Photographer: Ying Ang
Contact: ying@yingangphoto.com
Khmer Ladyboys; As Women.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Sri Vet is a Khmer ladyboy.
She has not considered herself male since she was 14 years old.
She shares a single room and one double bed with 3 other ladyboys. They take turns on the floor on a rotational basis. Ostracized as a woman as well as a man, therefore unable to work in either capacity, Sri Vet considers her role as a sex worker inescapable.
Sri Vet makes US$1 per client, enough to buy her a meal the following day. If she doesn’t work the streets, she simply doesn’t eat. Most of her customers are local Khmer men and the occasional foreigner. Tourists pay ten times as much – US$10, however not all foreigners are aware of her physiology and can sometimes end in violence or enormous humiliation when they discover the truth.
Despite the hardship and prejudice she faces, Sri Vet refuses live any other way. She believes in living as she was always supposed to and destined for… as a woman.
~
Ying Ang
Blog – http://posthalcyon.wordpress.com
Website - http://yingangphoto.com/
Rain Girl
Haunting.. sad… makes me realise how lucky I am…
brave work..
Jun 19, 2009 @ 1:00 am
gudus
very powerful. honest. thanks for sharing
Jun 19, 2009 @ 2:29 am
onear
Interesting….. no 12 is very good and pertinent shot…. a favourite
Jun 19, 2009 @ 2:36 am
onear
….. and no 6 too. The whole set feels quite intimate..
Jun 19, 2009 @ 2:51 am
Zaeem
Amazing! I’d buy a print of #12!
Jun 19, 2009 @ 6:09 am
John
Love it Ying, love the intimacy of your photos. Can’t forget when I saw this in the workshop slideshows
Jun 19, 2009 @ 6:22 am
Diksha
very interesting.. bravo!
Jun 25, 2009 @ 8:43 am
Asha
really amazing. u’ve captured great moments. colour and composition too are beautiful, poignant and artistic.
Jun 25, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
Ayan Khasnabis
Good job my friend. I am silent. I am thinking.
Jun 26, 2009 @ 1:25 am
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[...] launched earlier this month. In the magazine’s inaugural issue, Cambodia gets a feature with Lady Boys of Siem Reap by Ying Ang. Posted by DAS Filed in Cambodia, Journalism Leave a Comment [...]
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Aug 11, 2009 @ 3:08 am
MunichBlogger
Wow – great photography ! i love it. thanx for sharing it. keep on doing the great work !
Aug 13, 2009 @ 10:03 pm
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[...] heute: Blindboys.org ! Vielleicht mache ich beim nächsten Philippinen-Trip auch mal so eine Story: KLICK ! Share and [...]
Sep 16, 2009 @ 12:23 am
Ateno
Is interesting but not correctly true, I know some ladyboys making $70 a day and sometimes get 3 customers in only 1 night. Some of the ladyboys in Siem Reap as well in Phnom Penh make around $400 a month.
In every kind of lifestyle can find rich and poor people, but no reason to pity most of the ladyboys, its big business for most of them, besides almost all of them working in hairdressing shops with a good salary a month around $80.
Dec 01, 2009 @ 5:37 am