Porn literature – bed stories for adults

Sometimes an ordinary text can be more provocative than nude images. It lets you use your imagination and wakes up your secret desires. Imagine sweet cuties meeting a couple of Afro-Americans in a hotel room, a horny wife ordering a pizza delivery when her husband is away, or a husband looking as his wife is having sex with another men.

If you are fond of erotic literature, you can browse through numerous sex stories sites out there: free and paid, with illustrations or photos, with MP3 files or printable versions of all stories. Read more about this type of adult entertainment industry and its benefits for readers and porn site owners.

Why do people like sex stories?

What is the difference between porn stories and porn images? The answer is obvious: the stories are actually ordinary text that offers its readers the great opportunity to use their imagination for visualization. If you see a photo with certain models, you can’t vary them according to your feelings: change the type of figure, hair, or bring in your own details.

And, sometimes porn surfers don’t want to see all “details” of the photo – the description of the sexual act can be enough for satisfaction. It especially concerns women who like a good plot more than real-life images. Human desires are very subtle things – any discomfort about one photo can make visitors dislike the whole website.

Basically, all sex stories websites can be divided into three groups:
Free sites where you can read erotic literature and submit your own stories
Paid sex stories sites with some additional content (images, illustrations, etc.)
“Sex Stories” section on traditional porn sites

Free sex stories sites

Free sex stories websites often work as online communities: besides people looking for dirty reads, they also cover authors who want to publish their own sex stories. That makes them very different from other porn sites. The income comes from affiliate programs, various advertisement options (including reviews for paid porn websites) and content licensing fees.

Here are some examples of free porn stories websites:
http://www.erotica-readers.com/. The Erotica Readers and Writers Association is an international community of men and women interested in reading and writing erotic literature. It features original erotic fiction and articles; publishing advice for authors; sex toy and adult movie recommendations, and an adult forum focused on sexual issues, activities and relationships.
http://www.truedirtystories.com/. True Dirty Stories features hundreds of real-life sex stories submitted by men and women from all over the world.There are many various categories you can browse through: First Time, Pantyhose, At a Bar, Viagra, Car Sex, In the Bathroom, Threesome, Halloween, etc.
http://www.asstr.org/. ASSTR (Alt Sex Stories Text Repository) is a free, user-supported web-site. It is home to over 1000 authors of erotic literature and host of several popular erotic literature archives. New users may view a guide to using ASSTR as well as a listing of many available FAQs.
http://www.shorteroticstories.com/. Short Erotic Stories, as the name suggests, offer erotic literature on numerous adult topics, starting from straight sex to fetishes. You can browse through all stories/top rated stories or submit your own story online.

Paid sex stories websites

Is it possible to build a paid website that specializes in literary erotica and make money from it when there are so many free websites with sex stories available online? The answer is yes – if you offer your visitors more than just plain text, for example images, illustrations or short videos based on those stories. Another catch of paysites is that there are no dozens of annoying ads and banners.

Here are paid sex stories sites to consider:
http://www.pornstories.com/. Porn Stories offers hundreds of erotic stories in over thirty categories. You can download and print them to read offline. The site also offers audio erotic stories in MP3 format for people who prefer listening rather than reading, and live streaming video feeds featuring both hard and softcore porn. Three-day trial is free; the membership fee is $34.62 per month.
http://www.sinfultales.com/. Sinful Tales offers audio stories, picture stories, sexy secret diaries, and shocking confessions. You can also discuss all erotic literature with other members on message board. Unlimited access to all content costs $6.95 for 7-day trial and $39.95 for 30-day membership.
http://www.illustratedxxxstories.com/. Illustrated XXX Stories features amazing sex stories that have over 2,500 words. There are also exclusive full-length stories galleries that can be erotic, romantic or hardcore. Three-day trial is $4.95, and the membership fee is $34.95 per month.

“Sex stories” section on adult websites

If you combine the advantages of adult paysites and the attractive features of xxx stories, you can attract new visitors (“we have all you need – from porn films and images to live webcams and sex stories!) and increased your revenue.

