2007-12-11, Transexual Cabaret

In other countries, women usually take the lead in cabaret. But here in Thailand many feel they are just not the right gender 1 for the job.
In Thai society, women are usually very prim 2 and proper, this profession requires them to be outgoing, cheeky and brazen 3 which is not proper for Thai women. "
Every night, in cabarets across Thailand, performers transform themselves in the most profound way imaginable - from men into women.
In Thailand, lady boys were dancers and entertainers long before cabaret caught on in the 1970s . But its enormous success has given them a special niche 4, and allowed them to become more open in expressing themselves.
One has even turned stardom on the cabaret stage into / national celebrity 5. The artist is known simply as "Dae". Dae is the author of 2 books, and though she s never had a sex-change operation she lives her life entirely 6 as a woman, on stage and off. It s been a radical 7 transformation 8 from a young boy who yearned 9 to entertain
I always loved to perform as a child singing or acting 10 whenever there was a chance
At 17, Dae had to quit school to help support her family, working as a hairdresser she got in on the ground floor of the Blossoming Field of Cabaret.
"I had to slowly inject more and more of my personality and myself into the act so that I could stand out and be different. To insert too much of yourself might also turn people off but there is a balance
Dae's stardom has given her the latitude 11 to live the life she wants and even adopt/ two sons. In the west virtually everything about this man /(slash) woman would be taboo 12. So why is she accepted in Thailand?
Transgenderism isn't bound up in sinfulness the way it is in the west. Andrew Matzner is a lecturer at Hollands University. According to Christianity, homosexuality, cross-dressing, those are considered to be sinful, whereas according to Buddhism 13, generally, transgenderism is / bound up in Karma. A person is born transgendered because of something they did wrong in a prior life
As a result, overt 14 harassment 15 is rare here. But that doesn't means most Thais approve/ of transgenderism. Even a celebrity like Dae, often feels that many are uncomfortable with her lifestyle.
"It is not words that bother me but looks, as if people are looking down on us ."
But concerns like these tend to disappear at cabaret. For Thailand's lady boys, it's a refuge.
"Once we are on the cabaret stage, people learn/ all and they are not laughing or feel disgusted like they may in other circumstances. Cabaret is not just a profession for us ; it is not just a livelihood 16. It is something that sustains us. It is like the air that we breathe