The most beautiful transvestites in the world. What is it like to be a transsexual in Russia
Today is the birthday of Lana Wachowski, director of The Matrix. Lana was born a man named Lawrence. In 2006, Larry changed his gender. Transsexuality is a state when a person feels like a member of the opposite sex. Living in the "wrong body" is so hard that transsexuals often become depressed. Suicide is not uncommon among them. Statistics show that after sex reassignment surgery psychological problems recede, the person begins to live a normal life.
Chaz Bono
He was born a girl named Chastity San Bono. Now he is an actor, writer, musician and well-known human rights activist, who owns the saying: "Gender is something in the head, not between the legs." The first and only child in star family Cher and Sonny Bono. Chastity has stated since childhood that she feels like a boy. But she decided to change sex only by the age of 40. The operation was carried out in 2010.
Now Chaz has a girlfriend named Jennifer Elias. In one of recent interviews he confessed that he was happy.
Brandon Tina
Real name is Tina Brandon. transgender girl whose tragic story formed the basis of the film "Boys Don't Cry" and several other works.
Tina did not undergo sex reassignment surgery and did not take hormonal drugs: she simply forged a passport, becoming Brandon Tina, and moved to a small town where no one could suspect a woman of her. Found a job, made friends. When the deception was revealed, her former comrades first raped and then killed her. This murder drew public attention to the problems of sexual minorities.
Jenna Talachkova
Model and TV presenter from Canada, who almost made it to the final of the Miss Universe 2012 pageant. She easily overcame several qualifying rounds, and then her secret became known to the panel of judges: until the age of 14, Jenna was a boy, underwent hormone therapy, and at 19, the surgeon's knife "removed the unnecessary and added the necessary." As a result, she was disqualified with a scandal. Considering that this was unfair, Jenna hired lawyers, but the case did not go to court. Donald Trump, one of the organizers of the competition, went to the world.
In the end, the girl took part in the theatrical performance "Miss Universe", was among the 12 best, received the title of "Miss Congeniality".
Carolina Cossey
British actress and transsexual model "with experience". She starred in a cameo role in one of the James Bond films (“For Your Eyes Only”), repeatedly posed for men's magazines, including Playboy. After the sex change, she was married several times. The work of her whole life is the autobiography “I am a woman”, where Carolina frankly told why she decided to change her sex and how she earned money for operations by performing in a strip club.
Andreas Krieger
The most famous "victim of male hormones." Heidi Krieger was a member of the East German national athletics and did not plan to become a man. Nose adolescence according to the direct prescription of the trainer, she took male hormones and anabolic steroid to show good results in sports. Her highest achievement is Golden medal at the European Championships in 1986. After finishing sports career Heidi noticed that she was rapidly developing transsexuality.
She eventually underwent sex reassignment surgery. Andreas is now married and has a daughter. He founded the Heidi Krieger Award, which is awarded to those who fight against doping in sport.
Thomas Beaty
This American became famous all over the world for the fact that, being a man according to his passport, he managed to bear three children! In fact, Thomas is a former Hawaiian girl named Tracey Lagondino. Judging by the fact that she once managed to win one of the places at the local beauty contest, the girl was very pretty. But at the age of 24, having met his future wife (by the way, a bodybuilder), Thomas decided to reincarnate and began to take male hormones, a little later he switched to sex change operations. Then it turned out that his other half could not get pregnant. Thomas temporarily gave up hormones and ... was able to get pregnant on his own.
Dana International
Israeli pop singer who managed to win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Diva. Changed sex at the age of 21. Now she is one of the most recognizable transsexuals on the planet.
Jenny Hiloudaki
Greek top model, writer. Her transformation is considered one of the most successful. Already at the age of 13, young John Hiloudaki began taking female hormones, and at the age of 20, last operation for gender correction.
After that, Jenny began to work as a model and quickly gained fame. In this she was helped not only by her chic forms, but also by scandals: she met with a married local prosecutor. Upon learning that Jenny used to be a man, the prosecutor returned to the family. Wrote the book Angels Have No Gender.
