Source: Bangkok Post, Wikipedia, Reuters

A woman (left) chats with katoey at a Bangkok cafe Flickr photo by Bart Morane

Pipat Yingseree, chairman of the ministerial committee overseeing hospitals and clinics, said yesterday the decision would be enforced from today.

''Despite having their parents' consent for the surgery, panel members still unanimously agreed that such an operation on young ladyboys could cause severe damage to their health, both physically and mentally,'' Pipat said.

In a letter to 16,000 private health units, the health ministry said doctors performing the operation outside formal sex-change therapy -- which requires rigorous physical and mental evaluation of the patient -- faced up to six months in jail.

However, senior health official Tara Chinakarn admitted that policing the temporary ban might be difficult as cosmetic removal of the testicles was such a quick operation and easy to conduct in secret.

"It's hard to track them down as it takes only 15-20 minutes to have the surgery," Tara told Reuters.

The ministry will step up measures to discourage clinics from castrating young boys, who believe it will make their complexion and body appear more feminine as a forerunner to a complete sex change later in life.

Castration is a step towards a sex-change but is also a standard treatment for some kinds of cancer.

The crackdown on clinics came after Natee Teerarojjanapongs, the leader of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, called on the council to take action against clinics performing the operations.

Natee said many parents of young boys keen to have their testes removed had complained about the influence of advertisements on the internet that say the surgery is inexpensive and the result similar to a sex-change operation.

The Thai term katoey -- sometimes translated into English as "ladyboy" -- is generally applied to boys who are identified at an early age as transsexual or simply effeminate. According to a Wikipedia entry on the phenomenon, katoeys are more visible and more accepted in Thai culture than transgender or transsexuals are in Western countries.

The term covers anyone from a transvestite to a man who has undergone a full sex change.

The tolerance shown towards the "third sex," as it is often referred to, has led to the country becoming a world leader in sex-change surgery.

However, at the lower end of the market, clinics have responded to demand from teenage boys to look more like girls by posting Internet advertisements offering castration for as little as 4,000 baht ($125).

Several popular Thai models, singers and movie stars are katoeys, and Thai newspapers often print photos of the winners of female and katoey beauty contests side by side. The phenomenon is not restricted to urban areas; there are katoeys in most villages, and katoey beauty contests are commonly held as part of local fairs.

The Medical Council of Thailand last week also warned that castration is a health risk. Providing the operation for young boys was unethical and could damage hormone growth and physical development, it said.

Full article: Bangkok Post : General news
Cosmetic castration banned | Reuters
Wikipedia: Kathoey