Thailand Transgender Industry

Besides South Korea, Thailand is another country that is famous for plastic surgery. The surgery here is a part of the male-to-female sex reassignment surgery process.

Transgender is a term to refer to anyone who doesn’t identify with their birth sex. People don’t have to take a surgery to be considered as transgender, but many of them choose to do so for many reasons (watch video for more).

Thailand is a good place for Vietnamese people to visit and do the surgery because we do not have this type of surgery in Vietnam. A lot of people from other countries travel to Thailand to do that.

Preecha, who performed Thailand’s first gender surgery in 1975, attributes the country’s popularity for the procedure to three things: “No. 1, it’s very cheap in Thailand,” he says. “No. 2, good result, and No. 3, good hospitality — they can have a side trip for tourism.”

There are many choices in doing the surgery that depends on how much people can pay. The most expensive and complicated method is genital surgery. Not everyone can afford it to be a “completed” female.

The cheapest method is the hormone replacement therapy, which means they will take a pill or inject the hormone. With the female hormone, their skin will become smoother and their voice will be softer.

Transgender people have to use the hormone therapy constantly even when they have done other surgeries. Using the hormone for a long time can bring some negative effects to their liver and kidneys. People who have used the hormone will have a shorter life than others.

Many people want to become transgender, but they cannot even afford the price of the hormone therapy, so they choose to buy hormone pills by themselves instead of getting the prescription.

In Thailand, people use the term Kathoey or katoey to refer to either a transgender woman or an effeminate gay male in Thailand. There are so many transgender people in Thailand, and transgender is even considered as the third gender here.

Transgender people in Thailand are more accepted than in other countries because the culture and religion (Buddhism) here teach people to respect sex and sexuality in general. People are more sympathetic for them instead of discriminating.

There are a lot of famous singers and models in Thailand who are trans. Miss Tiffany Universe is also a competition for transgender women.