OK, so firstly, Totton is a town on the outskirts of Southampton, the cold, rainy (but still wonderful) place that I currently reside.

This blog is inspired by an article that I read in today’s Daily Echo, which is Southampton's daily newspaper. It was about Totton’s monthly transvestite disco which, ironically, is held in the starchy confines of the Totton Conservative Club.

It made me cast my mind back to home in Bangkok. Oh Bangkok, that city where trans-sexuals are very visible, in shopping malls, restaurants, on the sky train. Kathoeys as they are oft called. You will meet them every day. Women caught in men’s bodies. But so many of them look really beautiful.  Perfectly groomed hair, beautiful make up and lovely dresses and outfits. The regular Miss Tiffany beauty pageants show case the very best in transexual beauty.

Shortly before flying back to the UK I saw the winner of the most recent Miss Tiffany beauty pageant on the television and it was only when my girlfriend pointed it out to me that I realised that the girl, Poi I think her name was, was in fact a trans-sexual. She looked, sounded and acted like a women and I feel quite sure that she feels that she is a women. And she looked quite adorable.

And so I found myself today skimming over the report about the Totton transvestite disco. Now let’s be clear about this. Transvestites, as opposed to trans-sexuals, are men who dress up as women. And you know something, that point spoke clearly from the photographs of the event displayed in the Daily Echo.

There I saw and read about Kaci (Kevin), Michelle (Michael) and other Totton transvestites who attended the most recent event at the Conservative Club. They were from a divers range of professions that included Doctors, welders, builders and hod carriers. But boy they were ugly. Don’t misunderstand me and rush to accuse me of bigotry. I have no problem with transvestites, trans-sexuals or gay people.

But, without wishing to appear mean, these guys were pug ugly. They didn’t look like women. The very worst example had a strong, chiselled jaw line, five o’clock shadow and though he had long hair, it rather looked like he had a bad 1970’s hair cut. Oh, but he was wearing a dress.

You see being a transvesite in the UK carries a much greater social stigma than it does in Thailand. It is indeed very rare to walk around the streets of the UK and see a transvestite or trans-sexual, although gay people now are much more accepted than before. So perhaps transvestites or trans-sexuals feel much more constrained about working on their make up, perfecting their ward-robe or coiffuring their hair in the most feminine style. Maybe the Totton Transvestite disco is a rare but welcome opportunity for men to express their inner feelings as women.

And if that is the case then I wish them continued happy evenings together, once a month at the Totton Conservative Club. But I do think that it may be worthwhile suggesting that they make a study tour to Thailand, to see just how beautiful they could be, if they felt more free, comfortable and accepted by British society,