Feels Like A Female
Adeline, Hong Tak Leng
When you click on the gender options, there are no longer only “Male” or “Female” options, because the Sign Up page of Google+ offers the “Other” option for gender!
With the new option, you may wonder what is meant by “Other”. It refers to those who are not comfortable in choosing either “male” or “female”. However, do people really feel better with this “other” option?
“No, I always prefer to be female,” said Maimai, who underwent surgery to physically change herself to female 10 years ago. Regardless of the sex reassignment surgery, she always identifies herself as female because she is comfortable with that.
Maimai was born in Chiang Mai, a city in the northern part of Thailand. She identified herself as a female once she was born.
“I’ve never thought that I am a man,” said Maimai. Unlike other boys of the same age, Maimai knew her way when she was just a kid. During her early age, she walked and dressed like a girl. She loved playing with girls, and her childhood had totally been a fantasy to her until secondary school.
One day her mum said that “you are my son and you are a man”. She was lost and depressed, but she still believed in her choices.
Eleanor Cheung Pui Kei, gender scholar at University of Macau and University of Hong Kong, said that some gender variants, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, experience a lot of distress when they come to make the decision of changing the gender.
After Maimai had graduated from the university, she made up her mind and chose to do the surgery. Surprisingly, ten days after the surgery, when her dad first saw her, he said, “Here’s my girl.’’ Maimai was relieved when her parents finally accepted who she was.
Although she has been to many places like Japan, New Zealand and Hong Kong, she has never been to Macao. Last year, she heard from her friend that Macao is a metropolitan place in which the Eastern and Western cultures meet, so she decided to experience this unique culture.
At first, she did not think Macao was great, and indeed the first impression was negative - a crowded and boring place. Yet, her perspective changed after she had started working in one of the Macao casinos. She enjoyed going to different clubs with her colleagues after work, and she loved to hold some Thai parties during holidays.
However, things did not turn out the way she wanted. She had some troubles of getting into some Macao casinos and discos. Maimai recalled that one time she went to visit a casino (company name not disclosed); a security guard did not allow her to enter the place because the staff said that her gender status did not match the information shown in her identity card. Maimai thought that this was an “unfair” practice.
In response to this incident, Alison Tam, a manager of that casino, said that the company does not have any regulations to restrict transsexuals, people who underwent sex reassignment surgeries, to enter the casino.
“The transsexuals in Hong Kong are getting more attention from the public,” said Cheung. “Comparing to the community few years ago, things get better as they are more visible, at least the transsexuals can change their gender status on the identity cards.”
“The government is providing gender spaces and legal recognitions to the transsexuals. They don’t face as much prejudice as before, and eventually less people will suffer from Gender Identity Disorder (GID),” said Cheung.
GID is a disorder which a person feels a strong identification with the opposite sex, resulting in behaviors similar to the opposite sex and desires to alter their physical appearance.
“Most transsexuals want to live equally in the community. They’ve changed their gender to conform to the norms of the community and the public should respect them all the times,” Cheung said, who has previously joined several transsexuals’ gatherings in Hong Kong.
“In order to increase the public awareness and acceptance, I think that education is an essential approach,” added Cheung. “The educational authority should help the young generation to enhance their understandings and reduce their prejudices towards those minorities, meaning not to be affected by the community construction of the gender norms.”
Despite these treatments, Maimai is an optimistic person who feels overwhelmingly happy to live in Macao. She cherishes her times in her present company and with her colleagues and friends in Macao. “I am happy to live in Macao.This place offers me freedom and I love to live as a female,” said Maimai.
Yet, Maimai is still hoping to go back to Chiang Mai after the age of 30 to build a happy home with her beloved ones.