the third sex

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I’m still in cold, windy London right now, missing ladyboys rather badly because there are not many here and those that there are you have to really go searching for. Unlike Thailand, where they tend to come looking for you.

The fame of Thai ladyboys has however spread to the United Kingdom, partly through sites such as this and partly because of a number of ladyboy shows that have been staged throughout the country on a number of occasions over the past couple of years.

A friend, who knew nothing of my preference, was sounding me out in my local pub the other evening.

“These ladyboys,” he said. “What do you make of them, then?” What are they? Male or female?”

I replied that they are neither male nor female, but formed a sex of their own, the third sex.

“Blimey,” he said. “Sounds a bit dodgy. But they look like women. How do you tell the difference?”

The ladyboys are more beautiful, I replied.

He looked at me. “You ever…you know…been with one of them?”

Yes, a lot of them, I said.

He took a pull at his pint of bitter. “What is it like, then?”

Totally addictive, I replied. Then we got onto another subject.

The funny thing is, that a few years ago that conversation would probably have never taken place. My friend wouldn’t have known what a ladyboy was. Plus, I have to admit this, I would never even have hinted that I had anything to do with ladyboys.

When I first discovered ladyboys, back in the days of Singapore’s Bugis Street, I was unwise enough to mention my discovery in the local pub. The hostile reaction I received made me button my lip on the subject for the next 20 years. How times change…eventually.