IKEA Apologizes For Transphobic Thai Commercial

The Swedish based furniture giant IKEA is one of my fave places to shop for furniture, and it's where I bought much of my furniture for my first apartment back in the 90's.   One of those IKEA pieces I purchased back then at their Katy Freeway store is my current computer desk that has held up quite well through multiple moves.  

IKEA has had a positive reputation in the past for some positive trans inclusive commercials, so it was a shock to me when I read about this IKEA Thailand holiday one the Thai Transgender Alliance was protesting because of the stereotypical way the transwoman was portrayed. 

The commercial shows a couple strolling through an IKEA store when her voice suddenly goes into a masculine range that outs her as trans.  Her date then distances himself from her and eventually runs away from her as she continues to happily shop for IKEA products. 

As Reuters reported in terms of the brewing controversy, "The 20-second commercial shown on YouTube and on Bangkok's trains in December and January entitled 'Luem Aeb' ('Forget to Keep Hidden'), was disrespectful to transsexuals, according to the Thai Transgender Alliance and demanded an explanation from IKEA.





IKEA opened their first store in Thailand in November 2011 and the advertisement was part of a group of commercials for a holiday sale. 

The January 9 Thai Transgender Alliance complaint resulted in conversations with IKEA Thailand marketing officials that resulted in the apology letter the Thai Transgender Alliance posted on their Facebook page.

For those of you who are wondering why that commercial upset our Thai transisters and the international trans community, once again it played upon as the punchline for the humor in the ad the meme that trans women are people you are supposed to be fearful of or embarrassed to be around.  That is dehumanizing to Thai transwomen and their sisters around the globe.

And the dehumanization of transwomen is nothing to laugh at, especially in a commercial   .

BBC Documentary- Ladyboys

The Land of Smiles best looking girls it is said are the ones that were born as boys.  This BBC documentary follows some of the girls like us who live their lives there and a behind the scenes look at last year's miss International Queen Pageant in Episode 2.. 



Episode 1




Episode 2




Episode 3



Episode 4



Episode 5



Episode 6

Miss International Queen 2012 Is....

After Nigeria's Sahhara got screwed for the 2011 title and it exposed a problematic pattern of dark skinned women and African descended ones not being chosen as the winners for the pageant along with transpinays, in protest yours truly was going to eschew writing a post about the 2012 Miss International Queen contest as had been my blog's tradition.

The controversy over the questionable win of Thailand's Sirapassorn 'Sammy' Atthayakorn over 1st runner up Sahhara and 2nd runner up Margaret (another transpinay representing Lebanon) sparked so much online drama that the Amazing Philippine Beauties pageant organizers considered starting a rival international trans pageant in Manila in the wake of the kerfluffle and transpinays were prepping a boycott of Miss International Queen event..

But when 20 year old Kevin Balot of the Philippines became the first transpinay to win the Miss International Queen title in the nearly decade long history of the event on November 2, had to write something about the groundbreaking win that my transpinay sisters had been anxiously waiting for.  Jessika Simoes of Brazil was 1st runner up fo this year's edition of the Pattaya based event while Thailand's Panvilas Mongkol was 2nd runner up.

What's going to be interesting to observe is whether the Miss International Queen pageant continues to draw contestants in light of the fact the Miss Universe pageant system is opening its doors to transwomen in 2013 and other nations such as Brazil are starting their own national trans pageant events like the one that have existed in the States, Thailand and the Philippines. .

Congratulations Kevin for winning Miss International Queen 2012!

PC Air Hits Some Business Turbulence

The ten month old Thai airline PC Air that garnered international attention and publicity when it hired trans flight attendants for its crews, has hit some business turbulence since its maiden December 2011 flight.

The fledgling carrier's lone Airbus 310-222 was stuck at Seoul's Incheon airport because the company has not paid its overdue airport charges and fuel fees and South Korean authorities wouldn't allow it to take off last Tuesday.  . 

That left a total of 400 people stranded- 200 at Incheon and another 200 people waiting for the aircraft arrival in Bangkok to take them to South Korea. 

