Photo gallery: Thailand crowns its newest transgender beauty queen
This year's beauty pageant brought out the kingdom's most stunning ladyboys, proving yet again that some of the best looking girls in Thailand used to be boys
By John Le Fevre 12 May, 2011
http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/life/miss-tiffany-universe-thailands-newest-transgender-queen-says-i-am-so-beautiful-887766 (http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/life/miss-tiffany-universe-thailands-newest-transgender-queen-says-i-am-so-beautiful-887766)
There's more to Thailand's best-known annual beauty pageant than meets the eye. With around 500,000 transgenders -- known locally as ladyboys or katoeys -- Thailand has one of the highest rates of transsexualism per head in the world.
Though researchers have failed to explain just why there are so many ladyboys in Thailand -- ancient Thai mythology talks of a woman bearing three children -- a male, a female and a third sex.