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.
Women keeping their cyber activities secret: 70%
Ratio of women to men favoring chat rooms: 2X
Percentage of visitors to adult websites who are women: 1 in 3 visitors
Women accessing adult websites each month: 9.4 million
In an article written by Gretchen Gallen for XBiz, Gretchen is quoted as saying “According to Internet and digital media research firm Neilsen/NetRatings, in September of this year, 32.2 million unique visitors accessed adult content sites. Of that traffic, 70 percent were male and 30 percent were female” That means that in one single month, 9.6 million women in the United States accessed adult websites. A study out of the United Kingdom states that of the 3.8 British surfers accessing pornography websites in any given month, a quarter of them are women. Additionally, more than a quarter of the entire U.K. Internet population visited porn sites in one single month.
How to become a porn star on the Internet
Some people want to be rock stars, some – movie stars, and some – porn stars! If you are dreaming about a career in the adult industry, keep in mind that it is a highly competitive field. Even though over 10,000 new adult videos are released every year, becoming a porn star can be a difficult task. Here are some tips on how to jump into this secretive industry and become well known online and offline.
Weigh all the pros and cons
Make sure that porn star career is right for you. This important decision can alter – and sometimes ruin – all your life. These are just a few of the things you need to consider before breaking into the adult industry:
• Look back at the choices you have made in the past. If you feel that most of them ended up backfiring, perhaps it is not a good time to make this life-changing decision.
• Unless you become an “A-list” actor, you will be asked to perform much more intense sexual acts like group sex or double penetration.
• You have a very small chance to become a successful porn star if don’t perform with both sexes. So if you are homophobic, think twice.
• Most scenes that you see for 15 minutes take from 4 to 6 hours to film. It can be very difficult for men to remain erect during that time.
• Be prepared to sit around on sets, sometimes for several hours, waiting for your scene to be filmed.
• Few studios will cover your travel expenses, hotel accommodation, car rental, or food bills. They also rarely provide food or drinks on a set.
• Your images and videos might be distributed worldwide. They can’t be removed by producers at your request because porn studios often sell the rights on to other companies.
• Your family, friends and prospective employers are likely to find out about your new profession. Can you imagine their reaction?
• If you have or plan on having kids, keep in mind that they will face the stigma of their parent being a porn star. You know, what is done by night appears by day.
• Being a good performer requires excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Are you a friendly, respectful, easy going and most of all, reliable person?
• A good porn star has to pay a lot of attention to their appearance. It means going to the gym, keeping yourself clean, see your dentist regularly, getting your hair done, etc.
• Getting paid for sex is the surest way to ruin your enjoyment of sex. It will seem that you are working 24/7!
Porn actors and actresses
If you are a man, getting into the porn industry will be very difficult. The reason is simple: most viewers look at the girl and care less about the guy. There are few openings for men who want to do professional porn and even less for heterosexual porn. So don’t expect to make a lot of money unless you do gay porn and/or become an “A-list” actor.
Guys have to meet much more requirements to get a job. You have to be willing to work with any girl in any situation, and get ready for stop-start sex. In order to be successful as a leading performer you must be able to get hard, keep it up, and have orgasms on command. It takes practice, good physical shape and stamina.
If you are a man who wants to become a porn star, the best advice is to find a hot girl and go to a studio with her. The girl should specify that she’s only willing to work with you. This way you can get your ticket to the porn world. Getting into gay porn is easier – just go to the gay porn studios and get an audition. They are always looking for new talents.
However, women may be also shocked at how hard it is for them to break into the adult industry and get paid well. Hundreds of drop dead gorgeous women try to become porn stars every year, so the competition is very tough.
Producers and casting agents pay attention to numerous parameters, including your natural beauty, breast shape and size, body, vaginal appearance, hygiene and acting abilities. Physiologically, it is not very difficult to play your role – with just a bit of lubricant you can simulate your passion through the whole production.
If you get a job, you will need to get HIV tests every month. The certificate should be under thirty days old on the day of the shoot. Good producers don’t work with performers who have outdated paperwork.
Professional porn
If you want to become a professional porn star, you can either hire a reputable agent or do their work yourself. The agent will help you with advice, contacts with porn studios and bookings. They can also get you the auditions and conduct negotiations for you.
If you don’t want to spend money on agents, go to the porn studios and introduce yourself. You can find decent studios in New York, Miami, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Toronto and Vegas, but about 80-90% of the top adult movies in the world are produced in Los Angeles, California. If you don’t live in or near that city, your chances to find a job are significantly smaller.
Some low-budget studios and independent directors advertise for models and video performers in local newspapers and magazines. They will ask you to leave your contact information and a couple of photos before making a decision.
