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Out of the box: Thailand's winningest
lady-boy
By
Richard S Ehrlich
BANGKOK - A transvestite kick-boxer who endured
vicious fights to earn money for a recent sex change is
now immortalized in a film titled Beautiful
Boxer.
The true story of Parinya
Charoenphol, who now appears as an elegant woman with
long hair and a shy smile, provides a rare glimpse into
the psychology of Thai transsexuals and their role in
this Buddhist society.
"A walking paradox: a
girl trapped in a man's body, who fought like a man to
become a woman," was the way Thailand's GMM Pictures and
Spicy Apple Films announced the film, which is about to
be released.
Before undergoing a sex-change
operation in 1999, Parinya was a young male transvestite
who showed up for kick-boxing bouts wearing lipstick to
kiss male opponents, despite their shock and
embarrassment. Outraged boxers vowed to beat Parinya to
a pulp amid claims that a transvestite kick-boxer was a
disgrace to the professional sport and a kinky
"tarnishing" of pristine Thai culture. Parinya, however,
knocked them out, won prizes, and soon gained a
following among cheering fans.
After saving
enough for a sex change in a Bangkok hospital, he became
a she with a life story that caught the attention of
Ekachai Uekrongtham, a Thai-born film director and
producer.
Boxing, Buddhism and the biology of
gender profoundly influenced Parinya's life.
"In
my next life, I want to be born as a real man in my
heart and soul because now, in this life, I was born
with the body of a man but with the heart of a woman,"
Parinya said in Thai during a taped interview.
"When I was young, whenever I saw a young girl I
thought, 'How come I'm not like her?' I was fond of
good-looking boys. But I don't want to be reborn as a
woman because it is much harder to be a woman than to be
a man," she said. "I call myself a sau
prapet-song, which translates as a 'second type of
woman'," Parinya added, stroking her straight hair.
Parinya is famous throughout Thailand and
received widespread international news coverage when,
before her sex change, she fought men while wearing
makeup.
"I was able to wear makeup while boxing,
nobody stopped me. I wore foundation, powder, lipstick
and so on. When I first started boxing, I used only a
little bit, like eyebrow liner and a light lipstick, so
people didn't really notice, though I knew I looked
better with it on. Later, when everybody knew, I could
put on a lot," she said.
When Parinya kissed
male opponents at the end of boxing bouts, audiences
went wild.
"The reason I kissed men after a
fight is because it was my way of apologizing, and
telling the guy, 'It is not that I hate you, it is just
a sport, and I'm sorry that I have to do it.' Even when
I was boxing, I felt like I was a woman because I didn't
believe a woman has to be weak and helpless. A woman can
be strong and fight as well as a man."
Affectionately nicknamed "Nong Toom" by Thais,
she broke new ground for transvestites and transsexuals
in a society where many people claim to be sexually
conservative while simultaneously tolerating widespread
prostitution and alternative sexual lifestyles. Thai TV
often includes transvestites in soap operas, comedies,
talk shows and other programming, though they are
usually portrayed in absurd slapstick or as lonesome
characters.
Liberal Bangkok officials allow an
annual "gay pride" parade in the Thai capital. Parinya,
however, said she was never gay.
"I don't
understand about being gay. Do gay men want to be a man
or a woman? Because if they want to be a woman, how come
they work out and make themselves look more like a man?
And if a person is a man, why do they like someone else
who is the same gender?
"For me, I'm sure who I
am. I'm now a transsexual. I always wanted to be a
woman. I've always been a woman in my heart and I want
everything about me, physically, to be a woman. It is
not the same as being gay."
In Thailand, a
transsexual or transvestite is known as a katoey.
No one knows how many there are, but some estimates
suggest 10,000 katoeys live and work in this
Southeast Asian country, often as prostitutes but also
as white-collar executives, artists, actors, models,
cooks and in other professions. Katoeys are often
mocked and feared, however, because some drug and rob
clients in seedy sex scams or are quick to create loud
public scenes.
"People mostly accepted me being
a transvestite, maybe more than they accepted other
transvestites, because I've always been a very good
person, polite and helpful to my friends. So even though
they knew I was like this, they treated me like a
friend," Parinya said. "Even my parents accepted me
because I would help them earn money and never do bad
things."
In the boxing ring, some opponents hit
Parinya with verbal abuse.
"Some Thai
kick-boxers said very hurtful things, like I am 'just a
transvestite'. So I would say, 'Even though I'm a
transvestite, I can fight. And I'm famous." But they
would say, 'Well, you are only famous because you are a
transvestite.' It was like when kids bully you when you
are young."
Parinya, now 21, began kick-boxing
as a 12-year-old boy. In 1998, when a teenage Parinya
was about to fight - and win - his first major bout, he
started to cry when doctors said he had to strip for the
weigh-in to confirm he physically qualified as a male.
Today, Parinya can no longer fight in Thailand
because women are not allowed to kick-box, a traditional
sport known locally as muay Thai.
"Maybe
I will box overseas," Parinya said. "I received some
offers from America and Japan to fight."
Her
future, however, will focus on "modeling, acting and
singing", she said.
Psychiatrists have tried to
understand how some people perceive themselves to be
trapped in the "wrong" body.
"It feels like
there is some kind of pressure, like you need to reach
out for something, to be a total woman, but you know
that is not going to be entirely possible," Parinya
said. "When you are young, life is fun because you don't
think about it. As long as you have your friends to play
with, you are fine. It is only when you grow older, then
you think about it more. I always thought one day I
would have a sex change."
In 1999, Parinya
underwent an operation in Bangkok's Yanhee Hospital.
Banking on her fame, she was able to get a discount in
exchange for becoming the hospital's public relations
representative, she said.
"The hospital is well
known for cosmetic surgery and sex changes, and they
gave me a special price. Normally, it would cost 80,000
baht [US$1,860] for the sex-change operation."
Despite Parinya's feminine appearance, she still
speaks in a man's voice because she did not have her
Adam's apple removed or voice box altered, and she makes
no effort to conceal her bass tone. "I didn't know that
type of operation existed, but I am going to do that
soon," she said.
Parinya is 174 centimeters tall
and says her figure is a statuesque 37-27-37 (94-69-94
in metric reckoning) because she is much bigger-boned
than most Thai females. After years of boxing, she
insists her body is healthy.
"I do not have any
injuries. I really protect myself and I kick the others
before they can kick me. I'm known for kicking really
hard and knocking people out."
But her heart is
broken. Parinya's boyfriend abandoned her last year.
"Nature makes man to be with a real woman, so it
probably will never work out for a man to be with me. I
cannot give a man everything like a woman can. For
example, I can't give him a child.
"I don't
really know what a man wants from a woman. And I don't
know if I'm really a woman now, because I don't really
know how a real woman feels.
"But whatever I can
give a man, I will give."
(Copyright 2003
Richard S Ehrlich.)
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