the third sex

A friend emailed me during the week to say that he had heard of a ladyboy pageant in the Philippines that featured very young ladyboys, between the ages of 13 and 16. Did Thailand ever hold similar beauty contests for the youngsters, he asked. I wrote back to say that I didn’t know of any event like that, but that I had no doubt they did take place in the local communities, probably as an offshoot of the ladyboy pageants that are held at temple fairs and by the media and commercial organisations countrywide.

Given the enormous number of young Thais who decide pre-puberty and during adolescence that they are going to become ladyboys, it would be surprising if such events did not take place.

Although many in the West would raise their hands (and voices) in horror at such an activity, it is probably worth pointing out that ladyboy pageants are harmless. As most are staged in temple grounds or municipal facilities, they would hardly be anything other than that.

The pageants are all about dressing up, rather than dressing down, and the emphasis is on glamour, dancing, singing and theatrical performance. These are not bikini contests: the girls wear beautiful costumes. In fact the pageants are usually sponsored by beauty product companies, hairdressing salons, boutiques and so on.

Apart from providing a colourful spectacle for those attending (temple fairs are enormous fun for all the family) the pageants are an essential part of network building amongst the nationwide ladyboy community. I remember years ago having my first experience of this, when I went down to the Deep South and attended a temple fair. There were a great number of ladyboys there, and it soon became apparent that they all knew each other, they all knew friends of friends, they all knew ladyboy-friendly employers and they all knew places that were looking for staff.

In other words, it was a huge support network. And these networks link with other regional networks. It is possible to visualise a vast ladyboy network spreading across the entire country.

So yes, of course the youngsters get a look in. No one would want to encourage any young person to become a ladyboy, but given the reality, at least a support network exists. And I have no doubt that there are plenty of words of warning handed out by the older ladyboys to the young and impressionable kids who might think it’s all glamour and money.