Avoid going the “casting couch” route to get a job. Having free sex does not guarantee that you will become a porn star. Moreover, casting agents or producers don’t have to get HIV tests. Do you really want to risk your health for a job that you may never get?
Amateur porn
The rise of new technology has allowed anyone to set up their own website and – if they want – to become a porn star. You can easily start earning and becoming known worldwide with the help of a good webcam.
Obviously, it is much easier to become an amateur porn star than to be a professional performer. You do not have to go to the numerous castings to get a job or venture outdoors and come back exhausted.
Of course, selling your images and videos online on your own website requires some e-commerce business savvy. You should also ensure a fast speed connection for easy transmission of your images. Slow connection can actually ruin your business.
Another way to become an amateur porn star is working for webcam porn companies. There are numerous websites that can help you jump into this industry. Use Yahoo, Google or any other search engine to find contacts.
Typically, webcam porn companies offer their clients shows and charge money for it. You will have to perform for the individual or for the group (it depends on the terms of your contract). If you become a favorite with your clients and increase your follower base, you will earn more money.
It is very challenging to become a porn star. The adult industry is a business and the performers are rarely provided with much consideration. If you really want to make a career in the adult industry, be ready to work and to work a lot.
If you are sick and tired of traditional porn models with blond hair and silicon breast implants then you will like a new adult genre – alternative porn. It strives to subvert traditional porn standards of beauty, aesthetics, and form.
Originated as amateur erotica, alternative porn has proven to be a profitable business and, as a result, has carved a niche for itself in the adult entertainment industry. Playboy bunnies are out; indie-goth-emo-punk girls are in!
What makes alternative porn so alternative?
Alternative porn (also called alt porn, altporn, alt-porn, alternaporn) involves members of such subcultures as punks, emos, goths, or ravers. It features models with tattoos, piercings, scarifications, or rebellious haircuts instead of big lips and big tits.
Young people, especially teens, tend to subvert accepted standards of beauty. They want to watch porn related to their world, porn that they can purchase online. The adult entertainment industry has nothing to do but jump on the bandwagon and begin promoting for the younger generation.
The “youth” emblem is an efficient marketing hook: it attracts not only people aged 18 to 25, but also consumers who are pretty far from this demographic. Just remember MTV and its large audience!
The history of alt porn
Before alt porn, industry specialists used a general term ‘indie-porn’, or independent pornography. It included amateur video, non-commercial video, and alternative erotica. With the passage of time these sub-genres became independent. The term ‘indie porn’ is still sometimes used, but it is not related to alternative subcultures.
The alt porn trend was started by Blue Blood, a glossy erotic magazine launched in 1992. It featured punks, goths, and erotic fiction. The owners generally used term “subcultural erotica” to describe their content. The creation of Blue Blood confronted the mainstream ideas of what was attractive and sexy.
However, the biggest market for alternative porn was the Internet. The earliest alternative porn sites were Raverporn.net (later renamed to EroticBPM.com), GothicSluts.com, and NakkidNerds.com.
The terms “alternative porn” appeared in the early 2000s in reference to SuicideGirls.com, the most popular and financially profitable alt porn site. Its content differed from traditional adult entertainment brands such as Playboy or Hustler.
Nowadays alternative pornography can be divided into two sub-genres: on the one hand, there are websites that celebrate alternative beauty and provide softcore photography. They have a reputation of porn that even feminists can love.
On the other hand, there are websites that offer hardcore content to get more customers. Because of the push to earn money, their owners are more concerned with good marketing strategies rather than representing certain aesthetics.
Alternative porn website features
Alt porn is created for young adults by their contemporaries. They are producing content to sell it to people like them. You have to be really attracted to that type of girls, or your films/images will look like a costume parody.
Due to the “youth” emblem, alt porn websites often have forums, blogs, message boards, chat rooms, and other features of online community. The members and the models can create their own text profiles and keep journals. It encourages participation by both models and viewers. Typical porn websites usually feature more or less anonymous models viewed by anonymous surfers.
Another feature of alt porn websites is their low membership fee. You will need to pay around $15 per month (typical porn sites charge around $30 per month). The reasons are simple: young people don’t have a lot of money and there is a lot of amateur content.
Alt porn websites to browse
Alt porn sites are a big business these days. Since the success of Suicide Girls, dozens of new websites have popped up, all trying to expand or improve the alt porn business model. The biggest niche players include:
You know, personal tastes differ. Some people want to have sex with Brad Pitt, others like Marilyn Manson. Some people adore Jessica Simpson, others like Amy Winehouse. If you prefer girls (or guys) with more than just an ankle tattoo or ears pierced, now you have a porn genre matching your interests and style of life!
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).
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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.”
are straight men. The reason is simple: even though shemales have a penis, they look and act like women.
