bumblebee Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Ok the population of Thailand is much greater, but what can explain the discrepancy in percentages between both countries. Similar culture, yet when you cross the border the amount of ladyboys spotted around Cambodia is so much smaller, as I am sure anyone who has been there can vouch for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxpharm Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I would say it may have something to do with the genocide that went on during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot had over 2 million Cambodians killed in order to cement his power base. He recruited all ages for his army/secret police. That was about 25% of the population at the time, so 1 in 4 were executed to cleanse the society for a pure form of peasant communism. This obviously held the country back in development - very few factories, few modern conveniences, like plastic, and lack of access to modern medical care, drugs, etc. Also the concern about finding a way to survive probably took priority over anything else. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JustSumGai Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Plus the public acceptance does not seem to be there. The only ones that like them are horny Khmer men who will do and say things to ladyboy they would never try to the average good Khmer girl. Mostly the ones I've encountered are prostitutes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumblebee Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Plus the public acceptance does not seem to be there. The only ones that like them are horny Khmer men who will do and say things to ladyboy they would never try to the average good Khmer girl. Mostly the ones I've encountered are prostitutes. They definitely keep a low profile. I did spot a few on my wanderings around PP but not in the percentage of population I'd expect to see in Bkk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 The fate of the unwanted male offspring of Issan girls who come home from Bangkok or Pattaya expecting a farang baby is to turn them into ladyboys. The abundance of cheap Chinese hormones makes it easy & as the family knows, no one wants a half farang male in the village. This way they can turn them into money making machines who can be relied upon to send as much money home as their daughters they send off to work. Plus they have the advantage of not being able to fall pregnant nor are they are going to be whisked off to farangland to marry one of their many boyfriends. They got that last bit wrong, I'm not sure what they make of those foreigners wanting to do something as weird as tying the knot with their katoey child but then again, Issan farmers have always been at a loss trying to figure out how farangs think. However in Cambodia with all the loss of life after Pol Pot's reign of terror, they might actually be very glad to welcome a child of any background into the world. They may value having a son to help the family business. And force feeding them hormones to make them less male may never cross their mind. I have made some assumptions there but the difference between Thailand & Cambodia as I see it is the Thais have too many unwanted children in the poor north & stories of wealthy katoeys have travelled to every corner of Issan. From being an unwelcome burden, farang babies can help make the family respectable. The Cambodians view these children differently, hence they are allowed to grow up normally. As for all the katoeys who are 100% Thai, the other half, I don't know if there is a great difference between the pro-rata numbers from each country. Evidence of the existence of ladyboys in Thailand goes back 100's of years. The difference is these days they can develop like real women with the presence of the cheap hormones. Every village pharmacy has them in huge quantities. Quite an odd product line for a village pharmacy in my opinion but they are a big seller. Whether one should laugh or cry about that is all in the eye of the beholder. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdogg Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Much food for thought Paccers. My take is that Thailand has reached a tipping point where it is culturally acceptable to be a ladyboy. Cambodia hasn't. It's going to be awhile IMO. Might take generation. Though social media certainly facilitates the spread of tends and ideas. On a side note, Cambodia was a very poor country and these cheap hormones just weren't that cheap. Cambodia is making great economic strides but still has a long way to go with a garment worker earning approx 100 USD a month. I also suspect that there is a correlation between education and social tolerance and the educated elite was exterminated by the Khmer Rouge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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