A new Thai airline called – I’m not making this up – PC Air will start flights on March 1. In addition to the more traditional male and female air crew, they are actively recruiting transsexual stewardessess. Only post-ops need apply.
The airline held a press conference in Bangkok on Monday and said they had hired three so far, including 23-year-old Thanyarat Jiraphatpakorn, previously named both Miss Tiffany Universe 2007 and Miss International Queen 2007. They’ll wear special gold-colored tags to identify them to potentially confused passengers.
Now, I’ve only been to Thailand once, but I couldn’t help noticing that Thai ladyboys have a certain… je ne sais quoi about them. Seems like a subcultural thing as much as physiological thing? Siam Sam might be able to elaborate.
I understand what you mean, I have seen a bunch of pictures of them [probably last time they got discussed?] and some of them are what I would call ethereal in their androgyny. Definitely a difference in how they move compared to a female - you can get it in some of the top american professional crossdresser performers. They are putting on a performance, and use body movements that are ‘stereotyped’ as female, certain types of graceful stylized movements that are supposed to signal extreme femininism [like graceful hand movements when smoking, sort of like they are trying to become hollywood stars from the golden age] and graceful body movements when walking, sitting and standing, and so on.
But isn’t the point of ladyboys that they aren’t post-op? Post-hormones (well, ongoing hormones), yes. But I thought the appeal was that the twig and berries are still firmly attached, clothed appearance to the contrary.
I have no idea why they won’t accept pre-ops. Maybe they just want someone who is really committed to being a lady? Or a “third sex,” as pre- and post-ops keep lobbying for here. The link in the OP does not use the term “post-op,” but it’s been in some other reports here, and I’m wondering now if that may be a mistake.
I can’t pretend to be a complete expert on Thai ladyboys, but you can’t live over here for any length of time without knowing something about them. Despite some prejudice, they really are more accepted here than in many places. Other threads on this Board about the general subject have seen some disagreement on terminolgy, but over here at least, a transvestite is pre-op and also called a “ladyboy,” which is not a pejorative term, and a post-op is a transsexual. I’ve occasionally heard a transsexual referred to as a ladyboy, but it could be the speaker was unaware an operation had occurred. Thailand has become a center for sex-change operations, but the vast majority of the guys are pre-op, due to a variety of factors, money probably being the biggest one.
You see ladyboys everywhere, and it’s not unusual at all to be assisted by one in a shop or office. Then there’s the nightlife industry, where you can find several dedicated ladyboy bars. At least those places have safe reputations; most dangerous are the ladyboy hookers on lower Sukhumvit Road late at night. They may look feminine, but they still have a man’s upper-body strength, and many a guy’s found himself on the wrong end of a ladyboy ass-whuppin’. I have a thread here somewhere about an Australian naval officer who picked one up on lower Sukhumvit and took her back to his hotel. He ended up drugged, and when he woke up, the ladyboy and his laptop containing classified information were both gone. (He claimed he didn’t know it was a man, heh. :D)
As for the airline, the link in the OP does not mention that one of the two co-owners is named Piyo Chantraporn, thus the PC in PC Air. He is – and again, I’m not making this up – a professional fortune-teller. Hopefully he foresees big profits. With a little luck, he’ll know which flights are going to crash. I just hope he can tell what may happen if he flies some of these crew to Tehran or Riyadh! :eek:
Ah, now see? That story specifies pre-ops are eligible. I think the confusion comes from what different people think of with the word “transsexual.”
But personally, I think the photos in that article are scary. I’m used to spotting ladyboys though. I can spot them even when they fool most newbies. There’s always something a little off. It’s often not that they’re not doing something good enough, but rather they’re a little too good. Difficult to explain; you just have to see for yourself.
Well, they claim they’ve seen the potential of transsexuals. I think it’s mostly a publicity stunt. But then, as mentioned, one of the owners is a fortune-teller, so maybe he knows something we don’t.
I usually won’t comment on the terms and constructions used for trans people in cultures very different from my own. Often, trans people in other cultures will seriously use and feel most comfortable with terms and understandings that would be abhorrent to a lot of trans people in this culture.
I am quite worried about the notion of pointing out trans people, but there may be some cultural matter that I’m not aware of that makes this less unpleasant than it would be here.
The upside is that it’s affirmative action recruiting for a group that is absurdly under-employed.
I wonder if the special tags have anything to do with Immigration issues for international flights. Transgenders often have visa difficulties with some countries. If this really is largely for publicity regardless of the righteous blow for equal rights, I guess they’d want to make sure to point them out to the passengers rather than leave the passengers wondering who was who.
Interestingly, other articles on this news item say the airline had a quota of three transsexuals. So not only were they accepting applications from transsexuals they wanted to make sure they hired one.
I wonder if their classification of transsexual includes transgendered and transvestites. One of my wishes, as a crossdresser, would be to go to work dressed as a woman. Imagine having a job where you had to dress as a woman!
Does Thailand legally recognize sex changes? If so then the post-op flight attendents would have passports denoting their new sex and shouldn’t run into any problems with immigration authorities. If not then yes, that’s a huge problem.
The link to The Age article in post #9 above mentions the airline is accepting both pre- and post-ops. Haven’t heard of a quota before. Seems to be a variety of reports out there, but for sure they’re hiring transvestites/transsexuals in one form or another if not all forms.
No, Thailand does not legally recognize sex changes. From time to time, a movement pops up to change the law, but the situation today remains such that if you’re born a man, your national ID, passport etc will list you as male for your entire life. The wife has just confirmed this for me.
Oddly enough, the Vietnamese government has been considering doing this for a few years now, but I don’t think they’ve followed through. See here.
And after a nine-month delay, PC Air has spread their … wings, with their inaugural flight launched yesterday. Story here, including a nice photo of four of the stewardesses (second right is a Miss Tiffany winner, an annual transvestite beauty contest).
Their website is here. I like the placement of the quotation marks in the motto: I believe it’s “my way.”
