Miss Tiffany Queen

Treechada 'Nong Poyd' Malayaporn on the perks and burdens of living as a katoey in Thai society

Treechada "Nong Poyd" Malayaporn was already almost an hour late for an interview with 'Outlook', and there was no sign of her. Eventually she showed up, and with her impeccable charm she immediately exercised that power in the form of an apology, and thus, her failure to be punctual was effortlessly forgiven.

"I'm already late, so let's just start [the interview] now," Treechada insisted after turning down our offer to order her a drink; our photographer ordered one for her anyway.

Such is an invisible knapsack of privileges she has always carried with her - the privilege of being not only popular but lovely and humble. Despite usually being gaped by curious eyes of passers-by, asked for an autograph and, of course, being photographed, Treechada, 23, enjoys such special courtesies. She says she loves it when she is offered a parking space in a cramped parking lot, a table in an overcrowded restaurant, not to mention free food given to her everywhere she goes.

But don't be too jealous of her yet because such indulgence is perhaps something that compensates what she evidently lacks - to be genetically born a "real" woman.

A native of Phuket, Treechada was born the eldest son of a middle-class family. Even though her chromosome identifies her as a boy, she says she has never felt like one. Once when she was still in her pre-school years, this little boy often found pleasure in putting on girl's outfits and being teased by her male classmates.

"Back when I was very young I stole a skirt that belonged to some other kindergarten kid. I felt so happy when I wore it. I also liked to play with a head towel and pretended that it was my real hair. I felt totally myself while spending time in the bathroom. It's a private world all of my own," recalled Treechada, Miss Tiffany's Universe 2004 and Miss International Queen 2004.

Unlike many homosexuals who grow up against their parents' anticipation, Treechada says she is lucky to have been surrounded by people who have always understood her and who have provided her with emotional support. Her family has always been her greatest protection, she says, and this disengages her from all family expectations, something an eldest son is typically required to meet.

Once, however, her family did try to change her sexual orientation by encouraging her to play football and buying her a pair of studded football boots, but that did nothing to change her. "As a kid, I was not that polite and tidy. I was naughty, too, but naughty like a girl, not a boy. When I was little, I was never introduced to the world of the transgender population, so naturally, I grew up like a girl. I thought it was in my blood."

And that was the end of her parents' attempt to change her.

"My father once said that 'It does not matter what you are. What is most important is to be a good decent person.' My mother said that if I wanted to become a woman, I must live like a woman and be like a woman, and not a katoey [a transgenderer]. She even taught me the art of cooking," she recounted, beaming.

It was at the age of 19 when Treechada decided to enrol in the Miss Tiffany's Universe competition, a popular beauty pageant most ladyboys dream to be a part of. And that was only a year or two after she underwent a gender reassignment surgery.

"The [sex change] surgery was in fact something my parents' were quite against. They were worried about the operation because they said that I was still too young. But to me, it was something that I had been looking forward to for a long time. It was some sort of therapeutic surgery ... like an appendicitis surgery. And I was more than happy that I was going to have my body fixed," expressed Treechada, now a second-year student at the Faculty of Law, Assumption University.

Her beauty plus brain possibly made the job easier for the judges at the pageant to entitle her the world's most beautiful ladyboy in 2004. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but many also agree that she truly deserved the crown.

Before winning the coveted crown, Treechada got her first taste of the showbiz world when she appeared in the music video Mai Chai Poo Chai (I'm Not A Man) by Doo Ba Doo, which caught the eyes of millions of viewers and soon had many of them questioning her true sexual identity. Shortly after the beauty contest Treechada was on the fast rise to fame. She became a presenter for several TV commercials, a model, appeared on a number of magazines and acted in television series such as Rak Ther Took Wan (Love You Every Day) and later Muay Inter (The Chinese Girl).

Fame walks hand-in-hand with scandals. There have been a lot of bad rumours about her. Some say that she sold herself to an heir of a politician, that she was in a porn video clip, that her entire body was fake and that her love-life was scandalous. Although Treechada tries hard to accept and cope with the backbiting, at many times she feels bad and disappointed with it all.

"Once I found an unpleasant comment on the Internet. It said that no matter how well I behave nobody was going to accept me because of my sexual orientation. I felt so upset. I just want people to understand that even though I could not choose what gender I was born with, I can only choose the way I behave and the way I live my life.

"I've never thought that what I've done [sex change surgery] goes against Mother Nature. But I do believe that Mother Nature created me this way."

Besides her studies, these days, Treechada works seven days a week. Despite being so busy she realises the importance of family and the value of spending time with her parents and her younger sister, whom she says she loves wholeheartedly. Today, Treechada provides her 14-year-old sister with everything she wants, from stationery to trendy clothes, bags, an iPod, a mobile phone, a portable game and bedroom furniture, to name but a few.

When asked whether she - seeing as she is a transsexual herself - is interested in working for the rights of people with sexual diversity, the modest star still considers herself inexperienced in the matter concerning human rights. Nonetheless, she believes that in order for society at large to accept and respect the rights of transgender people, it is critical that everything must first begin with the transgenderers themselves.

"The image of katoeys in Thai society these days is very sex-oriented. Most people believe that we are aggressive, naughty, bad and promiscuous. To change such negative perceptions we must behave better. If we still act aggressively, people will think that we are different."

Treechada concedes that katoeys are indeed a minority group of people in Thai society, and consequently, draw more attention from the majority. In order to avoid being a target of social scepticism, it is vital for them to act like a "good girl" - to be rieb roi (polite and gentle) - or else society will think otherwise.

"We must bear in mind that if one of us turns bad, people will think that we are all bad," Treechada explained.

After spending nearly an hour interviewing her, we eventually come to a conclusion as to why Treechada has quite a strong fan base that includes not only the "purple people" but people from all walks of life. Apart from being physically attractive, she is amicable; so much so, she should have been crowned Miss Congeniality. Treechada gave a hand wave back to almost everyone who smiled at her, and joked with those who asked to take a photo of, or with, her. In some places, she says that people even use her nickname "Nong Poyd" as a slang word for ladyboys, just like we would sometimes refer to them as "pratueng".

But deep down, Treechada admits that she is oversensitive when anybody calls her a katoey. Surprisingly, when people say she's much more beautiful than a real woman, Treechada does not appreciate it either. She just wants to be recognised to as "Nong Poyd" and live her life like an ordinary person.

"I will not become arrogant or forget where I came from, but it hurts when people call me a katoey even though I really am one. As I said earlier, I've lived all my life like a woman. My mother is a woman. My beloved sister is a woman. All my best friends are women. So I am not going to compete with them. I do not want anybody to compare me with somebody else because, after all, I just want to be one of those ordinary women."

Story by ARUSA PISUTHIPAN Photo by YINGYONG UN-ANONGRAK

Bangkok Post Outlook - 17 December 2008

she has been the talk of the office recently... and everyone agrees she is far far more attractive then a real thai lady

I have met very few that I think of as "real" women, but I have seen several that it is hard to think of as anything else.

Technically the lady of the topic is not 'homosexual,' as she is referred to by the Bangkok Post. Homosexuals do not generally want to change their gender; that is why the word means "same sex." Just a minor quibble.