Hi. Thai here.
Almost nobody in Thailand uses the term “ladyboy” when discussing trans identity in Thai. The word is an orientalist construction and is a Western projection that exists only within English speaking contexts.
What these viral misinformed takes always leave out is that trans women in Thailand use feminine language in the exact same way cis women do, and they are addressed as women by almost everyone whether they are conservatives, men, women, children, monks etc.
Unlike Indonesia, very few people in Thailand spend time policing other people’s use of language, which restrooms they use and how they choose to live their lives.
These hot takes from people stems from one thing: the fact that most of you have never actually known a trans person, listened to a trans person, or opened your hearts to one in real life.
And you certainly don’t understand how Thai language functions either. In Thailand this is almost unthinkable as Trans people are normalised members of society.
You can’t avoid trans people in Thailand because they don’t need to hide. If their family doesn’t accept them, they still have friends and the larger Thai community to lean on.
They are doctors, nurses, business owners, entertainers, teachers, service workers, creatives, athletes, and more. While you’re all busy debating bathroom politics and indulging in religious and political hysteria, the world keeps turning in Thailand lol
I see this discourse often and it really does expose how colonial language hierarchies erase the nuance of non-Western gender systems - systems that, while imperfect and still evolving, have long recognised identities beyond the narrow Western binary and flatten them into stereotypes for global consumption.
I’ve said this before but social media algorithms amplify English-language content to the rest of the world while Thai opinions remain trapped within Thailand’s content ecosystem. That asymmetry is exactly why so many of you speak about Thais instead of with Thais and it’s why your understanding of Thai trans identity will always sound like a mistranslation.
Lol, Did he even try? Even thai ladyboy never claim h8mself as a woman and always identified tjey are ladyboy