Katoey Profiles No. 1: Natalie, 20, From Chiang Mai

hoodboxoffice

Oct 4

2 min read

Katoey Profiles is our weekly series. Each week we pick one Thai katoey and tell her story in brief, from her own interview. This is No. 1.

At a glance

She remembers feeling like a girl at about five. Her mother used to be a singer, and Natalie would watch her get ready and try on her clothes. She says it felt natural, not like a decision.
School was hard. Other students called her names and pushed her around, and teachers phoned her parents instead of stepping in.
In her teens she started performing in drag at her mother's wine shop. With a wig and make-up on, she felt like herself in public for the first time.
About eight months before the interview she began living as a woman every day. At first, getting ready took around three hours.
She lost her waiter job after turning up half an hour late. She says the manager was right to let her go.

Being trans is not a job description. A man once stopped his car to ask her price, and a backpacker wished her luck "finding your client." She isn't a sex worker. She also says she respects people who are.
Honesty first. She tells men she is transgender, partly because she worries how someone might react if they found out later.
Respect doesn't need attraction. If trans women aren't your type, she's fine with that. Hostility is what she objects to.
Work is harder for trans women. In her view, gay men and tomboys find jobs more easily in Thailand, while trans women still get linked to the sex industry.

"Life is not fair. Get used to it."

She wrote that about jealousy. Her point: it can eat you up, or you can turn it into a reason to get better.