Besides, “Sex stories” section gives you some additional benefits. For example, if you have no time to buy new photos, you can update your website with a couple of fresh stories. Or you can raise the membership fee due to the new section. Another variant is to send some adult stories to new users as a registration bonus.

Beware of extreme plots

Sex stories can satisfy a broad array of tastes and kinks, more than traditional bookstores ever would or could. The straight vanilla tales seem to be interesting just for young women. Almost nobody publishes traditional hetero erotica; it’s all about niches, like interracial sex stories and BDSM.

However, be careful if you are writing adult literature or publishing it. Online host Red-rose-stories.com was closed by the FBI for posting sex stories that involved bestiality, orgies, water sports, scat, slavery, bondage and domination, and sex with children.

Even if you have no illegal pictures of a sexual nature, you could be in trouble for the written word. Sex stories, just as visual or audio pornography, should not involve kids, animals and illegal fetishes.

From Justine by Marquis de Sade to Story of O by Pauline Reage; from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov to The Bicycle Rider by Guy Davenport, erotic literature has always been popular. Even a small “Sex Stories” section on adult sites helps their owners increase the number of visitors interested in the sensitive world of erotica, prolong the site membership of registered users, and improve the image of the whole site.

Shemale porn offers the best of both sexes! This niche/ has become extremely popular – and profitable – in the last few years. You will see a lot of “chicks with dicks” in mainstream advertising and even TV shows. It’s time to learn more about shemale niche, terminology and websites!

Word game

There’s a lot of different terms meaning “a chick with a dick” – shemale, lady boy, tranny. What is the difference between them if all these websites look the same?

~ Shemale (sometimes called she male, she-male or she-man) is a partially-feminized male. They typically have breasts (either grown through hormone therapy or breast augmentation surgery) and other female secondary sex characteristics, but they have not undergone male-to-female sex reassignment surgery. The majority of shemales are from Thailand and Brazil. You can also find hot girls from Argentina, USA, Philippines and Colombia.
~ Tranny is a derogatory abbreviation of transvestite. This term means cross dressers – men wearing female clothes. However, nowadays tranny niche can also include transgenders and transsexuals.
~ Ladyboy is a term that describes a “chick with a dick” from Thailand and South East Asia.
Another problem is the difference between a transsexual, transgender and transvestite. It is often unclear to the majority of porn surfers. Here are some basic differences between the “trans”.
~ Transgender is an umbrella term for individuals who may have the genitals of one sex, but they associate themselves with another gender. For example, a person who has a penis but feels female may be called a transgender.
~ Transvestite, or cross dress, is a man who enjoys wearing women’s clothes. He may be fully dressed as a woman or wear certain articles of women’s clothes such as lingerie or stockings. Transvestites and shemales are two different niches, but a lot of people (and webmasters) confuse them.
~ Transsexual is a person who doesn’t only dress as the opposite sex but also fundamentally feels that he/she was born in the wrong body. They could have a male body with a female mind (it is called Male to Female Transsexual, or MtoF). There is also the reverse situation when a person is born with a female body and a male mind (Female to Male Transsexual, or FtoM). Not all shemales are transsexuals – some of them prefer being both sexes just to make money.

Who likes shemale niche?

Who becomes a member of shemale paysites? Gays? Girls? Actually, the majority of customers for this niche

are straight men. The reason is simple: even though shemales have a penis, they look and act like women.
For this reason shemale niche is not popular in the gay market. Gay guys want to see guys, not girls. There may be a demand for effeminate looking guys in the gay niche, but the models still have to be guys.
People who like shemale niche often call themselves ‘Straight with a twist’. Many of them are over 30, probably married, or in a relationship with a woman. They have seen a lot of stuff, and they are just looking for something more exotic.
Shemale niche has a lot in common with strap-on dildo fetish and anal sex. There are hundreds of websites that feature women with strap-on dildos having sex with men, and they are quite popular. That’s close to shemale having sex with a man.
Most of the straight audience considers sex with a shemale as an erotic fantasy – almost like forbidden fruit. They don’t want to be caught with a transsexual. So they just look at hot pictures and videos, but don’t try to meet them in real life.

