British Gay Magazine With New Thai Edition

[webfact]

Attitude you need

By Manta Klangboonkrong

THE NATION

GMM Inter gives the popular British gay magazine new latitude with a Thai edition

If you believe "you are what you read", tomorฌrow is the perfect time for all gay people to come out of the closet and tell the world who you are - the Thai edition of gay magazine Attitude is making its debut.The British magazine has for 16 years been a favourite among gay readers around the world for its lifestyle and entertainment features, tongueincheek fashion commentary and, most of all, for its rich social and political content.

Attitude has steadfastly remained open to both negative and positive views on homosexuality, as expressed by both gay and straight contributors. Now it has its first foreignlanguage version.

The Thai edition is the latest revamp from GMM Inter Publishing, which also produces the localised Madame Figaro and Her World for women and Maxim for the guys.

The 164page Thai edition is 70 per cent original British content, while the rest is all about local tastes and interests.

"We've waited two years to bring Attitude to Thailand, waiting for the economy to improve," says publisher and managing director Laikram Lerdvitayaprasit.

"We had quite a few international magazines in mind, but Attitude is the strongest in content and style, and it's a longestablished brand.

"We aim to celebrate gender diversity, not just sell a magazine to gay people," Laikram says. It won't be just selfpromotional pep talks for homosexuals.

"We know that when the magazine hits the shelf, we'll get both the extremely positive and negative responses, and we're prepared for that.

"Personally, I think it's worth the risk. There's been enough humiliating discrimination toward gays, and we hope with this little step we're taking, Thai society will eventually embrace its longexisting gender diversity with understanding and with less discrimฌination - or, ideally, none."

Have gay Thais had nothing local to read until now? In fact, they've had quite a few magazines for some time, but these publications are typiฌcally marketed as women's magazines - a safe strategy in our don'taskdon'ttell society.

Attitude, however, lives up to its title in presenting the fact of homosexuality. However well read it becomes, its very presence ought to help get the message out that gay people deserve the same basic rights as everyone else.

Laikram would love to see straight people read his gay magazine or any other once in a while to better understand the way of life and the issues it entails. Gays are, after all, their neighbours and countrymen.

Is the gay life really that much different that it warrants specialised magazines? "Yes and no," says editor Thawatchai Deepattana.

"Sophisticated gay people are the same as their straight counterparts - they like to eat out, go to trendy places, dress well and keep up to date. But each gender has slightly different needs and interests, such as mental and physical health, social environments, and even relaฌtionships and dating.

"And we've had magazines for straight men and women, so why not a magazine for gays?"

Thawatchai heads a fourmemฌber editorial team, all gay and all experienced and prolific writers on lifestyle. They're happy to consider contributions from other writers, straight or gay, that will give readers a wider and more diverse perspective.

What you won't find in Attitude is beefcake: those photos of toned guys showing off their physique that are typical of many gay magazines.

Attitude's UK edition has had an eclectic crowd of celebrities on its cover, including Christina Aguilera, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams, and they're not always entertainers - or gay - as former Prime Minister Tony Blair showed.

It remains to be seen who will grace the front of Attitude Thailand, but regardless, having a copy in your living room will make it a more welcoming place.Readers ready"This is the perfect time for a gay magazine," says Tisha "Misty" Chaiworasilp, who runs the entertainment and lifestyle website Poppaganda.net. "Society is more open, the younger generation is more aware of gender diversity and gay people are now more actively pursuing better lifestyles.

"I've always been a fan of Attitude and even tried to make homemade versions of it, with Male and Chaps. I tried to break away from the usual nudity and arousing pictures and offered more lifestyle content, but gays didn't care at the time - they just wanted nudity.

"Now, with the Internet, pornography is easy to find, so people are instead looking for substantial, quality features and proper magazines," says Misty, who's launching a gay website, www.PopHomme.com, in early April.

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"Years back," says Paris Atirekanond, a senior adviser at the forthcoming GSpace Television, "gay magazines were just porn, with maybe some sexhealth sections or erotic short stories. When you bought them they'd be wrapped in brown paper - which ironically just showed you had something illegitiฌmate.

"They were absolutely shameful to have in your possession, even for a highprofile gay, and most of the time they got passed around among friends and then ended up in a dumpster.

"I'm glad that finally there's a gay magazine that we can purchase out in the open and not in shame."

