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Ladyboys
DREDGE BYUNG’CHU KÄNG
Emory University, USA
Ladyboy refers to transgender women (male
to female), usually in ailand, but the term
is also used in the Philippines, and to a lesser
extent in other parts of Southeast Asia such
as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia,
and Laos. e term is rarely employed outside
Asia, though it is also used to refer to trans-
gender Asian women in Western countries.
It is a construction combining the English
“lady” with “boy.” Such use of English to
express terms referring to gender and sexual-
ity is common in ai uses of English (Enteen
2010). Ladyboy is used as shorthand to sim-
ply render a diverse range of local gender
variations such as ai kathoey or Filipina
bakla. e term evolved from the context of
tourism and contact with foreigners.
Ladyboy is generally not a gender identity
but a label applied in settings involving con-
tact with foreigners. In ailand, the term is
thus used synonymously with kathoey, the
common term for a transgender woman.
However, this encompasses a wide range of
gender presentations and identities (Käng
2012). Other common terms that are more
likely to constitute an identity include sao-
praphet-sorng (second-category woman) and
phu-ying-kham-phet (transsexual woman).
Many ladyboys just as well refer to themselves
as women. One dierence in the categoriza-
tion of “ladyboy” in the Philippines and in
ailand is that in the Philippines, a ladyboy
canalsobereferredtoasa“gay,”since“gay”
can encompass transgender people, whereas
this is not the case in ailand.
e term ladyboy is mostly applied to
cabaret shows, sex tourism, and pornography
e Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, First Edition. Edited by Nancy A. Naples.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss311
(like “shemale” or “tranny”). While some
transgender women, especially those in rela-
tionships with foreigners, will refer to them-
selves as a ladyboy, the term is considered
stereotypical and oensive by some transgen-
der women because of its associations with
sex work (Käng 2012). Ladyboy is a neutral
descriptor in workplaces such as cabarets and
bars, where use of the term is commonplace.
Ladyboy has its most positive appraisal in
beauty pageants, the largest and most famous
of which are tied to cabarets such as Tiany.
eir annual international beauty pageant is
broadcast nationally in ailand with wide
viewership. Ladyboy beauty pageants are a
common xture of life in both urban and
rural areas in ailand and the Philippines.
esepageantscanalsobeintegratedwith
local religious activities, such as Filipino
Santacruzan festivals or ai temple fairs.
LadyboycabaretssuchasAlcazar,Calypso,
and Simon are among the most popular
attractions for tourists in ailand and
promote the “amazing” character and distinc-
tiveness of ailand. All major tourist desti-
nations in ailand (e.g., Bangkok, Pattaya,
Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Samui) will have
at least one ladyboy cabaret show. Ladyboy
cabarets are also popular in the Philippines.
While highlighting their beauty, the hook that
ladyboys were born male also presents them
like a freak show. eir popularity in ailand
has spread on the mainland Southeast Asian
tourist circuit to neighboring Cambodia,
where Phnom Penh and Siem Reap now both
have ladyboy cabarets. ai ladyboy cabarets
also travel to play at venues throughout
EuropeandAsia,whileFilipinoladyboys
perform as contract entertainers in Japan.
e representations of ladyboys in ai-
land are complex. ey are oen stereotyped
as criminals in news reports. eir primary
2LADYBOYS
role in lms is comic or tragic. At the same
time, ais oen express great admiration and
awe for ladyboys’ “wer” (exceptional) beauty,
claiming that cabaret performers, beauty con-
testants, and stars possess extreme physical
characteristics unattainable for “real” women.
In ailand, cosmetic surgery and other
processes of self-transformation are oen
valorized rather than stigmatized. erefore,
feminization for ladyboys can be positively
viewed. e various transformations of the
body including use of cosmetics and women’s
clothing, growing long hair, removal of facial
and body hair, use of hormone pills or injec-
tions, breast implants, other injections and
surgeries to modify the shape of various facial
and body features (e.g., shaving the Adam’s
apple, liing the eyebrows, enlarging the
hips), and vaginoplasty all come at a high
cost, which is associated with class status
(Aizura 2009). Unfortunately, ladyboys oen
are unaware of or ignore the health risks and
disgurement associated with excessive use
of hormones, home injection of silicone and
oils, and surgeries provided without proper
medical supervision or post-care instructions
(e.g., use of antibiotics to prevent infection,
bandaging, or dilation of the neo-vagina).
Southeast Asia is generally considered to
be more tolerant of transgender people than
other regions of the world (Peletz 2009). is
is considered especially true in ailand and
thePhilippines.us,thereisatautological
explanation for the high numbers of ladyboys
in these areas. ere are many ladyboys
because they are accepted. Ladyboys are
accepted because there are many of them.
