In her color-coordinated training attire and fashionably fit tops, Rose is easy to spot at her tiny dirt-floor gym in rural Thailand. Her hot pink top clings snugly to her compact, lean torso. Bra straps in a delicate petal pink peer through at the shoulders. Her iridescent satin shorts are customized with her fight name, Rot-Duan, embroidered in gold.
She gingerly wipes the sweat off her brow after her rounds on pads, careful not to smear her painstakingly applied eye makeup. Her twin brother Lak calls her up for clinching. A strong fighter in his own right, Lak treats his sister Rose, younger by only five minutes, like a man during training. He clinches full-force with her, doesn't hold back in sparring, gives her no special consideration based on her displayed gender. Lak's twin sister may wear makeup, giggle delicately, and sport a pink top, but Rose is biologically male. The two were born as twin brothers, and when Rose fights, she fights men.
Eighteen and just out of high school, Rose is approaching her fighting prime. She's racked up an estimated 200 to 300 fights since first stepping into the ring at a tiny seven years old. Everyone in the area knows who she is. Her brother Lak, their older sister Gael (also a talented fighter in the Isaan circuit), and Gael's husband Gaeng, a prolific fighter in Isaan, Bangkok, and even China, laugh that the youngest, shyest sibling is the most famous fighter in the family. Rose laughs along with them, then asks why. "Is it because I'm a good fighter?" she asks. "Or because I'm kathoey?"
Often referred to as a "ladyboy" in English, kathoey (กะเทย) is the Thai term for a transgender person. Also called the "third sex," kathoey enjoy visibility in Thai society. Treatment of trans individuals varies greatly around the country, from basic acceptance and even celebration—some Thai celebrities identify openly as trans—to harsh social and legal discrimination. More + photos...
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She gingerly wipes the sweat off her brow after her rounds on pads, careful not to smear her painstakingly applied eye makeup. Her twin brother Lak calls her up for clinching. A strong fighter in his own right, Lak treats his sister Rose, younger by only five minutes, like a man during training. He clinches full-force with her, doesn't hold back in sparring, gives her no special consideration based on her displayed gender. Lak's twin sister may wear makeup, giggle delicately, and sport a pink top, but Rose is biologically male. The two were born as twin brothers, and when Rose fights, she fights men.
Eighteen and just out of high school, Rose is approaching her fighting prime. She's racked up an estimated 200 to 300 fights since first stepping into the ring at a tiny seven years old. Everyone in the area knows who she is. Her brother Lak, their older sister Gael (also a talented fighter in the Isaan circuit), and Gael's husband Gaeng, a prolific fighter in Isaan, Bangkok, and even China, laugh that the youngest, shyest sibling is the most famous fighter in the family. Rose laughs along with them, then asks why. "Is it because I'm a good fighter?" she asks. "Or because I'm kathoey?"
Often referred to as a "ladyboy" in English, kathoey (กะเทย) is the Thai term for a transgender person. Also called the "third sex," kathoey enjoy visibility in Thai society. Treatment of trans individuals varies greatly around the country, from basic acceptance and even celebration—some Thai celebrities identify openly as trans—to harsh social and legal discrimination. More + photos...
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