Lana Wachowski
One of the creators of the cult trilogy "The Matrix". However, when she and her brother Andy directed the film, Lana was still Larry. Larry from childhood, according to him, could not decide on gender, which almost led him to suicide and caused hard periods depression. Larry started taking hormonal agents, preparing for the operation, at the beginning of the 2000s, the preparation lasted about 5 years. Lana was supported by the whole family - from her brother and sisters to his own wife. As a woman, Lana first appeared on general public, representing New film"Cloud Atlas". For the courage to publicly talk about the reasons that prompted her to change sex, she received the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award.
This year has been a bountiful crop of transsexuals, which is only worth the transformation of Kim Kardashian's stepdad Bruce Jenner into Caitlyn Jenner. However, there are many transsexuals, but there are much fewer celebrities among them. Today we will tell you about the most famous transsexuals of the planet who have gone down in history.
Caitlyn Jenner
Former Olympic Athlete, Reality TV Star and Stepfather famous Kim Kardashian went from Bruce to Caitlyn in 2015 after an official announcement and gender reassignment surgery
Laverne Cox
Laverne became famous for starring in the popular American TV series Orange Is the New Black, in which she played the role of Sophia Barset. Laverne is the first transsexual to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award
Janet Mock
The former People magazine recruiter, had a sex change at 18 and publicly declared herself as a woman in Marie Claire magazine in 2011. She has since become a spokesperson for transgender rights through her New York Times memoir series "Redefining Realness".
Andriy Pejic
Andrei gained popularity as a male supermodel, who could show both male and female. women's clothing. In 2014, he changed gender, and stated that from now on he wants to be perceived as a woman.
Caroline Kosei
British actress and model who auditioned for the role of a Bond girl for the twelfth 007 film For Your Eyes Only and was a Playboy model in 1980
Jenna Talakova
The Canadian model that hit the headlines of all the famous publications and broke all the barriers. In 2012, she fought for legal admission to the Miss Universe Canada pageant. Well, at least she won the Miss Congeniality title.
Alexis Arquette
Born in famous acting family Arquette under the name Robert. Alexis has played supporting roles in several films, and her transition from male to female was chronicled in the 2007 film Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother.
Isis King
Isis starred in seasons 11 and 17 of the reality show America's Next Top Model. She was the first transgender woman to compete on the show, and became one of the most visible transsexuals on television.
Chaz Bono
The only child of Sonny and Cher (yes, the same Cher). Chaz (born Chastiti) documented his transition from female to male in the 2011 film Become Chaz.
Silvia Rivera
An American drag queen, gay activist and transgender rights activist, Rivera was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance. Silvia actively helped transgender people in need, including homeless transvestites and black transsexuals.
Christine Jorgenson
Born George William Jr., Jorgenson served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and went through a series of gender reassignment surgeries in Denmark after her service.
Candy Darling
Candy was born a boy named James Lawrence Slattery. Candy Darling was an American transgender actress who starred in the films Flesh (1968) and Woman's Revolt (1971), produced by Andy Warhol, and was the muse for the rock band The Velvet Underground.
Carmen Carrera
Reality TV star, model and burlesque actress with amazing curves that any woman can envy
Ian Harvey
Born with the name Janet, Harvey is a transgender comedian who had a gender change at 32. Harvey rose to fame through his work with Margaret Cho, with whom he toured and played leading role as a regular member of her off-Broadway comedy revue
Lana Wachowski
He is one of the most successful film producers in the world (half of the duo formerly known as the Wachowski brothers). She helped create the highly successful Matrix franchise, as well as dozens of others. famous films, including "V for Vendetta" and "Cloud Atlas"
Lea Tee
Born as a boy named Leandro, in 2014 Lea was elected the face of famous brand Redken, which produces professional hair cosmetics. This made her the first transgender model to be the face of an international cosmetics brand.
Raffi Friedman-Gurspan
He is the first transgender to be hired by White House. Raffi was appointed by Barack Obama in 2015 to perform advocacy duties and help recruit directors.
Nadia Almada
Born Jorge Leodoro, Almada is a British reality television star who became the first transgender to win the fifth season of Big Brother in 2004.
Koksinel
Born with the name Jacques Charles Dufresnoy, she took the stage name Coccinelle (Coccinelle, " ladybug"translated from French), before entering show business. In 1953, she became famous as a transgender dancer, performing at the art cafe Chez Madame Arthur. She was the first public advocate for sexual rights in Europe, where she was a national celebrity and famous club singer.
