Like drag queens, they often work in cabarets as performers. The kathoey are analogous to marginalized genders in other cultures but have qualities that make them distinct from those categories. Thailand is the only nation in its region that resisted colonization by European powers and sometimes is seen as having a set of cultural values less influenced by outside pressures, including normative heterosexuality and binary gender.
'Northern Thai legend suggests that the pre-modern Thai sex/gender system was based on a model of the three genders: male, female and kathoey' (Totman 2003, p. They are part of Thai society and history and apparently have existed openly for hundreds of years. Although kathoey (pronounced 'kateuyee') may embody gender in ways familiar to cultures outside Thailand (most similar to transsexuals or transvestites), they are different in that their gender operates in society in a sanctioned way. The ladyboy represents a gender position that is unique in that it has a national identity. Kathoey, or 'ladyboys,' are biological males who openly function in Thai society as transsexuals or transvestites.
