The term 'mak nyah', which derives from mak (mother), was coined in 1987 by Malaysia's male transsexuals2 in an attempt to define ourselves.3 Our attempt at self-definition emerged from two streams: first, a desire to differentiate ourselves from gay men, transvestites, cross-dressers, drag queens, and other 'sexual minorities', with whom all those who are not heterosexual are automatically lumped; and, second, because we also wanted to define ourselves from a vantage point of dignity rather than from the position of derogation in which Malaysian society had located us, with names such as bapok, darai, pondan and bantut, all of which mean 'men who are effeminate'.