[QUOTE=DRRonin;1654333]Thanks for bringing some clarity to all this with actual facts. Something I have few of I admit! Have you read anything about why this is occurring? It is a general trend in most of the developed world but a 30% drop in a decade sounds extreme. Has the economic progress in the past decade changed that with women entering the work force in such greater numbers?
Now to get back to my factless based observations. I sometimes wonder how Thailand has any births with the number of gays, ladyboys, Toms and Dees that I see around Bangkok. I can't go into a retail store without being served by a gay man. I can't go into a fastfood restaurant without seeing a burgeoning ladyboy. Tom and Dees are everywhere and over the past couple of years I have been surprised to find out how many working girls have a Tom looking out for them and just like Thai men smacking them around and taking their money. Of course Bangkok is likely a magnet with people of those sexual predilections but I come from NYC and the numbers here amaze me. And their openness amazes me even more but good for them.[/QUOTE]There is a great Ted talk on population and development- Hans Rosling: Religions and Babies. Check it out. Dude is a demographic specialist. Very interesting. Goes into development, population, and peak population.
Yes, it is amazing how many categories of "sexuality" there are in BKK. Toms, Dees, Bis, Gays, Ladyboys, etc. While yes it is very open in a way, it is also true that each category tends to have rigid rules of behavior that are quite strictly adhered to. I read an article once by a Western lesbian who was working in BKK. She had become quite frustrated at the fact that here she was supposed to be either a "Tom" or a "Dee. " Hence a woman who enjoys both giving and receiving is kind of out of luck.