Shemale websites

There are many sub-niches in the shemale market, just like in the gay or straight genres. You can find websites with European, Afro-American or Asian shemails; live webcams; dating sites; solo model sites; cartoons and comics; and various provocative combinations like shemale/shemale, shemale/female, and shemale/male.
Here are some websites you may consider to learn more about shemale niche:
- shemale-club.com. Shemale-club features hundreds of hot shemale models. Besides standard content, they also offer pictures and videos made my members’ request. The membership fee is $35 for 30 days (recurring), $75 for 90 days (non-recurring), and $99 for 150 days (non-recurring).
- shemaleseduction.com. Welcome to tranny town! Shemale Seduction offers porn movies and hi-resolution photos with horny models. The membership fee is $4.87 for 3 days trial (recurring), $39.73 for 30 days membership (recurring). You can pay with a credit card or a check.
- shemalereality.com. Would you like to pick up a hot transsexual and take her home? At ShemaleReality sexy models with penises seduce straight guys and live out their fantasies. The membership fee is $29.95 for 30 day access and $56.95 for 90 day access.
- shemalenova.com. Shemale Nova is variety, quantity, and innovation. They do their best to cover the whole market – from hardcore to reality, from vanilla sex to kinky fetishes like group sex, sharing partners, domination, double penetration, etc. The membership fee is $1.00 for 1 day trial period; and $29.95 for 1 month (then $29.95 every 1 month until cancelled).
- blackbrazilianshemales.com. Black Brazilian Shemales offers high quality exclusive videos, photos and screenshots. You can meet brand new, carefully selected black shemales models every week. The membership fee is $1.00 for 1 day trial period; and $29.95 for 1 month (then $29.95 every month until cancelled).
- lb-69.com. Lb-69 offers a mix of solo and hardcore scenes of over 200 ladyboy models. There are 100% original high-quality pictures and full-screen videos, a big forum for transsexual admirers, direct email and phone numbers of the girls. The membership fee is $39.95 for 1 month (then $29.95 every 1 month until cancelled), or $99.95 for 6 months.
- shemalescenes.com. Shemale Scenes offers downloadable hardcore movies and photos of gorgeous girls with penises between their legs. At the present moment there are 117 models. The membership fee is $35 for 30 days (recurring), $75 for 90 days (non-recurring), and $99 for 150 days (non-recurring)
Shemale niche used to very small, but now, thanks to the Internet, it has become a major player in the adult entertainment industry. Affiliates will enjoy the benefits of the curiosity that surrounds this genre in addition to the shemale admirers that spend a lot on their adult entertainment. However, it also means that you will have to work hard as more and more people are going to promote this niche.

TransPantyhose: Women with pantyhose clad erected dicks.

Our site is the small revolution on pantyhose market. Shemales were never seen wearing pantyhose before, and it is about time to begin. We have 10000 pictures and several hours of video eaturing some of the most beautiful Latin America and Asian shemales, all wearing pantyhose and playing with their nylon covered dicks. Themes covered range from solo sets to hardcore sex with guys and girls; also you’re gonna see shemales masturbating and cumming all over their pantyhose.
If the idea of nylon covered dicks means something to you, TransPantyhose.com is your place. Over the years we accumulated really huge collection of that stuff; what’s even more important is that we update our site weekly with fresh content, either photo or video. You can check samples from our most recent updates right here at our site’s tour pages to get an idea of quality of what we post. As our member you get real quality fascinating stuff updated on a regular basic, it’s either hi res photos featuring gorgeous shemales wearing sexy pantyhose, or DVD quality videos featuring pantyhose clad shemales in hot action.

Trans Pantyhose features beautiful Latin American and Asian shemales wearing pantyhose and playing with their nylon-covered dicks in plenty of photo and video content. The video content has slightly increased since the last time we cruised past this site.

There are currently a total of 390 photo galleries, each containing over 100 nicely sized, clear high-res photos in each. You can find 134 in the “pictures” section. These can be downloaded in Zip files. The other 256 galleries can be found in the “archives” section for more great photos of sexy trannies in all their nylon-clad glory. TransPantyhose still has some of the hottest dick chicks that we’ve come across.