Balian Bushbaum
Yvonne Buschbaum was once an Olympic pole vaulter from Germany. In 2007, Yvonne announced her departure from big sport and began preparations for a sex change in order to later become a man named Balian. Balian took part in the German version of "Dancing with the Stars"
Loisa Lamers
In addition to her irresistible looks, Loiza is the first transgender woman to win the 2015 Dutch Top Model show. The main prize of the show was a contract with the modeling agency Touche Models for 50 thousand euros.
Flipping through the pages of fashion magazines, from where stunning beauties look at us languidly, few people would think that some of them were quite recently ... men. Hard to believe? Most beautiful transvestites in the world have surpassed many women in attractiveness and charm, and some of them have also become quite famous personalities.
Jenna Talakova
In October 1988, Canada was a boy is born named Walter Talakov. No one could even imagine that one fine day, teenager Walter would start taking hormones, and at the age of 19 he would finally turn from a handsome young man into beautiful girl. Subsequently, Jenna said that already at the age of 4 she felt like only a girl and looked at the boys with primary school schools.
Jenna Talakova gained fame thanks to the scandal surrounding her person at the Miss Universe Canada contest. The girl became the finalist of the competition, one of 65 lucky participants, when the news about her "male" past produced the effect of an exploding bomb. Jenna was disqualified, citing the fact that only those who are female from birth can participate in the contest. It was thanks to the outcry caused by this incident that Donald Trump subsequently allowed transvestites to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.
Jenna believes that the disqualification taught her to be strong and not giving up, to go to the goal. On the this moment the recognized beauty is preparing to release her own reality show and is actively fighting for the rights of transsexuals.
Carmen Carrera
The rating of "the most beautiful transvestites in the world" continues the sultry Latin American. Carmen was born in 1985 in Puerto Rico as Christopher Roman. The now-famous model achieved her first fame by taking part in the popular trance reality show RuPaul Drag Race, despite the fact that at that time she was still a man. Thanks to her charm, Carmen Carrera quickly attracted everyone's attention and became a style icon.
Subsequently, Carmen starred for numerous fashion magazines, including the popular W magazine. Now the transvestite model participates a lot in fashion shows, starred in commercials and solos as a burlesque artist. In June 2015, Carmen Carrera became the happy wife of Richard Torres, whom they had known for over 6 years.
Candy Darling
Candy Darling was born back in 1944 in New York, USA in the family of an alcoholic father. Prior to changing gender, she had the name James Lawrence Slattery and spent hours fascinated by the TV, looking through old Hollywood movies and copying the style of their favorite movie actresses of the time.
At the age of 16, she took courses in cosmetology, around the same time she had her first same-sex sexual experience "with a seller of shoes for children in his store." She dressed in women's outfits, took the train to Manhattan, where she had fun with the local bohemian all night long.
It was there that her fateful acquaintance with Andy Warhol took place, who subsequently filmed her in his film "Flesh" and gave her the lead role in the film "Babi Revolt". She was noticed, and from that moment her dizzying actor career- she starred in many films, including with such world stars as Sophia Loren and Jane Fonda. Candy died of leukemia at the age of 29, a huge crowd escorted her to last way. In 2010, James Razin made a documentary about this wonderful actress.
Janet Mock
Janet was born in 1983 in a male body and lived until the age of 18 under the name Charles. They lived in Hawaiian Honolulu, her family was very poor - already a teenager, Janet had to earn a living by prostitution. She was the only one of the whole family who entered and graduated from college.
Janet Mock started out as the editor of People magazine, but her career grew brightly and rapidly. At the moment, Janet Mock is a popular American writer, TV presenter, activist and journalist. She has her own television show and autobiography, and is an editor popular magazine"Marie Claire". Janet happily realized herself as a woman - in 2014, her beloved man Aaron Treadwell proposed to her.
America's Most Beautiful Transvestites - Laverne Cox
This sultry brunette's birth name was Roderick Laverne Cox, who, by his own admission, never felt happy in a male body. Childhood and youth Laverna was not easy, full of bullying and ridicule of classmates. This depressed the boy so much that at the age of 11 he attempted suicide.
But all's well that ends well, and now Laverne Cox is a recognized beauty, producer and actress who received an Emmy award in 2014 for one of her roles, and in 2015 Time included her in the list of the most influential people on the planet. Laverne also became the first transgender woman to be named as a producer and host her own show.
dream and the main objective Laverne Cox - to make a movie about transvestites so that the world can see them for who they are: in need of understanding, protection and love - like all ordinary women.
