Are you ready to dive in the community of transgenders, crossdressers and drag shows in Cambodia? Ru Paul is the Queen of Queens, but there in Cambodia, being LGBTQ is not something discussed easily, and there is no drag race on TV. Many people are not yet very open minded about LGBT people and drag shows: the traditional mindset prevails there in Cambodia.
Thearith’s parents do not like transgenders and drag shows. Discovering your sexuality in Cambodia is not something you easily learn in high school or from your parents. But in university Thearith takes gender class, which teaches him about sexuality. Difficult topics like ladyboys and LGBTQIA are discussed.
What he does not learn in gender class, he learns from his drag show friends and other LGBT+ in Cambodia. The drag shows are very important to him, for it is the only place he really feels that he can be himself. Being a woman he feels more confident and is less silent and sad than when he is a man.
Thearith takes us to the market to buy make-up and wigs. In this video it is not Thearith, but ‘Rebecca’ who shows us what it is like to be a transgender and to give drag shows in Cambodia.