The “videos” section and “archive” videos are where you will find all the exclusive movies. This page has really taken a liking to WMV since the last review, because the newer clips come in good-quality Windows Media files. Older clips are in great-quality AVI files.

Four to seven clips are included with each feature and showcase scenes of solo masturbation, pantyhose cumshots and hardcore scenes of hot transsexuals having sex with both men and women. Currently, there are about 52 videos available across the two sections. While the vids have grown in number, the pic selection has sadly stayed the same. There are still no full-length downloads available. Updates take place every two weeks.

Each week that you’re a member, you get free access to a bonus site of your choosing.

Unique opportunity to look what shemales look like when they’re in pantyhose (and believe me, they look cool!). For those of You Who Were Secretly Waiting all These Years… This site is the small revolution on pantyhose market. Shemales were never seen wearing pantyhose before, and it is about time to begin. The Site has 10000 pictures and several hours of video featuring some of the most beautiful Latin America and Asian shemales, all wearing pantyhose and playing with their nylon covered dicks. Themes covered range from solo sets to hardcore sex with guys and girls; also you’re gonna see shemales masturbating and cumming all over their pantyhose. Most of our sets are striptease like. At first you see the stunningly beautiful girl, then she slowly gets undressed until

Shemales look incredible in pantyhose! You can make sure of that browsing through our hundreds of photo and dozens of video galleries. You’ll see beautiful shemales with pantyhose clad legs showing you their rock hard erected dicks on hi res photo where you can see everything to the greatest details; and you’ll see shemales giving their dicks to horny guys and girls for some through pantyhose sucking on DVD quality videos.

Join It

Rafaela Carneiro seductive pantyhose shemale babe

Giovana horny pantyhose shemale gal

Crys de Mullg pretty pantyhose shemale woman

Camilly stunning pantyhose tranny doll

Izabelli Frazao attractive pantyhose tranny lady

Giovana kinky pantyhose shemale chick

Join It

Over the years we accumulated really huge collection of that stuff. You’ll see beautiful shemales with pantyhose clad legs showing you their rock hard erected dicks on hi-res photos where you can see everything to the greatest details; and you’ll see shemales giving their dicks to horny guys and girls for some through pantyhose sucking on DVD quality videos.

Customers get:
• Thousands of pictures featuring hot shemales wearing sexy pantyhose
• Dozens of hours of hi res DVD quality on topic videos
• Members’ bonuses
• Weekly updates
• Unrivaled customer service

Mighty dicks and sexy pantyhose!