The stranded charter flight passengers were put on three Thai Airways flights and another flight arranged by PC Air management as their CEO Peter Chan jetted to South Korea to resolve the issues.  

PC Air cited unspecified problems and a dispute with their South Korean agent Skyjet that caused the airline to fall behind on the fuel and airport fee payments and put the airline in jeopardy of losing its operating license which is valid until 2015.   

PC Air continues to operate its scheduled flights between its Bangkok hub to Incheon and Hong Kong and reportedly plans to add two used Boeing 767s capable of carrying more than 200 passengers to its fleet starting in December. 

While the Thai Transport Ministry is unlikely to strip PC Air of its operating license despite loud calls to do so, the charter license under Thai aviation law is on a monthly renewal basis and will expire on October 31.  The Thai Transportation Ministry will not renew th charter license until PC Air proves to their satisfaction that what occurred at Incheon will not happen again.  

The controversial Transportation Ministry decision was based on its desire to see PC Air work out their business problems and compensate the passengers inconvenienced by the grounding of their aircraft.

Lets hope for the sake of our trans sisters working for PC Air that their former flight attendant CEO gets their airline business end straightened out.  I and transpeople around the world would like them to continue flying the friendly skies from the Land of Smiles and have a solvent and prosperous PC Air be around to hire more of their sisters.

Yollada Getting Drama Already

TransGriot Note: Thanks to my friend Robert Ganshorn in Thailand for sending me the link to the Bangkok Post story.

I posted the story about 30 year old Yollada Suanyot getting elected to the regional provincial organization in her home province of Nan back in May and beating several better funded male candidates to do so.

That May 27 election victory made her the highest ranking trans politician in Thailand and would you be surprised or shocked to discover that drama has already started about her tenure on the council?

Believe it or not, the controversy is over the fact she wore a female uniform to her first meeting

Really?  Um, hello people.  According to the story Yollada had SRS at 16, has presented and lived as a female for half her life and wears feminine clothing on a regular basis despite the male name on her ID that the Thai government won't change to reflect who she is now.       

And this snippet of the caption underneath the picture accompanying the Bangkok Post article was a trip as well.

Critics say it is against the rules for anyone who is not a natural-born woman to wear a female official uniform.

What rules?   And there's that 'natural-born woman' bull feces again.  Where is it written that Yollada, much less any trans woman can't wear a female uniform if they are and present themselves in their everyday lives as female?

I'd be willing to bet a few bahts some of those 'internet critics' are the sore loser male politicians she beat to get on the NAO in the first place..

Yollada Wins In Thailand!

The ranks of trans politicians around the world just increased by one.   Congrats to Yollada 'Nok' Suanyot who made history in her homeland.  

The Thai provincial elections were held May 27 and Yollada was running as an independent candidate in her home province of Nan that is located along the Thai-Laos border.  She beat out two male candidates of which one of them was from the better funded national ruling party to boot to win that election.

So yep, it's another victory #GirlsLikeUs around the world can celebrate. Told y'all we transwoman can do anything we set our minds to if given the chance and the opportunity to do so.

Yollada is now the highest ranking trans politician in Thailand, and here's hoping she continues her rise in Thailand's political ranks to where she ends up in their national legislature.

Only time will tell if that happens, but in this enterprising woman's case I wouldn't bet against her pulling it off.

Thai Transwoman Running For Political Office

Some wonderful news coming out of the Land of Smiles is that an accomplished transwoman and local activist is running for political office.

That history making transwoman is 30 year old Yollada 'Nok' Suanyot and she is not only familiar to Thai citizens thanks to newspaper stories about her, she has been one busy and accomplished lady since since she underwent her surgery at age 16. 

She runs a satellite television station, gained her PhD, was once a member of an all-trans Thai pop group called Venus Flytrap, owns a jewelry business, is the current President of the TransFemale Association of Thailand and has been a strong advocate for TBLG rights in the Land of Smiles.

