Female exploitation is barely news in Thailand

IS anybody surprised by the furore over the three teenage girls dancing topless on a Bangkok street during Songkran?

We’re not talking, of course, about these young ladies’ unwise decision to disrobe themselves in public. But to the incredible commotion their antics provoked and the accusations of national hypocrisy that ensued.

It was all rather predictable, really. The Culture Ministry instantly took umbrage with a series of silly pronouncements, including its accusation that the girls had ruined this country’s reputation.

Well, that was grist to the mill, for sure, with newspaper columnists and members of the general public angrily pointing out a long list of inconsistencies in the ministry’s myopic view of life here.

Female exploitation, or sexploitation, has been going on here for longer than anyone can remember. And just in case nobody has noticed, it’s alive and well right along Petchburi, Rajadapisek and Thaniya roads, to name but a few places, where massage parlours, cocktail lounges and karaoke bars openly promote on huge billboards the availability of young girls to customers.

And it’s not only in Bangkok where this happens (in the unlikely event that you didn’t know), but also quite openly on the streets of Chiang Mai and other provincial centres. As for Pattaya, well that’s another story.

There’s no doubt the Ministry of Culture has a tough task. But maybe it should leave such issues as morals to others, including parents and schools. It’s time to be more honest and realistic, and not to sweep such issues under the carpet Thai-style.