: Rafaela Carneiro seductive pantyhose shemale babe

: Rafaela Carneiro kinky pantyhose tranny gal

: Giovana horny pantyhose shemale gal

: Crys de Mullg pretty pantyhose shemale woman

: Camilly stunning pantyhose tranny doll

: Izabelli Frazao attractive pantyhose tranny lady

: Giovana kinky pantyhose shemale chick

January 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

Posted in adult column,archive,fetish,galleries,role play,Soft Shemale

Tagged with fetish, latina, roleplay, soft

stocking terminology – internet pornography

without comments

some stocking terminology

Cuban-Heel - A stocking with a heel made with folded over and sewn reinforcement.
Demi-Toe – Stockings which have a reinforced toe with half the coverage on top as on the bottom. This results in a reinforcement that covers only the tip of the toes as opposed to the whole toe. These can be with or without a reinforced heel.
Denier – The lower the denier number the sheerer the garment. Stockings knitted with a higher denier tend to be less sheer but more durable.
Fishnet - Knitted stockings with a very wide open knit resembling a fish net.
Fencenet – Similar to fishnet, but with a much wider pattern. These are sometimes worn over another pair of stockings or pantyhose, such as matte or opaque, with a contrasting colour.
Full-Fashioned - Full-fashioned stockings are knitted flat, the material is then cut and the two sides are then united by a seam up the back. Full-fashioned stockings were the most popular style until the 1960a€™s.
Hold-ups or Stay-ups – Stockings that are held up by sewn-in elasticated bands (quite often a wide lace top band).
Matte – Stockings which have a dull or non-lustre finish.
Mock Seams – A false seam sewn into the back of a seamless stocking.
Nude Heel – Stockings without reinforcement in the heel area.
Opaque - Stockings made of yarn which give them a heavier appearance (usually 40 denier or greater).
RHT – Abbreviation of reinforced heel and toe.
Sandalfoot – Stockings with a nude toe, meaning no heavier yarn in the toe than is in the leg.
Seamed – Stockings manufactured in the old Full-Fashioned manner with a seam running up the back of the leg. In the past they were manufactured by cutting the fabric and then sewing it together. Today stockings are generally fully knitted and a fake or mock seam is added up the back for a particular fashion look.
Seamless – Stockings knit in one operation on circular machines (one continuous operation) so that no seaming is required up the back.
Sheers - Stockings generally of a 15 to 20 denier.
Knee-Highs – Stockings that terminate at or just barely below the knee.
Thigh-Highs – Stockings that terminate somewhere in the mid-thigh.
Ultra Sheer - A fine denier fiber which gives the ultimate in sheerness. Usually 10 denier.
Welt - A fabric knitted separately and machine-sewn to the top of a stocking. Knit in a heavier denier yarn and folded double to give strength for supporter fastening.

Internet Pornography

It is estimated that about 25% of total search engine requests are porn-related. Accessing x-rated material on the Internet is the fastest and most anonymous way to watch porn. Nowadays, it has also become very cheap. With the introduction of numerous free websites and torrents, the cost of online pornography significantly decreased.

Sex sells. It is estimated that the pornography industry in the United States earns over $10 billion each year. It is more money than the NFL, NBA, and major league baseball combined! Over $2 billion of that amount is spent on the Internet pornography, distributed primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups.

The high revenues of the online porn industry are the result of meeting consumers’ demand. The Internet offers a level of anonymity never available before. You can view x-rated material in the comfort and privacy of your home, concealing your interest from family members and coworkers.

It is interesting to consider the differences that the Internet has created between current and past pornography. The development of personal computers in the beginning of 1980s started the technical revolution. Innovative color monitors with better screen resolution coincided with the development of File Transfer Protocols, which allowed people to transfer files between computers.

That time online distribution of pornography often consisted of scanned photos from adult magazines uploaded by Internet users. Even though modem connection was slow, and the transfer of large files was expensive, online pornography was a great success. This type of distribution was generally free (apart from fees for Internet access).

Around this time frame, pornography was also distributed via Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) such as Rusty n Edie’s. They became a repository for numerous x-rated images scanned by contributors. These BBSs could charge users for access, leading to the appearance of commercial pornography online. For example, Rusty n Edie’s BBS charged users an $89 annual membership fee.

The invention of the World Wide Web in 1991 and opening of the Internet to the general public made way for a massive wave of pornographic distribution. Although domain names had been in use since 1984, the first major site for pornography – sex.com (it passed through numerous ownerships over the past decade) was registered only in 1994.

At the end of 1990s, when Internet advertising was booming, millions of dollars were spent for promotion of adult websites. Their owners made use of online e-commerce mechanisms such as catalogues and online payment systems, monthly fees and provision of free x-rated material to attract customers.

According to Forrester Research, in 1999 Internet users spent about $1.3 billion on online porn. That represented about 8% of all e-commerce that year. It was more money than people spent online on books or plane tickets. Back then, online pornography was the leading industry on the Internet.

The introduction of speedy broadband connections intended to transmit high quality videos led to the explosion in the commercial distribution of pornography. According to an October 2000 report in the New York Times, nearly 20% of AT&T broadband customers were paying to watch online sex, at an average rate of $10 per film.
The rise of pornography websites offering streaming media including video chats and live webcam access allowed greater access to pornography. A lot of women were selling one-on-one chat at really exorbitant rates. Instead of just watching videos of naked people, Internet users could chat with them, suggest ingenious activities for them to undertake, test their mathematic sills and whatever else struck their fancy.

