Lady Boy Confusion

Linnea and I, yesterday night, on the curb of the bustling Sukhumvit street: two farang girls with their heads tilted to the side, eyes squinted as the traffic stopped and went in the background, trying to decipher where to go as our arms stretched wide to open our BKK map, fingers pointing every which way, frowns highlighted by the neon restaurant signs, mouths agape. It was just after dinner at a pub (we were craving Western food again) on Soi 11.

A group of about four amused American men standing next to us asked us if we need help, and we just started laughing.

"Do you even want to know where we're trying to go?!" I blushed.

We were trying to see the lady boys.

[right? "nooo way", i said it, too.]

Lady boys are ubiquitous in this very accepting and Buddhist Thai culture. I'm sure I pass by them daily, but there have only been a few times when I've actually known that the woman, right there, was definitely not born a woman. You see, lady boys make a ton of money in Thailand through its sex and cabaret industry. So, they'll start "the transformation," if I may, at a young age, going at surgical lengths to appear more feminine. The operations on these mens' adam's apples, breasts, hair, face, and more have paid off, though, for when L an I actually walked down "NaNa", one of the streets that's notorious for lady boys, I literally could only pick out maybe three lady boys of all the women/"women" I passed on the streets and in the bars (and there were many).

A frightening thought hit me as we were walking, somewhat dissappointedly (we thought it'd be much more of a scene! It really just looked like a normal street with bars and restaurants!), and you may laugh at me if you want. But I thought "Oh my gosh, everyone here thinks I'm Thai...I HOPE NO ONE THINKS I'M A LADY BOY!"

"Alright, stop being melodramatic," I told myself, "but truth be told, I guess that might not be a bad thing if people ever did think I was a lady boy. I mean, they've normally got muscular and toned bodies, and come on, many of them are very beautiful, very convincing..."

Just then, Linnea was quick to end my internal conversation as she made me realize that I possess one quality that could never, ever let me be mistaken for a lady boy: my butt's too big.

Oh, right. Yay?