They call me ‘lady boy.........
In the world of the lady boys in
Singapore, love and identity are often just an illusion, writes KARL HO.
THEY
are the beautiful creatures of the night and they stand out with their slim
figures, ebony-black hair and porcelain pale complexions.
They are called
Thai lady boys....... transgendered people whose almost perfect package is both
a source of fascination, and awkwardness, for ogling men.
Thai lady boy Amy (not her real name) with her femme fatale pout is
flirtatious. She's also a natural in front of the camera, with come-hither poses
that will rival those in lads magazines.
They hold court in at least one bar
in Orchard Towers in Orchard Road, Singapore. Known in Thai as kathoey, they are
all womanly wiles and girly coquettish-ness.
Transgender is an umbrella term for anyone who emotionally and
psychologically feels that he or she belongs to the opposite sex. They might
wish to or have undergone surgery to become a member of the opposite sex. Some
men shun surgery, preferring to just dress up as women.
This writer (Karl
Ho) observed them recently at a bar they frequent. The dark, smokey joint is
patronised by Caucasian tourists and Singaporean customers.
The Caucasians
watched in awe as the slim lady boys navigated around their tables. But the
Singaporeans, from tattooed Ah Bengs to office executives, knew better than to
be bewitched by these she-males. They played pool instead.
The lady boys
would walk up to anyone without a female companion to chat him up. Their tactics
of seduction ranged from coy deceit (Hi, I’m Vivian from Russia. Are you from
Japan?) to brazen physical contact.
One lady boy looked like a
dominatrix-secretary with her glasses and corporate get-up of white shirt, black
pants and stiletto heels. Another sported a sequinned, conical bra top a la
Madonna.
Most wore tight jeans and even tighter tops to flaunt their curves.
They sported brands like Gucci waist pouches and Morgan handbags.
They
studied their hair and heavy make-up in their reflections in mirrored pillars.
They squeezed their ample assets provocatively and showed you mobile-phone
pictures of themselves and their Caucasian boyfriends.
‘We’re just tourists
they say'......
There are no official figures on the number of Thai lady boys in Singapore.
Informal estimates put their number in Thailand at between 10,000 and 300,000.
Sources reveal that they have been making their way to Singapore since the late
1990s. Armed with tourist visas and arriving in inconspicuous numbers, lady boys
maintain that they are here as tourists. But most have been known to come here
to work in the sex trade. Whereas Singaporean transgender males hang out in
Geylang and Changi Village, Thai kathoey opt for Orchard Towers and Bencoolen
Street where they stay in budget hotels.
But while they may be perceived as
merely sex workers out to make a quick buck here, kathoey are not sumarily
dismissed as such back home.
Their acceptance in Thailand can be traced to a
strong tradition of transgendered shamanism in Thai culture, says Dr Sam Winter
in an e-mail interview.
The associate professor at the University of Hong
Kong has done extensive research on transgenders in Asia.
He also explains in
the website of the Hong Kong-based Transgender Asia Research Centre: "While many
Thais see transgender as a behaviour that deviates from the ideal, they also see
it as quite natural."
Thai society’s acceptance of the lady boys also stems from its Buddhist
roots, says Ekachai Uekrongtham, the artistic director of Singapore’s Action
Theatre, and director of Beautiful Boxer, a movie based on the life of a
transsexual kickboxer. It opened in Thailand last November and will be screened
in Singapore this month.
Says Ekachai: "We Thais are compassionate towards
transsexuals and transvestites because we believe that they have committed bad
karma in their past lives, and are repaying for their past sins in this
life."
He adds: "The main character in the movie believes she has to
accumulate a lot of good karma in this life so that she’ll be born with the same
heart and body of a woman in the next life."
Medical assistance The Thai lady boy eases into womanhood easily, thanks to
easy access to hormones (drugstores there are said to dispense them without any
doctor’s note). Sex-change surgery is also widely available and is about 50%
cheaper than the S$5,000 to S$7,000 (RM11,000-RM15,400) charged in
Singapore.
Dr Winter says many kathoey never go into the sex trade in
Thailand but hold normal jobs. They are also quite visible, appearing in TV
shows and movies like Iron Ladies. Some take part in kathoey beauty contests
organised by Buddhist temples to raise funds.
But discrimination is also a
fact of life. Some employers are reluctant to hire them, and the lady boys’
passports and identification cards still classify them as males even after
sex-change surgery.
In Singapore, those who have undergone surgery can
change their gender in passports and identification cards, but not birth
certificates although in Thailand, kathoey cannot legally marry another man and
might have to dress like a boy and use a male name in school. Transsexuals in
Singapore, on the other hand, can get married.
Many guys are still squeamish
about falling for women who used to be men. Such prejudice is a pity, says Dr
Winter, who believes that kathoey are ordinary people who might have grown up
differently from most, but still harbour the same aspirations as anyone
else.
The Thai lady boys who come to Singapore charge between S$100 (RM220) and S$200 (RM440) for services rendered, which is almost the same as that asked by other sex workers in Orchard Towers. They can earn more than S$2,000 (RM4,400) for their two-week stay there. Singaporean transgender prostitutes charge as low as S$30 (RM66).
At the bar I visited, the lady boys prowled for male partners with purpose.
They danced to Thai techno to grab your attention, smiled at you even when they
were in the arms of another man and use pick-up lines like 'Want to make lupe?'
('Lupe' is love in Thai-accented English).
Once you have offered to buy her a
drink, she will proceed to make you feel like you are the most desirable guy in
the bar. But if you’re sober enough, you might see through the sharp noses and
too-perfect bosoms to discern masculine traits such as coarse hands, gruff
giggles and slightly angular faces. Which leaves many a man befuddled,
especially the Caucasian whom I spotted kissing a lady boy. "I’m confused", said
the man, who claims he is an academic on a working trip but declines to be
named. Many of them are just so beautiful.
This flattery attracts envy and
jealousy. A lady boy, who also declines to be named, says: "Sometimes, we fight
at the carpark. Pull hair. Too many lady boys, very competitive. Equally unhappy
are the Singaporean sisters who also compete for the sex dollar. "Yes, they’re
prettier but there’s a fakeness to their looks", a 24-year-old transvestite, who
only wants to be known as Juliet, says. But competition is such that some
Singaporean transsexuals like Joey are forced to work the street outside Orchard
Towers because, she says, "some bars only accept Thai lady boys because they are
prettier".
Thai lady boys don’t know how to speak English, Joey says. They only know how to say ‘yes, yes, yes’, and ‘no’ when someone offers to pay them S$50 (RM110).
