This is a review of a BKK post article about Ladyboys becoming a business… I will post in the color light green so you can easily see what I’ve written as comments on the article.
Lady boys become a business
(dpa) – It was Friday night in Pattaya, a Thai beach resort better known for its wild entertainment scene than its beaches, and the main attraction was the 10th Miss Tiffany’s Universe beauty pageant. (a ladyboy pageant that is hotly contested by the hottest ladyboys on the planet (Thai ladyboys of course)).
Thirty delicate (and larynx heavy) contestants floated onto the glitzy stage in long, flowing dresses, kickboxing kicking off a two-hour contest of beauty, talent and brains that culminated after midnight with the crowning of Thanyarat Jirapatpakorn as this year’s HOTTEST, most talented and quickest on the questions prettiest lady boy in Thailand.
The annual beauty pageant, an outgrowth did the writer say ‘outgrowth?’ of the nightly Tiffany’s transvestite show in Pattaya, is Thailand’s most celebrated tribute to “katoeys,” or lady boys. Is it really the most celebrated, or is the most media-friendly event that you can publicly say is the most celebrated tribute? To me, the most celebrated tribute is the one that occurs nightly in the hotels, alleys, beaches and tuk-tuks in Patong, Patpong, and Pattaya. Now THATS a celebration and a tribute!
“The Miss Tiffany’s Universe contest is something cute and colourful,” said Viroj Tangvanich, chairman of the Rainbow Sky Association, a gay advocacy group. “Also, it supports Thailand’s image as a gay paradise.” Does Thailand have that image? I don’t see many gay guys in Patong or Pattaya flaunting that one… for Thailand to be a paradise you’d need to get rid of 11.5 million European and North American homophobes that arrive yearly.
Although Thailand doesn’t have gay-pride parades (WHY?) or legislation promoting equality for the gay and transgender community (WHY?) as in some parts of the West, the kingdom is famous for its katoey performances on television shows, in movies and at entertainment venues. All places they can hide away and be safe?
“In this respect, Thailand is number one,” Viroj said. Number one for people to make money from the Katoeys? I think so – unless Japan is higher – I think Thailand is probably higher.
“The Miss Tiffany’s Universe contest is an effort to make the brand of Tiffany’s famous worldwide and to strengthen our position in this field,” said Alisa Phanthusak, assistant to the managing director of Tiffany’s Show Pattaya Co Ltd, which (first) launched the pageant in 1998.
The Tiffany’s transvestite contest, which has become a much-publicized annual event, has contributed to tourism development in Thailand and increased the popularity of the company’s unique cabaret, she claimed.
In addition to tourism, katoeys nowadays have become a powerful force in the world of Thai entertainment. They are ubiquitous as characters in Thai TV comedies and soap operas.
Many Thai movies – such as the highly successful Satree Lek (Iron Ladies), Hoe Taew Taek (Coming Out) and the recently released Me, Myself – have katoeys as the main characters and focus on katoey story lines.
The katoey stereotype obviously has great commercial appeal. Yeah, I would agree… I’d estimate that in Thailand the entire Ladyboy conglomerate as a whole, including web sites charging for memberships, is worth right around $100 million USD. Any other guesses?
“Certainly, using katoeys can be the selling-point for movies,” said Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, director of Satree Lek, a comedy about the trials and tribulations of a transvestite volleyball team.
Yongyoot said most people see katoeys as humorous, (what? as in, they make people laugh just LOOKING at them? What a silly statement!) making their outrageous characters popular in Thai film comedies.
But for some observers, Thailand’s katoey mania might have a negative side. Like those that are pickpocketed, drugged and robbed, beaten up by a group of them if they happen to agree to go to the katoey’s room instead of use their own hotel room… You mean like that negative side?
Vanlop Piyamanotham, a clinical psychologist and adviser at the university counselling centre at Bangkok’s Srinakharinwirot University, said he sees the commercial use of katoeys as adding to the trend of young men opting for the “third sex.”
“Weird things can be sold,” Vanlop added, giving the example of pornographic movies. Ha! Weird things can be sold – what a great quote. Heterosexual males can stick Evian bottles up their arse and sell that too – what’s the point?
The psychologist noted that in the past, Scandinavian pornography focused on sexual intercourse between man and woman, but when that became boring, moviemakers tried to find new things to boost excitement and sales, so new movies were released presenting sexual activity of adults and children, older people, or the disabled. Didnt’ the Romans start that stuff? I’ve seen it online at usenet groups since 1994. And, when did sexual intercourse between man and woman become boring? I notice that the short-time hotels in Thailand’s upper class areas of Bangkok still show man/woman pornos… (a friend told me! hahah… blushing…)
Laws were eventually passed to stop such films because they were seen as having an adverse impact on society, Vanlop said.
In Thailand, with katoeys now being featured in beauty pageants, TV shows and movies, Vanlop said he worries that the publicity is encouraging many Thai men to imitate lady-boy behaviour. Who are they going to imitate? Thai men? Open a motorbike shop and change tires until they turn 30 and then let their wives take care of them working the fields, carrying sticks on their shoulders hefting around 30 pounds of eggs and corn on the cobs? Better to let the Thai men imitate a role model that is going to take them someplace! LOL. Tongue in cheek – all of that – of course…
“Thai society allows katoeys to show off, so we have become a country with the most katoeys in the world,” Vanlop said.
But people in the katoey business, such as those at Tiffany’s, argued that the shows offer job opportunities that katoeys won’t find outside the sex industry because of societal discrimination.
“These people have a lot of potential,” Tiffany’s Alisa said. “We just give them an opportunity to work.”
One katoey beauty queen said workplace discrimination is rife.
“When applying for a job, I always become the last choice because I am like this,” complained Chanya “Som” Morano, who won crowns as Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2000 as well as Miss Queen of the Universe. Yeah, I would guess the job market is limited – for regular jobs… but, if you’re a nasty looking kateoy you shouldn’t be dressing as a lady anyway – throw on some man clothes and flip flops like the rest of the men and go sit around a concrete picnic table with a bottle of Leo and glasses of ice to keep you cool during the day… Bangkok IS the hottest major city in the world you know!
“I’ve been disappointed so many times,” Chanya said.
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