She is competing for a provincial office in Nan Province in the upcoming May 27 elections against two cis male candidates and is trying to become the highest ranking trans elected official to date in her homeland.   As of this moment no Thai transwoman has been elected to anything higher in Thai politics than small district-level positions.

So why is she running for office? "I'm confident that my experience and ability will be useful in the development of Nan," she said.  "I want to represent the trans women and all groups of homosexuals across the country in parliament and press the government to pay more interest to women and trans women,"

She has a political platform addressing the flooding issues in her province, wants to set up a 24 hour citizens complaint hotline to deal with issues that need governmental attention and wants to have an increased focus on youth services and issues. 

Good luck to her, hope Yollada makes some history and breaks another glass ceiling for transwomen in the Land of Smiles.  We hope it also becomes just the first step of her journey towards being elected to Thailand's parliament.

The PC Air Trans Flight Attendants Take Flight

Been tracking this ongoing story about Bangkok-based PC Air and it hiring trans flight attendants.  

After the initial wave of news coverage, the story was dormant for a while until another burst of press coverage about the fledgling airline showed the initial group of four flight attendants, Nathatai Sukkaset,  Dissanai Chitpraphachin, Chayathisa Nakmai, and Phuntakarn Sringern going through training. 

PC Air took its inaugural flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani with the trans flight attendants on board as the cabin crew. 


Some photos have finally emerged with the trans flight attendants it hired doing their thing in the skies above Asia.  

It just demonstrates a few things that I and my transbrothers and transsisters all over the world already know.  If we are just given a chance to do the job and earn decent wages while doing so, we will not only rise to the challenge, but do it well.  

It also gives us another opportunity to not only blaze trails for the transpeople that will follow in our footsteps, but do some mythbusting about what we can and cannot do at the same time

May the trans flight attendants of PC Air continue to have success and hopefully open some minds and doors so that transpeople in other nations have the same opportunity to work for the domestic airlines in their respective nations if they aren't doing so already. 

Is The Desire For White Skin In Thailand Negatively Impacting African Diaspora Transwomen's Chances To Win The MIQ Title?

I wrote about the controversial conclusion of the 2011 edition of the Thailand based Miss International Queen Pageant and wondered aloud about the interesting factoid that no transwoman from the African Diaspora has ever won this event in its history.

Could it be because white skin is considered desirable and beautiful in the Land Of Smiles and other countries in the Asia-Pacific rim and those prejudices for white skin are impacting the chances of darker skin beauties to win an international trans pageant with all Thai judges?  

Skin bleaching and lightening creams are not just an issue in the Caribbean, African nations and the rest of the African Diaspora, they are also an issue in the Asia-Pacific rim as well.    A survey done by marketing company Synovate discovered that 4 out of 10 women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan use a skin lightening cream.  

There is also region wide stigma, racism and negativity attached to having dark skin as well.   In Thailand as in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language.   It's not surprising as a child of the Diaspora to learn that a common Thai insult aimed at someone of lower social standing is "tua dam," or black body.  Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duck's liver). 

When you have reports of Thai women who in pursuit of that desirable white skin are disfigured because of black market skin lightening products that promise to deliver but ruin skin but lives in the process, it leads you to ponder the possibility that the distaste for darker skin is infecting the all Thai judging panels and negatively impacting the African descended and other dark skin beauties who enter the MIQ pageant.

I'd submit that the troubling pattern of no African Diaspora contestant ever winning the Miss International Queen pageant over its existence is evidence to suggest that it is probably happening.

It's also why I'm not letting this issue go in continuing to call for an international panel of judges for the 2012 and future Miss International Queen pageants.   As the Miss Universe and Miss World ciswomen pageant organizers already know, what you Thais consider beautiful for a woman doesn't have the same currency in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America, Europe or North America. 

It's past time for the Miss International Queen judging panels, if they are going to continue to claim they are a premier international transgender pageant, to expand their beauty mindset to reflect that just as those cis pageant systems do.

It's not a surprise because of an internationally diverse judging panel, this year's Miss Universe is a statuesque woman from Angola.

