How do you define ladyboys?

[Vanillas]

This is an interesting discussion. I, too, have come to associate the term "ladyboy" with a young, Asian, MtF transexual. However, I understand a significant number of these are not transexuals but are young men who have adopted the lifestyle of a shemale escort. This is to say they are males anatomically and intend to remain so. But, by carefully grooming and dressing and adopting certain mannerisms, they live (and earn) as shemales for relatively long periods of time. I would differentiate these from crossdressers - and certainly from female impersonators - as it is for them (the "faux shemales") less a form of theater than a lifestyle commitment.