History of Thai LB's?

[fancylighters]

I've been interested for quite a while in the history of ladyboys in asia, and especially Thailand. Wondering when this became recognized, and especially when westerners first experienced them. Was this a 20th century event, or earlier?

Are there any books on this subject?

btw, I would think this would be a cool subject for a fiction book - - kind of like Shogun meets show me your gun

[thegame925]

Title: The Third Sex
Author: Richard Totman
Published by: Souvenir Press Ltd
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0 285 63668 5

Gives the History of Kathoey - Thailand's Ladyboys

Title: Bangkok 8
Author: John Burdett
Publisher:Pantheon Books

Good Thriller:
First of 3 by the same author all set in Bangkok, 2nd main character is a Ladyboy.

[thegame925]

Lady Boys, Tom Boys, Rent Boys: Male and Female Homosexualities in Contemporary Thailand
by Peter A. Jackson (Author, Editor), Gerard Sullivan (Author, Editor)
Publisher: Haworth Press Inc.,U.S. (23 April 1999)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0789006561

[Guest]

Try the Buddhist Tippitaka, somewhat like a 'canon' (Bible), that recognizes a third sex (about 1400 yrs ago).

LBs have been around since the beginning of time. They have only been hidden in the last 3 centuries, primarily due to a growing cult of rejection of minorities. Try Boswel's history of gay people that goes back before Christ. It is the best book on homosexuality, for which, there are many overlaps with LB history. Called Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. This guy is a very, very good researcher, and writer.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/i....html#writings

[mabulox]

Hello guys

After I read Bangkok 8 I was surfing into a web looking for John Burdett info and  I find this post about Kathoey than I enclosed

Mabulòx

In Thailand there are folk myths that tell of three sexes at the time of creation. The great mother created three beings, the first man, the first woman, and the first katoey. The katoey was jealous of first man's love for his wife, and killed her to have the first man for his own. Because the katoey was also male, the marriage with first man was childless. The great mother killed them both and started again, creating second man, second woman, and second katoey.

This time the second katoey felt his male energy, and was jealous of the man. He killed him, but wanted to live with the second woman as a sister, not a wife. Again the union was childless and again the great motherkilled them both. When she created third man,third woman and third katoey she pulled the third katoey aside and told him that he must let the man and woman live together and produce children so that creation could go on. The katoey would have a special role, but had to accept this marriage. The katoey agreed, and the Lanna people came into being, filling the valley with their offspring.

Chris Beyer ,of John Hopkins University , author of, War in Blood (1998) Zed Books comments, "It is a strange story to western ears. The katoey is an ambiguous and potent figure, who must be compelled to make peace with both men and women so that the world can be populated. (S)he is something of a wild card, a dangerous element, but creation is not complete without her/him. Each time the genders are made anew, there are three".


Compared to Western countries katoeys are much more visible and more widely accepted in Thai culture: several popular Thai models, singers and movie stars are katoeys, and Thai newspapers often print photos of the winners of female and katoey beauty contests side by side. The phenomenon is not restricted to urban areas; there are katoeys in most villages, and katoey beauty contests are commonly held as part of local fairs.

Some believe that this higher acceptance is due to the nature of the surrounding Buddhist culture, which places a high value on tolerance. Using the notion of Karma, some Thai believe that being a katoey is the result of transgressions in past lives, concluding that katoey deserve pity rather than blame.

The lives of katoeys are not as easy as many Westerners might believe. families (and especially fathers) are typically disappointed if a son becomes a katoey. Legal recognition of katoeys is non-existent in Thailand.


Original post: Thai Ladyboy Massage

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