Nowadays, accessing x-rated material online is as simple as typing ‘porn’ into a search engine box and sitting back, waiting for thousands of results to appear. Compare it with the time before the Internet appeared – any young adult was happy if he could find a Playboy magazine!

Experts say that tech advances and the growing use of broadband will fuel even more growth in the online pornography. The newest trend for adult websites is to cater to niche audiences. Nowadays there is a website for just about every kink.

The Internet has opened the door to far greater accessibility of pornography. You can watch x-rated material online any time, anywhere. It is available in much larger quantities than traditional porn and at a cheaper cost.

Some industry leaders have estimated that somewhere between 10 and 30% of all websites on the Internet are porn-related. They have 68 million hits a day. Every second about 28,000 Internet users are viewing pornography. An average visit lasts 11.6 minutes.

As you see, the Internet pornography is a big business. There are millions of adult sites on the web, with more being added each day. Some years ago the distribution of x-rated material was mainly (but not limited to) commercial. Nowadays, while some sites still charge a fee (the most common prices are in the range of $20 to $30 per month), you can also find a lot of free porn resources online.

There are several types of free adult websites:
• Amateur pornography. Many Internet users took advantage of the opportunity to build their own websites and post amateur pictures.
• User-supported websites, for example sex stories portals which contain prose stories written by their members.
• Usenet newsgroups. Even though they were the first home to x-rated material, Newsgroups tend to be poorly organized and flooded with off-topic or spam.
• Peer-to-peer file sharing networks, including torrents. While such networks have been mainly associated with the illegal sharing of music and movies, they also provide x-rated material for sharing. Many commercial porn websites have recognized this trend and started to upload free samples of their content on peer-to-peer networks.
• TGP websites. Trying to snag new customers, commercial website owners started to deal with free promotional “thumbnail gallery post” (TGP) websites. These resources contain a variety of small sample images (or videos) from commercial sites sorted by category. If a user purchases a subscription to a commercial site after redirecting from a free thumbnail gallery site, the commercial site makes a payment to the owner of the free site.
• Free hosted galleries. They provide samplings of full-sized content from commercial pornography sites.
• Link lists. They are categorized web lists of links to so called “free sites”. Unlike TGP sites, links are provided in a form of text, not thumbs. It is still a question which form is more descriptive to a surfer, but many webmasters think that link lists make searching easier.
Commercial adult websites employ a lot of methods to defend against free competitors. In addition to distributing a portion of their material available without charge, they often offer a single fee that includes unlimited usage of content for a prescribed period of time, typically a month. Having unlimited access, a subscriber has little incentive to seek x-rated materials anywhere else.

To further distinguish their paid services from free competitors, many Internet porn websites have started to offer adult materials in new formats. Besides commonly used images and videos, you can take advantage of interactive systems such as real-time “chat” communications, which are typically unavailable from free websites.

In addition, commercial websites provide content in very high quality. If YouTube videos typically show just 240 lines of video resolution, 49% of commercial porn websites have 480 or more lines of resolution. About 5% of porn websites offer videos with 720 or more lines of resolution (better than DVD quality).

November 20th, 2007 at 2:06 am

Posted in adult column,archive,fetish,other,transvestit&crossdressed

Transsexualism was subsequently hijacked by the medical profession and deemed a pathology…

without comments

The transgender liberation movement in the West came into its own in the 1990s, but other cultures have their own take on sex and gender diversity, writes Katrina Fox.

From ancient Greek cults to Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism and even early Christianity, the concept of transcending or blending gender has been around for centuries. In the West, the German-born sexologist Dr Harry Benjamin coined the term ‘transsexualism’ in 1966 to describe individuals who were born biologically one sex but believed they were the other (such as a woman ‘trapped’ in a man’s body and vice versa).

Transsexualism was subsequently hijacked by the medical profession and deemed a pathology, for which the solution was to undergo psychiatric assessment, take hormones and eventually have genital realignment surgery. Transsexuals were required to comply with stereotypical dress codes and behaviours attributed to their opposite gender, and under no circumstances were they allowed a sexual orientation outside that of strictly heterosexual.