Claudia Charriez
The most beautiful transvestites periodically get into scandalous stories. Model Claudia Charries was a contestant on America's Next Top Model, but didn't make it to the end of the show. After it turned out that Claudia was actually a man, she was kicked out of the project with a bang.
Charries became a member litigation She accused her friend of beating her. But as it turned out during the hearings, Claudia used to provide certain "services" and does not have an impeccable reputation.
Harisu
The most beautiful transvestites are also in South Korea. Singer Lee Kyung-Ip was a fairly popular artist, but he always dreamed of a sex change. After medical examinations, he was allowed to have sex reassignment surgery.
Now this is a spectacular model Harisu, who has achieved extraordinary success on the world's catwalks and finally fulfilled her cherished dream.
One could talk at length about the intolerance of diverse minorities in Russian society, but the plight of people who feel they were born in someone else's body is often especially unbearable. Alena Soiko interviewed four people who have either already changed their sex or are just getting ready to do it. All of them are at different stages of this difficult and painful process for themselves and for those around them.
Sex reassignment is a multi-stage procedure, which is built according to the scheme: hormonal therapy - surgical correction of the genital organs - change of documents. For a year or longer, a transsexual is observed by a psychiatrist, who must confirm the diagnosis of transsexualism. At this stage, the doctor excludes schizophrenia and other psychopathic diseases. After that, a special commission of doctors issues a referral for gender reassignment and change of documents. Before the operation shemales long time take hormones. And after it, they receive documents that confirm that the person now has a new name and a different gender.
Natalia, 39 years old
The permission of the commission for gender reassignment and change of documents was received. A course of hormone therapy was carried out, no operations were performed.
I am from the very early childhood I realized I was a girl, but I was born a boy. To meet the expectations of my parents, I began to play the boy. I mean, I just learned how to be. For example, I remember how in the sixth grade we ran a hundred meters, and the boys said to me: “Why are you running like girls?” And I watched them run and tried to copy their movements.
For a very long time I tried to live up to society's expectations. First she played a boy, then she portrayed a man.
So I wanted to start a family. But I could only do it as a man, I have two children. And with the family it is very difficult to go for sex correction. For many years, I gritted my teeth and continued to play man just for the sake of my family.
I opened up to my wife 10 years ago ... Around this moment, I made the first attempt to correct the sex. And when the first changes began to appear in connection with hormones, my wife told me: “You know, choose, or we will be together and you stop it, or please change, but let's part.” And I, as a woman, naturally chose a family. I went into depression for many years, somehow coped with it with varying degrees of success. But a year ago I got to the point where own life no longer means anything to me. I realized that this could not continue. I told my wife about it. She reacted like this: let's endure all this as long as I can. As long as he is patient. I don’t know if we will be together or part, time will tell. This is how we live as a family.
My wife and I live like friends. Until now, with children, I play dad, as far as I can do it now. Although they do feel everything. The older one periodically calls me “my dad”, and the younger one, when my grandmother comes to visit, tells her: “Grandma, look, and our dad has a girl, he has a pigtail.” In the kindergarten, when I come to the men's, the children constantly ask: am I mom or dad. Recently, one boy said to the others, looking at me: "No, it's not for me that my mother came."
A year ago, I got back on hormones. From the winter I am already me. And at work since spring, I am me. I told my colleagues, opened up to my friends, in general, I was lucky here. Often people, when they change gender, quit their jobs, move to another city. Nothing has changed for me. At work, I am a director, I said very simply: “Whoever doesn’t like it, you can quit.” Nobody quit. I don’t have a dad anymore, and I don’t want to tell my mom because of her age. Of course, she would never throw pans at me or kick me out of the house. But I'm afraid that she will start to reproach herself: that she did something wrong during pregnancy, that she somehow raised it wrong, and all these doubts will only affect her health. However, it cannot be said that she does not see anything. Yes, I come to her completely disguised as a man, but she sees my nails, my long hair. He says: “Oh, you have such nails, any girl will envy you.” But now I am very glad that in childhood I did not tell my parents anything. They would take me to some specialist, and he would slap me with a diagnosis, some kind of schizophrenia.
