The trans-gendered are pretty widely accepted, at least in Bangkok.

After 7 Thai language classes, I wonder if it starts with linguistics. The Thai language uses the same word (khau) for “he”, “she”, “it”, “they”.  So, they don’t really grow up with a differentiation. No, “He does this. She can’t do that.” There isn’t a separation.

One Thai word for lady boy, maybe the most prominent type of trans-gendered, translates to “a woman of the second type” or something like that. Another word means “third gendered.”

It can be hard to tell one type of woman from another.  The science of transitioning is quite refined here. Hormones are tweaked. Surgery is quite refined. Boobs are implanted. Ribs are removed. Adam’s apples shaved. All in the name of femininity.

I got a foot massage a couple weeks ago. I think my masseuse may have been trans-gendered. I’m not sure. She was slight and groomed and had very strong hands, and at one point she coddled my foot into her bosom, using it as some sort of leverage to work on some podiatry problem I didn’t know I had. I remark on this, not in some pervy way, but for two reasons that made me wonder.

One,.. what a boy thing to do? Using a body part as leverage in a rather indelicate manner. Like she was prying apart a rusty engine part with her hands. Compared with my other three foot massages, no one else did that.

Two, it didn’t feel as soft.  Rather, it was firm. Granted, my right foot has never been to second base, but one can extrapolate, and it felt different. Overall, massage quality, though? Top notch!!

It’s been said that that the one sure way to tell the difference between types is by the size of the Adam’s apple. A prominent one indicates a former male. The name of a nearby house of libation and maybe entertainment is Eve’s Apple Bar. Which I think is funny on so many levels.

Is it about the temptation? And temptation by whom? Is it about the cartilage? I’m tempted to find out.