Thai Transvestites

I remember down the street when I first came to Thailand. On the sidewalk I saw two girls in spaghetti straps walking on the sidewalk. They caught my attention because they were much taller and larger than your average Thai girls. Just as I walked by them, I overheard their conversation. Their Thai words were incomprehensible, but their tone of voices were really low: it was my first brief experience with transvestites in Thailand.

In Thailand there are numerous transvestites, and the numbers seem to be increasing. Unlike the United States where Christian culture criticizes gay and transvestite behavior, Thailand has no such doctrine or culture to deal with. Thai culture is generally very friendly and open, and thus is a regional hub for transvestites.

Since that first encounter, I have run into transvestites quite a bit. On the way home from work I saw a crowd gathered as two men, decked out in dresses, make up and high heels, danced to music and sang. The crowd thought it quite amusing, they laughed and pointed as the curious two. Yin, a 26 year old Thai guy who speaks excellent English tells me that the trend seems to be increasing. Nowadays there are transvestites all the time. He mentioned to me how surprised he was that there are so few transvestites in American movies--they appear in Thai movies all the time. When visiting the Thai family a couple weeks ago, they pointed out that the host for one of the shows was a transvestite; Asian men generally don't have much facial hair and so looking like a girl is easier than for most Caucasians. There are some aspects of Thai culture I didn't expect to experience while in Thailand!