before puberty become more natural-looking women than do those who start after they are men.

• Identification as gender is confusing at early ages and they cannot accurately describe themselves as "transexual, transvestite, or just gay or queer."

• If you ask a ladyboy which they prefer, to be called a beautiful ladyboy or a beautiful woman, they will choose the latter.

• When asked about her life as a male, one person said "do not ask me about the things that make my heart hurt."

• There is a big difference between acceptance and respect.

 

http://youtu.be/eAd3TeRVeFU

[ChristianPFC]

• Young boys who begin sex changes before puberty become more natural-looking women than do those who start after they are men.

 

I don't like this. How can a boy before his puberty be sure he wants to become a woman?

[Guest thaiworthy]

I don't like this. How can a boy before his puberty be sure he wants to become a woman?

 

Christian, you bring up an interesting point and which is why (in part) I wanted to post this.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any clear answer for you. Did you watch the video? I wouldn't think anyone under 18 would be able to legally have anything like this done. I'm not sure. Is it breaking any laws? We also have a Western point of view. This may be more understandable when you consider Thai culture, perhaps. The video talks about some families in which the parents sanction it. But of course, this is Thailand. Other than the parents, I don't think they want or need anybody's approval.

[Rogie]

• Young boys who begin sex changes before puberty become more natural-looking women than do those who start after they are men.

 

I don't like this. How can a boy before his puberty be sure he wants to become a woman?

 

I haven't watched the video (sorry, I have bad hearing and can't follow the dialogue) so I am unclear what the sex changes referred to are.

 

Would that simply be female hormones, or some way of preventing male hormones 'taking off' at puberty.

 

As for the boy knowing he wants to become a woman, I can quite believe that. But it's one thing to want something before you've had a chance to consider consequences which can be life changing, and actually doing it.

 

On one occasion in his home village my Thai friend, pointing casually to a young male child maybe 5 years old or so referred to him a a "young lady boy", and indeed looking more closely I could see he was almost certainly right. Many, although not all, ladyboys are apparent from a young age and I doubt many would grow up to be any different, even supposing they wanted to be, although they do face an uphill struggle, especially those from the villages. I don't know if some parents ever try and influence their boy's emerging sexuality, but I doubt that'd work beyond a superficial level.

[Guest fountainhall]

This subject is interesting in another way - the practice of castration back in 16th, 17th and 18th century Europe. But then it was done before puberty to boys who had especially beautiful voices in the hope that these soprano voices would remain and develop further into manhood. It is estimated that around 4,000 were castrated each year. Most suffered miserable lives, or died as a result of the 'operation'.

 

Given the choice, it's unlikely that any but a handful of the boys would have submitted to such mutilation. It was the parents who all but demanded it. For them, it could be a way out of desperate poverty. If their son happened to be one of the very few who 'made' it, the riches were unimaginable. It's hard to believe nowadays but the few successful castrati were the pop stars of their day.

[Rogie]

I can see the point in castration with the intention of creating a eunuch or a castrati singer. Not sure about its applicability to pre-pubescent Thai males, even supposing it's ever been done and I hope it hasn't. If a young ladybody was castrated chances are he'd be fated to lead a miserable life unless he could somehow save enough money to afford a full sex-change op, i.e. creation of a realistic vagina (although I believe a good surgeon will use the skin from the penis and scrotum in creating his vagina). Removal of a ladyboy's genitalia should only be done:

 

1) with their full consent after professional counselling, and

2) when it is intended to proceed to immediate surgery to create a functional vagina.

 

The hijras in India may be of some interest to this discussion:

 

In the culture of South Asia, hijras (Hindi: हिजड़ा, Urdu: ہِجڑا, Bengali: হিজড়া, Kannada: ಹಿಜಡಾ, Telugu: హిజ్ర) or chhakka in Kannada, khusra in Punjabi and kojja in Telugu are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, women's clothing and other feminine gender roles. Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, from the antiquity, as suggested by the Kama Sutra period onwards. This history features a number of well-known roles within subcontinental cultures, part gender-liminal, part spiritual and part survival.

In South Asia, many hijras live in well-defined, organized, all-hijra communities, led by a guru. These communities have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting" young boys who are rejected by, or flee their family of origin. Many work as sex workers for survival.

The word hijra is Urdu, derived from the Arabic root hjr in its sense of "leaving one's tribe," and has been borrowed into Hindi. The Indian usage has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite," where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition." However, in general hijras are born with typically male physiology, only a few having been born with male intersex variations.Some Hijras undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community called nirwaan, which refers to the removal of penis, testicles and scrotum.

Since the late 20th century, some hijra activists and Western non-government organizations (NGOs) have been lobbying for official recognition of the hijra as a kind of "third sex" or "third gender," as neither man nor woman.

 

http://en.wikipedia....ra_(South_Asia)

[Guest Thor69]

Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.