The Iconic Transgender Boxer Nong Rose
When people talk about ladyboys, they often think of beautiful transgender women from Thailand. But what they often fail to see is that beyond the beauty, they’re equipped with diversity.
No… they don’t only work in the adult, beauty, or entertainment industry. Some, like Nong Rose, are gifted with braun and they capitalize on it by competing in sports. Today, we’re going to share with you who Nong Rose AKA The Dangerous Ladyboy is and why she’s worthy of being talked about.
Who is Nong Rose?
She was born Somros Polcharoeen in Nakhon Ratchasima, a province in the Northeastern part of Thailand. She goes by the name Nong Rose Baan and is dubbed The Dangerous Ladyboy.
Nong Rose belongs to a family of fighters and she was raised, along with her twin brother, as a fighter by her parents. At her early age, she was already revered in her village and became its local star for winning several fights in the region.
Sadly, when she came out as a trans woman at the age of 13, her parents, including her twin brother, disapproved of her gender identity. But she was unstoppable and still fought for her true gender by wearing braided hair and heavy makeup while fighting in tournaments.
Her family eventually learned to accept her. And she proved their initial thoughts wrong about how a fighter while being feminine wouldn’t work. Amidst her new look, she still kept raking in more awards and wins.
The Dangerous Ladyboy
Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and Nong Rose has won half of her more than 300 fights. She was also able to achieve 30 knockouts from those Muay Thai wins.
One of the main highlights of her career was when one of her fights headlined the 2017 Rajadamnern Stadium event. The reason being is because the stadium has a strict dress code which didn’t allow long hair and sports bra, making it restrictive for cisgender women and transgender women fighters from entering the ring.
Society has prejudice over a cisgender man winning or losing to a transgender woman or a gay man. Winning means that they already have the upper hand because of being macho or a real man and that it’s an easy win and is nothing to be proud of. Or losing to an individual who has more elevated feminine attributes, making it seem like the loser is extra weak.
Because of this archaic thought, Nong Rose trains harder than most to prove the bigots wrong. In one of her interviews, she said
I fight the way I do to be a representative for transgender women everywhere. I’d like to think that I’m helping at least some part of society accept us for who we are.
Beautiful Boxer
Nong Rose’s story was told through cinema via the movie “Beautiful Boxer”. Although it was marketed as a biopic, it’s not fully accurate in how Nong Rose’s life played out.
According to Wikipedia’s plot summary, it is a 2003 Thai biographical sports film produced, directed and co-written by Ekachai Uekrongtham. It tells the life story of Parinya Charoenphol, a famous kathoey (trans woman), Muay Thai fighter, actress, and model. She was portrayed by male kickboxer Asanee Suwan.
One Rotten Tomatoes review cites,
Manages to take a story that Jerry Springer would love and turn it into a sober and sensitive character study about identity and self-determination.
Nong Rose in Yokkao Fight Team
In 2021, something exciting happened to Nong Rose’s career. But before we discuss the details about her inclusion in the Yokkao Fight Team, you first must know what the team means in the sports industry.
The team is owned by a world-renowned sports apparel company. According to Yokkao’s official website, Yokkao is a Thai word that means White Jade. It represents one’s strength and connections with others. The stone white jade itself is also known for its calming properties, which is very much needed when one is facing challenges.
Its founder Philip Villa said
Transgender people should be given the same rights and respect as everyone else and I do believe that in the Muay Thai world when even females are not considered given the respect they so deserve, this will be the beginning of many changes within Muay Thai. For there to be a change, actions are required and this is my contribution to social equality
about their inclusion of Nong Rose in their team.
In one of his Instagram posts, he even posted content about Nong Rose and quoted her line in one of her interviews,
I fight the way I do to be a representative for transgender women everywhere. I’d like to think that I’m helping at least some part of society accept us for who we are.
What’s Next for The Dangerous Ladyboy
Currently, Nong Rose is still active in sports but apart from that, she also regularly shares her OOTDs on Instagram. She can be seen wearing dresses but most of her feed contains her photos wearing Yokkao apparel.
Her Instagram handle is @nongroos and her Tiktok account is @nongros0934909217
How her Success can help Trans Women around the world
Sadly, in 2022, transgender women still face many prejudices. In the west, there are still many discourses on whether trans women should participate in women’s sports or not even if their testosterone and estrogen levels are at par with what women possess generally.
Now, even if Nong Rose is only competing with men, she’s still facing bigotry which reinforces the fact that being a trans woman will always be a challenge when it comes to pursuing a career in sports.
Her success is something that trans women should look up to because she has broken many stereotypes fight after fight. What she did to be where she is right now is that she didn’t stop. If you’re a trans woman trailing this road, you should be resilient and keep your endurance intact.
As long as you’re being fair and you’re doing your best to perfect your craft, you’re going to reach levels that only one can dream of.
Nong Rose’s Interview with Asia-City and thoughts about the LGBT community
There’s not much information or live interviews in English about Nong Rose. But to get to know her better, we’re going to share with you some of her thoughts on life from her interview with the web magazine bk.asia-city.com.
Her Humble Beginnings
Nong Rose shared that she started Muay Thai training when she was 8. The one who trained her, her older sister, and twin brother, is her uncle who’s a professional Muay Thai fighter.
She also shared that when she was a kid, her bond with Muay Thai was too strong that she didn’t have any other dreams growing up.
Fighting while being Feminine
When asked whether she always wears makeup in fights or not, she shared that she always has. Adding that this wasn’t always the case because before, even in smaller stadiums, a male Muay Thai fighter isn’t allowed to wear tops.
But because of the help of Dr. Songchai Ratanasuban (one of the most popular Muay Thai promoters), she was allowed to dress up femininely. People may think that her battle against discrimination stopped when she was finally allowed to dress up as a woman in her fights. Little do they know, it was just the beginning of more discriminatory actions.
She shared that some male boxers refused to fight her because winning or losing to a kathoey is bad for their egos. Adding that many male boxers have looked down on her but the intimidation didn’t stop her from beating them.
Nong Rose of Today and thoughts about LGBT
When asked whether fighters of the LGBT community are still discriminated against in today’s world, she said that she feels they’re more accepted now. Adding that in general, Thailand is more accepting as she has seen a few LGBT individuals who got married.
Currently, she trains from Monday to Saturday, and only in the morning every Sunday. She hopes to open a Muay Thai camp for foreigners in the future.