However, high tolerance does not mean
that ladyboys are free from discrimination,
stigma, or violence. ere are also dierent
perceptions of acceptance from outsiders and
insiders. While internationally circulating
ai lms such as Beautiful Boxer and Iron
Ladies suggest to foreigners that ailand is
very tolerant of transgender people, Western
viewers who have seen popular ai lms
such as Sassy Players or Haunting Me that
never get exported would be oended at the
portrayals (Käng 2011).
Ladyboys are generally limited to a number
of professions in beauty salons, food service,
entertainment, and sex work. Contrary to
some popular Western accounts, ladyboys
do not become transgender in order to gain
lucrative employment. In ailand, ladyboys
are oen stereotyped as sex workers and
stigmatized in tourist areas. A ladyboy can be
arrested simply for being with a Caucasian
man, on the presumption that she is a sex
worker. Ladyboys are oen not admitted to
hotels and some dance clubs frequented by
tourists. e rationale is that ladyboys are
either sex workers or thieves, thus in the
latter case, foreigners must be protected from
them. By ai law, a transgender person does
not have the ability to change their sex, even
aer sex reassignment surgery. us ladyboy
national identication cards state they are
male and they can be denied entry because
their gender does not match their sex.
Ladyboys generally consider sexual
relationships with other ladyboys to be
repulsive. As they typically identify with
heterosexual femininity (even if they are
not gender normative), they seek masculine
male partners. For the most part, partners
of ladyboys, both local and foreign, consider
themselves to be heterosexual men. ough
they should not be stereotyped as such nor
devalued for their occupation, a large pro-
portion of ladyboys are sex workers. Ladyboy
sex workers, both in ailand and the Philip-
pines, oen state a preference for foreigners
as both clients and boyfriends. Ladyboys can
earn more money from foreigners as clients.
Additionally, there are dierent expectations
among local and foreign boyfriends. A local
boyfriend would expect to be supported
nancially by the ladyboy, while she can
expect to be supported by a foreigner. is
LADYBOYS 3
canalsoleadtotieredrelationships,inwhich
a ladyboy has a foreign partner (typically
older) who supports her, and she, in turn,
supportsherlocallover(typicallyyounger).
Local partners of ladyboys are generally
considered low class or lazy because of the
support they receive.
Foreign partners tend to fetishize lady-
boys. Many are explicitly looking for “a
woman with a penis.” us, in ai lady-
boy bars, sex workers are required to be
pre-operative. However, both pre-operative
andpost-operativeladyboyscanworkingirl
bars with other women or as independent
freelancers on the street. is creates a great
deal of anxiety among male sex tourists who
are repulsed by the idea of having sex with
another “man.” Such men will oen pass on
tips to other foreigners for signs of someone
being a ladyboy. is includes excessively
beautiful and voluptuous women, being
too feminine or too masculine, tall height,
looking for Adam’s apples and low-pitched
voices, big feet or large hands, comparing
nger lengths, checking the shape of elbows,
making sure she is wearing a bra, and, as a last
resort, groping her genitals (assuming one
only cares if a ladyboy is pre-operative). eir
anxieties prove their masculinity. On the
other hand, there are many foreign men who
think of the situation as local spice, something
to try out in a situation where it is available.
SEE ALSO: Kathoey; Sex Tourism
REFERENCES
Aizura, Aren Z. 2009. “Where Health and Beauty
Meet: Femininity and Racialisation in ai Cos-
metic Surgery Clinics.” Asian Studies Review, 33:
303–317. DOI: 10.1080/10357820903153707.
Enteen, Jillana B. 2010. Virtual English: Queer
Internets and Digital Creolization.NewYork:
Routledge.
Käng, Dredge Byung’chu. 2011. “Queer Media Loci
in Bangkok: Paradise Lost and Found in Trans-
lation.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Stud-
ies, 17(1): 169–191. DOI 10.1215/10642684-
2010-027.
Käng, Dredge Byung’chu. 2012. “Kathoey ‘In
Trend’: Emergent Genderscapes, National Anx-
ieties and the Re-Signication of Male-Bodied
Eeminacy in ailand.” eme issue, “Queer
Asian Subjects,” Asian Studies Review, 36(4):
475–494. DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2012.741043.
Peletz, Michael. 2009. Gender Pluralism: South-
east Asia since Early Modern Times.NewYork:
Routledge.
FURTHER READING
Jackson, Peter A., and Gerard Sullivan, eds.
1999. Lady Boys, Tom Boys, Rent Boys: Male
and Female Homosexualities in Contemporary
ailand.NewYork:HarringtonParkPress.