It will be interesting to observe what transpires over the next year for the Miss International Queen pageant. Will they continue business as usual in the face of strong rumors that a Manila based international trans pageant may be about to kick off next year and risk getting eclipsed or will they evolve already and institute those international judging pageant that will give African Diaspora and dark skin beauties from other nations a fair chance to win?      

Miss International Queen 2011 Ends In Controversy

Miss International Queen has become the defacto must win international title in the trans pageant world over its seven year history because it was held in Thailand and gained the cachet through years of major international media coverage.

Even I write a post about who wins it every year and this year is no exception. 

But there is discontent brewing this year over the 2011 edition of the Thailand based international trans pageant.

In the Asia-Pacific Rim, there are no two more pageant-loving nations than Thailand and the Philippines.  Both have international reputations for the beauty of their transwomen and also are homes to the world's best known trans revue shows in Tiffany's in Pattaya and the Amazing Philippine Show in Manila.

Both revue shows also sponsor major internationally renowned trans pageants in their respective countries such as the Miss Tiffany's one in Thailand and the upcoming Amazing Philippine Beauties one on November 19.  

Transpinays have been fuming for some time now and charging that the Miss International Queen pageant is rigged in favor of the homestanding Thai girls.  The Thai transwomen who compete in it further charge that it is rigged in favor of the Miss Tiffany's Universe winners or ones who work for the Tiffany's show. 

That sentiment is now beginning to be echoed by transwomen from other parts of the world as well.  I've also noticed over the pageant's history that I've been observing and documenting since 2006 that an African Diaspora trans woman has NEVER won it and there were three entered this year.. 

So when Thai homegirl Sirapassorn 'Sammy' Atthayakorn (who was the 2011 winner of the all-Thai transwomen Miss Tiffany's Universe title) won the 2011 Miss International Queen title over SaHHara, who represented Nigeria (thus continuing the sorry history of the Miss International Queen pageant in never selecting a winner from the African Diaspora) and Margaret, a transpinay who was representing Lebanon, the commentary in the wake of the results exploded in disapproval on the Miss International Queen FB page with even some Thai viewers of the pageant, which was televised live in that nation questioning the judges decision.

And Alisa Phanthusak, as Assistant Managing Director of Tiffany's and by extension the Miss International Queen pageant they sponsor, you have an emerging PR headache and credibility problem in that regard. 

Nobody likes rigged pageants or ones suspected of being rigged, especially when it costs money for people to enter them (the entry fee for MIQ was $400 US).

It also costs money to buy gowns, makeup, outfits for the preliminary events, pay for international air travel, passport if you don't have one, food, transportation and lodging in the host city, put in the time and effort to assemble a talent routine and get hair, nails and whatever other work done to make yourself look flawless in the process. 

If you're going to commit that time, money, sweat equity and energy into becoming a winning pageant contestant, you want to believe after you invested the effort into it that whether you won, placed or lost, you had a fair shot at winning a title.  Right now that's not what contestants are feeling when it comes to the Miss International Queen pageant.

Transpinays are so pissed right now they are not only considering a boycott of next year's event, they are seriously contemplating starting a rival Manila based international trans pageant with the international judging panel I've suggested.   

It didn't help there were charges that some comments critical of the decision got mysteriously chopped off the MIQ Facebook page.  For a moment I went off on that page because I presumed my comment calling for an international panel of judges was one of those deleted as well but I found it when I scrolled down on the page.

I said this on the MIQ FB page and I will repeat it   If the Miss International Queen Pageant is going to claim it's an international trans pageant and wants to have ANY international credibility in the trans pageant world as a fair pageant, from this point forward it is imperative that an international panel of judges be assembled to determine the winner and make sure that any Thai judges that are part of the panel have no ties to Tiffany's show or are severely limited.

If they don't handle that credibility problem they have in an expeditious manner, they may find themselves in the Land of Smiles being speedily eclipsed by international trans pageants who do value fairness and a clean competition without questionable ties to the sponsor of the event or home nation bias.