World, Rod Fleming's World, Page 9

10/06/2025

Social class and gender in the Philippines

Originally posted 2022-02-14 14:47:08.

I have met significantly more than a few Asian autogynephilic transvestites and the majority profile is quite clear.

They tend to have their first ‘feelings’ at around the age of 15-16 and begin HRT, usually in the form of contraceptive pills, soon after that. While late-transitioning autogynephilic transvestites do exist, they are rarely public. A good recent example would be Ian King, a racing driver and son of a wealthy ‘Fil-Am’ family. Social class and gender are strongly linked, as we shall see.

King fits the Western profile of the Autogynephilic transvestite exactly, but that appears to be related to his social class. This is interesting, because a similar social divide is found between masculine presenting Homosexuals, macho gays or pa-men locally or the New Gay Man, and the traditional highly feminised type, the ladyboy and nearly a hundred equivalent titles in Asia alone. Here again, the former tends to be rare and found only in higher social strata, while the latter is both much more common and more associated with lower social class.

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10/06/2025

Ladyboys are like hobbits: travels with a ladyboy

Originally posted 2018-10-04 09:07:50.

Ladyboys are like hobbits; they have big feet. Although, and fortunately, not usually hairy.

My dearest and truest friend, my distant confidante and beloved adopted sister, Andie, is sitting on the brown vinyl sofa in my rented condo in Pasig. She has delicately hoisted the hem of her long floral skirt with one hand and with the other she is holding one of her slippers — flipflops in Filipino — against her leg.

‘Ugh,’ she says. ‘You see? My feet are longer than half the length of my shin.’

She drops the slipper and the hem and takes to regarding her feet with evident distaste, elbow on knee, chin cupped in her hand. She wiggles her toes.

‘I could possibly cut them off,’ she muses. ‘I should cut them off.’

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10/06/2025

Pageant Bakla: Memoir of a Filipina beauconera

Originally posted 2021-05-07 14:28:41.

Many people seem to think that ladyboys are a recent phenomenon, but this is far from true. It’s hard to find older material but I found this story on a Philippines website, from a publication that is now defunct. The name of the author is not known. It gives insight into the ladyboy pageant scene in the country and across south-east Asia, and also reinforces the observation that the ‘gay’ and transgender scenes are closely intertwined.

A pageant can be a small local affair with a stage set up on the back of a truck, or as grandiose as the Miss Tiffany contests, held in Thailand, or Super Syrena, in the Philippines.

To read the story, click the Read More link

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10/06/2025

Lesbians and Temporary Wives

Originally posted 2023-02-27 19:32:46.

Temporary wives been known for centuries in southeast Asia. In the past, this might have been arranged directly with the girl’s mother. The girl would bring all of her father’s business connections with her and would be the primary contact for the foreigner’s trade with the locals, negotiating on her ‘husband’s’ behalf, keeping accounts, arranging payments and receipts and acting as secretary. Some temporary wives became permanent ones.

[kofi]

The tradition of temporary wives began in what was then the Dutch East Indies, but rapidly caught on. Temporary wives had advantages for everyone; the traders got the benefit of local contacts and knowledge and better prices and terms. The girl’s family profited, since naturally she would channel as much business as she could through it.

The man had a stable domestic life and regular sex, which meant he would not become a denizen of the whorehouses and opium dens; and he would have a presentable, locally-fluent companion who could accompany him on business and official trips and engagements. (It was said that the best language teacher in the world was the pillow!) To make it even better, the costs could be set off as legitimate business expenses, since temporary wives were technically employees.

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10/06/2025

Travestis: why do men like them?

Originally posted 2013-06-04 20:34:20.

Plenty of men find transsexuals attractive and will seek them out and even pay in order to have sex with them. Why? The travestis of Brazil and South America might show us.

In Brazil

Brazilian women are unquestionably amongst the most beautiful in the world, but they tend to be rather short in stature, at least on average. However, many South American men are attracted to the classic Anglo-Saxon standards of beauty—tall, slender, blonde, blue eyes, pale skin and so on. Enter the travesti, as transsexuals are often known in Latin America and parts of Europe. With her naturally greater height she has an immediate advantage in this marketplace. If she began taking hormones young, as many do, there is every chance that she will be naturally pretty, and she will certainly do everything she can to maximise her assets.

This article has been updated

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