Enter the 1990s and the birth of the ‘transgender’ and ‘genderqueer’ movements, in which a plethora of sex and gender identities emerged. Some people identified as having no sex or gender, some considered themselves male and female, and others claimed they were a ‘third’ or ‘other’ gender.

Such concepts of third, fourth and more genders are not new to non-western cultures, however.

Marjorie Anne Napewastewin-Schutzer is Sihasapa, Lakota, a Native American who hails from the Blackfoot tribe of the Sioux Nation. Addressing a conference of professionals working in the field of transsexualism in 1996, she offered some interesting insights into her culture’s perspective on gender.

“As a gender-crosser, as a transsexual person in Lakota society, we are known as ‘Winkte’,” she said. “My people call me ‘two-souls-person’. As Winkte I have always been an important personage in my society. Culturally, socially and religiously we function as a social adhesive, offering continuity and the promise of our continued existence as a people. We were never a threat to a rigid, polarised and discriminating sexual structure. That is to say, not before the coming of the white man’s priests and their confused and narrow view of the manner of things. The ‘third gender’ solution snakes into the past and connects with Native American societal structure from thousands of years ago. Our societies and our cultures existed, functioned quite well, yes even flourished, long before the Europeans ever thought of challenging the ‘monsters’ which lived in their tears and which swam in the middle of the Atlantic!”

In a number of Native American tribes, this cultural institution of bestowing a special gender status on males preferring to do women’s work and adopting what is considered ‘feminine’ behaviour, and vice versa, used to be referred to as ‘berdache’. However, because of its etymology – the Arab word ‘bardaj’ meaning ‘prostitute’ – it was rejected by Native Americans and replaced with ‘two-spirit people’. Descriptors such as ‘Winkte’ vary according to the different tribes and cultures.

As Napewastewin-Schutzer points out, two-spirit people are welcomed in Native American culture, with children often identified as such from an early age when they show interest in work activities that are traditionally associated with the ‘opposite’ sex. At this time, they are reclassified by members of their community into a ‘third’ or ‘other’ gender.

A similar occurrence takes place in Samoa, where some boys are brought up as girls. Known as the fa’afafine, they too are identified at a young age because of their propensity for ‘feminine’ tasks. Unlike Western cultures which associate ‘feminine’ or ‘effeminate’ behaviour of men with sexuality, both the Native Americans and Samoans place the focus squarely on labour. It is the influence of the West, however, that has led to some fa’afafine who move out of their village to don make-up and flamboyant female attire.

“One of my informants stated that before Western contact, fa’afafine were simply ‘feminine boys’, but exposure to Western movies taught them, and presumably women as well, that clothing, make-up and appearance in general could be used as a more definitive signifier of gender,” says Johanna Schmidt in her 2001 paper, Redefining Fa’afafine: Western Discourses and the Construction of Transgenderism in Samoa.

This Western influence has attracted negative consequences, in that it has created a level of homophobia in Samoa which did not previously exist, according to Schmidt. “Concepts of ‘gay’ and ‘straight’ have not really been relevant in Samoa in the past, and there is no specific Samoan term for ‘homosexual’,” she says.

Over in Thailand, the ‘kathoey’ or ‘lady boys’ are a major tourist attraction. Yet while they are revered in some parts of the country, they also face discrimination and hostility from their families. Writing in a new book, Male Bodies Women’s Souls, a number of transgendered Thai students lament the shame they feel they bring on their parents by being a kathoey – or the more polite and preferred term ‘sao braphet song’ – as well as how difficult it is for them to find love.

“There can be no true love between sao braphet song and men,” says ‘Lara’. “Even if he loves us, one day he must go back to his previous group … he probably cannot endure the opinions of those around him.”

The word ‘kathoey’ isn’t easily translated into Western concepts of transgenderism, since it can refer to a variety of ‘non-traditional males’, from gay men through to what would be called transsexuals in the West. This also holds true for the ‘bakla’ in the Philippines, something that 33-year-old Linda Montana believes is a positive thing.

“All this ‘trans this’, ‘trans that’ can be confusing,” Montana, who migrated to Australia from the Philippines 20 years ago as a “13-year-old boy”, says. “I refuse to label myself because I see myself as a person, and I’d rather be referred to as a someone not a something.”

