Sexy dress exposed ugly truths about society's hypocrisy
First of all, I thought it was a ridiculous dress.
What emerging actress and student Chotiros Suriyawong wore to Friday's Subhanahongsa Awards, triggering a storm of social controversy, made my jaw drop for the wrong reason. I am clueless when it comes to female fashion - here's a straight guy talking - however, when the likes of me have the audacity to criticise a woman's evening wear like this, it's time to listen, girls.
Why I'm bothered, though, is not due to the fact that Chotiros in "that thing" reminded me of a lobster. The outcry she stirred up is more amazing than the dress itself, and when people suggested she be denied a university degree, and an entertainment bigwig exploited the uproar by acting like a cardinal, social hypocrisy or narrow-mindedness has paled her weird fashion sense completely.
Don't get me wrong. If I had a teenaged daughter and she prepared to leave home like that, I would have stopped her for a serious discussion. But that's the whole point. It's an issue for the family. If Amy's folks didn't mind it, why should we? Granted, she was probably a few "inches" away from breaking the legal barrier but police didn't arrest her, did they?
Notice how Thai women traditionally used to dress. A 100-150 years both men and women went topless in Thailand. Going topless was only outlawed fairly recently, but it was the norm in Thailand for hundreds of years. The notion of covering up the body wasn't introduced until the influence of American missionaries and British Victorians made an impact on the norms of Thai society. So the notion of "Thai modesty"(at least the top half of the body) is nothing but a political creation from the elite to make it seem that Thailand is a civilized country. Ironically, Thais claim that Thai culture is conservative and modest and Western culture is liberal and loose, but most Thai conservatism actually comes from early influences from the West, notably US and Britain, especially puritanical values concerning sex and dressing modestly.
2 comments:
Well, it's not surprising. Rector Suraphol Nitikraipot of Thammasat is a nuthugging whore who joined the junta's farce of a legislature. And Deputy Rector for Student Affairs Parinya Thewanarumitkul, one of the student "heros" of 1992 and a key yellowshirt, ordered her in for a special disciplinary session.
The junta's outrage at this is better understood when you remember that this is the same regime that banned bar-top dancing and tried to ban alchohol for everybody younger than 25. Don't forget that the Cabinet is full of old men, and the Minister of Culture probably hasn't gotten any in decades.
The silly thing is that the media was claiming that that Amy's pubic hair could be seen on the catwalk (Manager.com's headline screamed "ฮือฮา “เอมี่” โชว์ “สาหร่าย” กลางสุพรรณหงส์"). Yet in interviews, Amy claims that what little natural pubic hair she had was waxed out for "safety." And any perv can tell you that no Britney-styled hairy monster shots have been posted on any Thai webboards. So the media was basically lying.
Funny "damage control" statement: "มันไม่มีความเป็นไปได้เลยที่จะมาเห็นอะไร ที่สำคัญเป็นเรื่องตามธรรมชาติตามพันธุกรรมน่ะค่ะ ดูอย่างขนแขนก็ได้แทบจะไม่มีเลย แล้วอีกอย่าง คือๆ ไหนๆ ก็ไหนๆ แล้ว หนูทำแวกซ์ด้วยค่ะ เพราะเป็นคนบ้าสปา เพราะฉะนั้นทั้งชุด ทั้งเรื่องที่บอก มันยากค่ะที่จะมี ภาพหลุดในลักษณะที่ว่า"
Yep, I can imagine. I sure can imagine. :-)
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