Evgenia, 38 years old
She takes hormones, but there is no permission to change documents yet.
I only had the opportunity to access the Internet at the age of 30, so I learned about transsexuality, met a transsexual friend who, like me, was from Stavropol. Roughly speaking, this is how I lived long years with something she didn't know the name of.
And this beginning manifested itself, like everyone else, since childhood, clothes attracted, were more emotional than boys, not as lively as they were, they did not know how to fight back. It was hard at school, I was constantly bullied and bullied. Yes, what is there to talk about? When I was studying, there was a boy in our class with slight deviations, and during one of the breaks he was raped in the toilet. Such was the contingent there at the school. And when I started to grow my hair a little, they came straight up to me on the street with the question: “Aren't you a f*ck?”
There, to change your appearance is to subscribe to problems. Therefore, I began to actively take hormones only here. Yes, I take hormones on my own, I do not trust our doctors, who are still guided by female physiology, although it is slightly different for transsexual women. I’m not afraid to take it on my own, because I don’t belong to the category of people who want boobs right now and right here.
This year I changed the photo in my passport, because everyone usually reacted to the previous one like this: “Girl, this is not your passport.” With new photo I haven't been able to get a job in my passport for a year now. At my last official job, I was just bullied. When it started to change appearance, problems started. I received threats, my correspondence was hacked, which lay printed out right on my desk so that I knew that it had been hacked. That's the attitude. I just had to quit. Now for a year now I can’t find a job, everywhere they refuse, refuse, refuse. If I start talking on the phone about who I really am, some immediately hang up the phone without listening to the end. And if I come for an interview, then until I show my passport, everything goes fine.
Today I was at an interview, I called on Friday about working as a courier, from 15 thousand, I don’t aim for more. I got to the director of the company directly, everything is fine, he asked if I worked. Then he crumbled: “Please come on Monday for an interview, if everything is fine, you can immediately start working.” And when she arrived and began to explain what difficulty I had with the documents, the following phrase sounded: “You know, we still have department heads here, they may have problems with such a case, I will call you back tomorrow.” Of course he won't call back. And if it’s conscious, then I’ll still get another refusal. I'm just desperate now, to be honest.
I live in a rented apartment with a girlfriend, I don't know what to do. And I don't know how to change the situation. Everything needs money. The commission that issues permission for sex correction costs 35,000. The operation to remove the testicles - another 25 thousand. That is, it turns out that in order to change documents, I need to earn money, and in order to earn money, I need to get a job, and because of these same documents, no one hires me. Everything, a vicious circle. If it weren't for a girlfriend who actually pays for me part of the housing, I would just die on the street.
This is what pushes transsexuals into the environment of prostitution, and not because we are so depraved. Where should a person go? Return to the province? They can be killed there, which happened repeatedly. And where should I go? To prostitutes? So I'm old. All that remains for me is just under the train. Now I live on my mother's pension.
Tell me, what difference does it make, what kind of passport is there when you carry cartridges? I'm tired. If I don’t find a job, there will be no other way out but to step onto the rails. What else is left for me to do? I will not return home, there is no work, no life.
Alexander, 30 years old
Changed documents, carried out the “up” operation, the “down” operation was not carried out.
At the age of 12, I realized that something was wrong with me. And at first he shoved everything into orientation. Then he was convinced that it was not the case. But I didn't know much about transgender people. And from 12 to 24 tried to build normal life to correct nothing and live like everyone else. By nature, by psychological features I love order. And so I tried to do everything right. I got married, started a family, I had a child. I did this because I thought that in this way I could most fully work out the original gender identity. And I'm sorry that we couldn't save the family. After all, my daughter, I think, would not care how many dads she has - one or two. It is much more important for a child to be loved. I have no relationship with my child.
At the age of 24, I realized that something needed to be done, I passed the commission and changed my documents two years ago. In the end, the whole process took me six years. As you understand, it is important here to look at the patient in dynamics in order to exclude schizophrenia or a split personality, for example. To rule out any psychiatric illness at all, to make sure that it is transsexuality, and not something else. There are two commissions in Russia: in Moscow, where many people are denied, and in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, I was flogged, I went to St. Petersburg. On these commissions, you are usually swindled for a long time, for years. This is such a test of how ready you are and how much you need it. You must be socialized and adapted. Naturally, a representative appearance and the availability of work are a plus. But, unfortunately, in the case of transsexuals, in Russia they even look at the discrepancy between documents and appearance. When I walked like a man, with stubble and a mustache, they wouldn't even take me to clean the toilets. I just hurried up and started hormone therapy before I changed my name in my passport.
