Transphobia and Thailand's Ladyboys

Gender is cultural.

Gender is understood differently in different parts of the world.

Transnational gender experiences and identities are not meant for humor/entertainment! Meet the LadyBoys of Thailand:

This message goes out to The Hangover II and Uberhumor! Now don't get me wrong, I loved The Hangover II.  While the plot was basically identical to the first one, the situations were way more ridiculous and absurd.  I laughed out loud (quite embarrassingly so) for almost the entire movie, except for one section. One of the main characters sleeps with a dancer whom he believes is a cis woman. He later comes to find that she has a penis. Now the feminist in me would love to think that the writers of The Hangover II were trying to push the lines of the gender binary and beauty standards. But the realist in me knows that this plot turn was intended to add a gross-factor, as evident of the movie theater's collective reaction of "Ewwww....grosss...that's sick, ect...."

Along the same lines, the website Uberhumor (which claims to be the funniest site on the web), posted a set of pictures recently that asked their readers to "pick out the transsexuals from the girls." After clicking a link, it is revealed that all of them are "actually boys" and competitors of the Miss LadyBoy Pageant in Thailand. The joke is on the reader for thinking that any of these beautiful people were "real women." Get it? Hahaha (SARCASM).

Ladyboys are actually apart of a third gender category in Thailand, and are somewhat similar to the Hijras of India. While not quite equivalent to trans women in the states, they definitely blur the gender binary! But movie audiences and blog "test" takers are not going to see rich histories or vibrant culture. They're going to see a chick with a dick, and react the way their upbringing has told them to react, with disgust and fear.  I don't see any humor at all in that.