The Third Sex: Kathoey: Thailand's Ladyboys Paperback – 1 May 2014

This is one of a handful of books written by reputable researchers which deal with the transsexual phenomenon in a readable and enjoyable manner. Its academic standards are high, but it's a highly informative and entertaining read. The title really says it all, as far as the subject is concerned. The author tells, in detail, of the lives of three kathoey. They are very different, although known to each other.Transsexuals are people first, and their lives are as diverse as anyone else's. Kathoey are no different, and though in the West we are perhaps most used to seeing them as showgirls or sex-workers, in fact they enter every profession, trade and sport in modern Thailand, as well as performing important traditional roles, such as in organising weddings. Totman hints at this, but the book is quite short and thus limited in this direction. Nevertheless, the areas he does cover are dealt with very well, with neither sensationalist prurience nor condemnation. The subjects are treated fairly, without any hint of judgementalism.Totman makes no attempt to promote any of the theories of causation which abound, many of which have been proved both inaccurate and unhelpful; in avoiding the heat and lack of illumination in that debate and instead focusing on the humanity, indeed the ordinariness of his subjects, Totman honours them as people and does credit to himself. This is a good book that deserves to be read.I would strongly advise the reader to pick up a copy of Don Kulick's 'Travesti', which deals with transsexuals in Brazil in a similarly accurate and professional manner, at the same time.

One of the very few real, proper books about the subject. No voyeurism, no platitudes.Too bad, too short (less than 200 pages).The author is candid and opened, and starts with, like most of us I guess, a head full of pre-conceived ideas, and the fuzzy feeling that this is not the way it is. And this is nicely brought in, slowly, chapter after chapter, with the few ladyboys he talks to unravelling this or that details, slice of life, funny, violent or deeply saddening, but always with deep emotion, without being cheesy and avoiding fabricated compassion.Now, the author is not good at writing books. He's a scholar and it shows. But well.. take the book as a guide, and honestly you can more or less jump from one chapter to the other in any order.He did do some research, and he did a pretty good job at it, being on his own, with short time. Some references are very good indeed, and I liked the parallels he draws with other 3rd sex communities in India, Polynesia and America. So it is not just anecdotes and interviews, like some other books. It is solid and well thought and researched, with a good balance being the research and the life stories.All in all a very good and commendable contribution to better understand ladyboys, and hopefully accept them for who they are... a good part of us, humans, with stories, emotions, lives, and ancestors.

This is not the sort of salacious account you might read in the newspapers.Nor is it a superficial Western guidebook account of 'transvestite cabarets.'Richard Totman lived with a Thai family for several months listening to the kathoey telling their own stories,and adding an account of their long history as an intrinsic part of Thai culture and their relationship to the nation's religion.But most of all, this a charming account of real human beings.

Brought the cob webs out and past memories still shake my head as sights seen are recalled of years ago and the freedom that went with it

Boring , got fed up with it and didn't finish it . It was just the same thing over and over again

good book tells a nice story

From such a scholarly writer, this is a curiously unscholarly work. It appears to be a book written in a hurry, without being properly edited.Chapters are something of a hotch-potch. First, a biographical account, then a chapter on prostitution in Thailand, then another biographical account, and so on. The author refers to himself and the reader as 'we'. Who might this 'we' refer to? Presumably to a 'western' readership, which, ironically, seems to exclude a Thai and Southeast Asian readership (which is odd, given that the book is also published in Thailand). 'We', the authore implies, will be surprised at what we read here: we might not be if we are Thai.There is a huge amount of repetition in this book. The reader finds him or herself thinking 'didn't he just say that?' A check reveals that he did.Reference to other writers seems hurriedly done. The anthropologist and American born but 40 years resident in Thailand, William Klausner - probably the person who has done more for describing Thai culture than anyone from outside of that country - is referred to as a 'travel writer'. Certain key Buddhist ideas are insufficiently researched: most authorities consider 'karma' to be 'intentional behaviour' but Totman seems to refer to it as a 'thing' which is accrued.The author refers to his extensive living and researching in Thailand, for this book but he offers little of the data that must have piled up from all this work. His comparing and contrasting of katoey and monks seems spurious - he seems to argue that one group shores up the other. This is a bit like comparing and contrasting Northern European nuns with European drug adicts: it doesn't get us very far.Gender references and the use of 'he' and 'she' are not entirely consistent, which is sometimes confusing.This book is too long and would have been better as a more 'concentrated' essay. Like Wagner's operas, it also needed a good editor. There are many 'western' Thai commentators who have offered more informed and scholarly works: Mulder, Jackson, Reynolds, Klausner and so on. They also offer deeper insights, perhaps, than are offered here. It is easy, as a 'westerner' to be overwhelmed and enchanted by Thailand but its deeper meanings are probably more complex than this author suggests. After many years of researching, both Mulder and Klausner reveal the difficulty for an outsider to 'understand' Thailand and both the country and its people deserve a more cautious account than this.

Reads interesting. Te science is well done.The stories and the cultural reasearch is also very nice to read and of good quality. (not boring!)

This is not sexual or erotic literature; it is not fiction.Presents a well considered description of the difficult and dangerous lifestyle of an unusual and often misunderstood group: what exists in modern Thailand under the spangles and glamour.The author took the time to know some of the "Ladyboys" personally. He describes their character and lives in addition to providing an historical, philosophical and religious perspective. He compares "Ladyboys," - and their cultural stereotypes- with similar social roles in other cultures. It is also well referenced with regard to previous works on gender identity.

There are good stories here. The kick boxer is an obvious example. But the writing is just monotonous. That's too bad. The stories deserve better treatments.

Book is well balanced and researched. Blows away the popular belief that the ladyboys of Thailand, are largely a product of the western sex industry. As this book clearly shows that the Kathoey have been steeped in the culture and traditions of Thailand or old Siam from its very foundation.