About parents. In principle, nothing particularly critical, they just embarrass me very much. Of course they wish it didn't. Due to full-time schooling and the impossibility of a full-time job, I temporarily live with them until I save up again to eat. We have practically no communication. I try to be away as much as possible all day: I arrive an hour before they sleep and leave an hour after they wake up. And if there is a conversation, it is only about their affairs, about my affairs, they do not want to hear anything.
For me, the moment of truth is fundamental. Relationships with a girl involve sex, of course, before sex, you need to make a person aware of what he or she can see. This does not mean that I tell everyone I meet and cross about my gender correction, but if I want to be friends with a person, communicate more closely, he should know about it. This is a kind of test for me: a person takes note of this, we continue our communication, but we never return to this again, which means there is contact. And if I myself do not tell the truth, this means that a person cannot be anything for me, except as an acquaintance of an average hand. For me, this is also a test for the adequacy of those who are close to me.
If my dreams came true, I would have a separate apartment, I would not have to rent. And I would have had a second operation a long time ago. The top two years ago cost 100 thousand, the bottom - 300. For me, this is a lot of money. I wish I had them.
Well, and one more completely impossible dream: to be accepted into a monastery. Yes, I sometimes think about going to a monastery. But, unfortunately, given the attitude of the church towards people like me, this is impossible.
On the topic of the monastery should clarify. I'm just in the community. I spend almost all my free time there, helping with something or just talking to people. There is a cultural center where we all gather. And the brothers hold masses and other events - reading the Bible, watching movies, they just come down, albeit not for long, but to talk with us. I'm calm there. Perhaps these are the few people whom I really love. Some of them do not know about my transsexuality, but I promised the priest that I would not tell them, so as not to shock. But I talk to them on the subject of LGBT, although it is of little use, rather intolerant opinions prevail there.
Yana, 23 years old
He seeks permission to change documents without gender reassignment, refuses hormone therapy and operations.
I learned about the existence of transgender people at the age of 20, but for about 12 years I was a transvestite, while I considered myself sick and stubbornly continued to fight it. And it stopped at 20. Now I act publicly, go to all sorts of actions, I have many Orthodox opponents who are ready to throw stones at me in the most direct sense. My relatives do not support me. The news itself was received extremely restlessly, quite restlessly. They still say that I need to heal that normal people they don't behave like that. That, at worst, I can walk like this at home, since I'm so eager to be a woman, but not in public places. They attack my active position on this issue, they say that all this activism is useless and that people like me will always be treated badly in our country. I am of a different opinion and do not think that Russia has any special path. AT Western countries activists went through the same stage of hatred, and someday we will overcome it too. In my opinion, the achievement of rights for LGBT people is possible only after the change of power, so I am engaged not only in transgender activism, but also in politics.
What really worries me? On the one hand, this is, of course, the existing transphobia in society. On the other hand, this is the procedure for changing the name and gender in the documents - for example, they refused to change my name, since the name "Yana" does not match male gender in my passport. If a person does not have documents that would match his appearance, then he faces discrimination where a passport is required, for example, when applying for a job, renting an apartment, on trains, airports ... For now, I live such a double life. To where they know me male name, I have to come in a man's. Although living in Moscow is a great privilege, I walk the streets here and no one looks at me. Because it's a huge city, it's rare to run into people you know.
I go to university dressed as a man, although some people there know about my activism. When I walk in a skirt, I am not afraid that I will meet one of them. But in general, I don’t really care who knows what about me. What can they do to me? Get kicked out of graduate school? This is unlikely, as an activist I will raise a scandal, nobody needs it. I am planning a coming out in the near future, I only hope to find a suitable reason, I would like it to be a change of gender and name in the passport.
Thailand is probably the most tolerant in the world. Here they are called “third sex”, “type two women” and even “real women”, because these people themselves made the decision to become women, and did not receive female body at birth. But even here, with such a neutral or benevolent attitude of others, transsexuals experience a certain pressure. Them legal status undetermined, after sex reassignment surgery, they do not change their documents, and it is very difficult for them to get a job outside the entertainment industry or outright prostitution (which is officially prohibited), even with a good education.