Even as a young child, Montana identified more with a female gender identity. “I went to a Catholic boys’ school and it just didn’t feel right,” she explains. “I was made to do basketball, which is a masculine sport in the Philippines, and I hated it, so I gravitated towards volleyball which is synonymous with a girls’ sport. For as long as I could remember, I’ve been closer to girls than boys.”

While discrimination occurs in both Buddhist Thailand and the Catholic Philippines, Montana believes Filipino culture is open-minded towards diversity. “I remember as a child, every year there was a parade, and all the entrants were beautiful women but when you had a closer look, they were transgender,” she recalls. “They were these glamorous creatures, and I knew that I was leaning that way.”

In India, and some parts of Pakistan exists a group of people known as the hijra. Recognised as a third gender since recorded history and clearly acknowledged in Vedic culture, throughout Hinduism and in the courts of Islamic rulers, the hijra live in groups related to their own Gharana (family).

Girish Kumar is director of the Humsafar Trust in Mumbai, a gender, sexuality, health and equal rights organisation for men who have sex with men and the transgender, cross-dressing and hijra communities – and a former hijra.

“A hijra belongs to either one of the seven Gharanas: Block-waale, Lashkar-waale, Bhendibazaar-waale, Chakla-waale, Laalan-waale, Pune-waale and Dongri-waale,” he tells SX.

“The ultimate authority of each Gharana is the person called Nayak, who cannot be questioned or challenged by any hijras. Nayaks have the ultimate say in any disputes arising within the hijra communities. Gurus are the senior hijras who accept the junior hijras as their ‘chelas’. Some of the Gurus serve as representatives of the Nayak in different areas or cities. Gurus under a particular Gharana are usually of equal rank, though age and wealth may also determine the status of a particular Guru. The Guru is respectfully considered as a mother-in-law and is supposed to take care of all the needs of their respective chelas.”

While some hijras are born intersex (with male and female reproductive or genital organs), others undergo genital modification which involves the removal of the penis, testicles and scrotum in a religious ritual (hijras are commonly known in English as ‘eunuchs’). This is not the case for all hijras, though, with many not undergoing such emasculation procedures.

The hijras wear colourful clothes, make-up and jewellery and earn their living in three ways: Mangti (asking for alms), Pun (commercial sex work), and Badai (dancing and blessing at happy occasions, such as marriage or a child’s birth ceremony). Most people will give the hijras a fee at such events, for fear that the hijras will curse them.

Although the hijras live and dress as females, they don’t generally try to pass as women – unlike their Western transsexual counterparts.

Estimated numbers of hijras vary from 50,000 to 5 million in India alone, and feelings towards them from the general community are mixed. Many hijras face discrimination in housing, education and employment, while others are liked and even revered – one such case being Shabnam Mausi, who became India’s first hijra MP in 1999, and whose story was documented in the Bollywood musical of the same name.

In the West, modern-day gender warriors are fighting for their right to legally exist outside the male/female gender binary. They are demanding to be granted documentation recognising them as ‘other’. They are petitioning the government, employers and organisations to include an extra box next to the ‘M’ and ‘F’ for them to tick when asked about their gender identity. They are forging new and exciting frontiers in gender territory.

Or maybe they’re not so new.

As Napewastewin-Schutzer reminds us: “The remote in time or distance is always strange. The familiar present is always natural and a matter of course. Beyond the narrow range of our horizon, imagination creates a new world, but as we advance in any direction, or as we go back over forgotten paths, we find ever a continuity and succession. The human race is one in thought and action.

“In Lakota we say ‘mitakuye oyasin’ (we are all related). The systems of our highest modern civilisation have their counterparts among all the nations, and their chain of parallels stretches backward, link by link, until we find their origin and interpretation in the customs and rites of our own barbarian ancestors, or of our still existing aboriginal tribes. There is nothing new under the sun.”

August 30th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Posted in adult column,archive,asian,other,transvestit&crossdressed

Shemale Review

Archive for the ‘adult column’ Category