Before us are pictures from a photo essay by David Hosholt about the life of transsexuals in Thailand, or, as they are also called, katoys. (Attention! Some of the materials presented in the photo report may seem unpleasant or intimidating)
(Total 11 photos)
1. This picture was taken in the dressing room of the Cascade bar, located in entertainment complex Nana Entertainment Plaza in Bangkok. This red-light district is firmly entrenched in the fame of the largest complex of sex entertainment in the world. The area's nearly 40 go-go bars, four of which (Obsession, Casanova, Temptations, Carnival and Cascades) are full of shemales, cater mainly to European and American tourists. AT recent times many tourists from Japan began to appear here as well.
2. In total, 45 katois work in the Cascade bar. Many Nana Plaza bars don't provide jobs for them at all, but Cascade is an exception. Only katoi dance here. The dancers are divided into two groups: some dance on a special carousel, the second communicate with customers in the bar. Every 20 minutes these groups change places. Communication with the visitor basically boils down to the fact that, having paid the due amount to the bar employees, the client leaves with the chosen girl in a hotel room located in the same building to continue “communication”, but in a more relaxed atmosphere.
3. Many tourists who believe that they have nothing to do with homosexuality willingly enter into sexual relations with transsexuals. Transsexuals themselves try to avoid homosexual contacts, although here the concepts of “man” and “woman” are already so confused that it is difficult to say what exactly is homosexual contact in their case - sex with a man or sex with a woman.
4. This is Bee - one of the many Thai katoys. She (or he?) hasn't been able to get a job at any decent go-go bar and just goes out every night looking for customers like a common prostitute. Officially, prostitution in Thailand, of course, is prohibited. Sometimes in night bars, visitors can watch a spectacle that amuses them: when the police approach the institution, the dancers are given a signal warning of danger, then everyone jumps off the stage and hurries to put on some clothes. Of course, if the police catch someone engaged in prostitution, everyone will be punished, except for the clients who ordered these services.
5. In a small clinic in Bangkok, a sex change operation is performed. But something went wrong, and the patient woke up on the operating table before the end of the operation. The surgeon who performs this operation has been turning men into women for 20 years, but no one will ever issue him a license for this type of operation. The operation, which should normally take about an hour and a half, is carried out almost twice as fast. The doctor is even proud that he can carry it out using only local anesthesia. They try to save on everything - both on medicines and on junior medical personnel. This allows you to reduce the price of the operation, and thereby attract more customers.
6. That's all. What just a few minutes ago was one of the main signs of a man, and so interfered with its owner, turned into just a dead piece of flesh - pathetic and torn to pieces.
7. This is how the famous Nana Entertainment Plaza looks like - the busiest entertainment center on Sukhumvit Street. Under one roof, there are several dozen go-go and ordinary beer bars, as well as rooms for "chat" with girls. Getting a job here is a cherished dream for many transsexuals, because earnings are high by local standards. But this money needs to be seriously worked out. If a transgender loses eight clients, then penalties are included - he will have to pay a fine of $ 25 for each lost client. When the number of lost clients approaches this critical number, transsexuals begin to sharply lower the price of their services in order to get at least someone.
8. Such work in restaurants is carried out every night. Transsexuals are ready to pester everyone in a row, just to get a client and earnings.
9. This small temple is located very close to one of the go-go bars. During a break between work, transsexuals come here to pray.
10. To make accommodation cheaper, several people share a small rent. So you can save money and help each other get dressed. Many transgender people are willing to save very drastically in order to save money for a gender reassignment operation, which will allow them to raise the price of their services in the future. In addition, this craft is often almost the only income of their families, whom they help.
11. Katoy is considered a “type two woman” in Thailand. But nature cannot be deceived, and even the most successful and expensive sex change operation does not solve all problems. The body stubbornly tries to regain its natural appearance. To prevent this from happening, you have to take potent daily hormonal preparations. Besides night life, which many transsexuals earn their livelihood, almost always involves alcohol and drug use. Falling asleep after such a “working night” is not easy, and sleeping pills are also added to this caustic chemical cocktail. Of course, the attitude towards transsexuals in Thailand is one of the most tolerant in the world, but still, the age of a transgender is quite short, and the suicide rate among them is higher than among the general population.