GSpace is a sixhour daily gay lifestyle programme comฌing to satellite Channel 10 in May.

"Gay people have never felt welcome in the general comฌmunity or appreciated for whatever good they do - just because they're gay," says Cyber Fish Media producer and director Vipaya Saengaroon. "Verbal abuse, discrimiฌnation and prejudice are everywhere, even though some people choose to look the other way.

"It's all because of a lack of understanding that being gay is not a crime, that in fact it's normal. Gays can't expect full rights or samesex marriage as long as the majority of peoฌple still treat homosexuality like a disease.

"An aboveground gay magฌazine will help ease the misฌconceptions and normalise homosexuality."

Vipaya produces the show "Pink Mango", which airs on Mango TV every Saturday from 11pm to 1am. lip service

- Both the British and Thai editions are online at www.AttitudeThailand.com and Attitude.co.uk.

-- The Nation 2011-03-08

[Guest]

This story was doing the rounds a week ago.

[tombkk]

Good luck to this new magazine in Thailand. Of course, they are not the first one. The article sounds like they are doing something revolutionary.

Gay people or couples don't face the same discrimination here that they face in the UK. Thailand is the Utopia the European and US-American people are dreaming of.

I wish the new magazine all the best of luck, and may they sell many ads.

[pjbradley]

Good luck to this new magazine in Thailand. Of course, they are not the first one. The article sounds like they are doing something revolutionary.

Gay people or couples don't face the same discrimination here that they face in the UK. Thailand is the Utopia the European and US-American people are dreaming of.

I wish the new magazine all the best of luck, and may they sell many ads.

True, Attitude Thailand isn't the first gay-related magazine here, but it's the first of its kind: backed by a major media company and outside the "bar magazine handouts" that dominate the printed gay media here.

As for ads, not many yet, and most of them are for Western products. The few Thai-based ads appearing so far have been from AIS (mobile phone), real estate, iStudio (Apple computers), and Index Living Mall along Bangna-Trat road.

As for "utopia," I beg to differ: the level of internalized homophobia is sky-high among the general gay population across the country (I'm not talking about the commercial crowd). I co-own a gay-owned multimedia company here, and we hear first-hand weekly about the suffering gay Thais go through: the fear and lack of pride in themselves. People have phoned in weeping (especially guys 40+) to our TV and radio shows.

It appears to be generational: more 20-something college students seem comfortable with their nature. The older guys are heart-breakingly agonized and married. And gay marriage is still a pipe-dream here compared with Europe and parts of the US.

I'd say Thailand is still decades behind the West in attitudes about homosexuality here, though thanks to the Internet, it won't take nearly that long to improve, since young Thai gays have access to what's going on worldwide and can learn. In that regard, gay education from the Internet would be much faster if only the English-language skills of the average Thai person weren't so poor. Given that Thailand shares its language with no other country, and has a terrible education system, the lack of awareness of what's going on in the world among the population is quite high compared with citizens of some nearby countries such as the Philippines, where the people seem more connected to affairs outside their own country.

[LeCharivari]

" "Sophisticated gay people are the same as their straight counterparts - they like to eat out, go to trendy places, dress well and keep up to date." (editor Thawatchai Deepattana)

Any interest I had in reading this magazine evaporated on reading this - I have better things to do than waste my time reading something written by someone who thinks that the only gay and straight people who are "the same" are the Metrosexuals.

Maybe if they got out of their comfort zone and met "normal" gay people who lead "normal" lives but just happen to be gay they would understand what being gay means to the majority of gay people, farang and Thai, who are accepted for what they are as individuals and who don't see it as necessary to "tell the world" their sexual preferences.

[pjbradley]

" "Sophisticated gay people are the same as their straight counterparts - they like to eat out, go to trendy places, dress well and keep up to date." (editor Thawatchai Deepattana)

Any interest I had in reading this magazine evaporated on reading this - I have better things to do than waste my time reading something written by someone who thinks that the only gay and straight people who are "the same" are the Metrosexuals.

Maybe if they got out of their comfort zone and met "normal" gay people who lead "normal" lives but just happen to be gay they would understand what being gay means to the majority of gay people, farang and Thai, who are accepted for what they are as individuals and who don't see it as necessary to "tell the world" their sexual preferences.

I agree with you that the original Thai content has some problems, as you cite. But it's early days, so I'm willing to cut them some slack, support them, and see if they improve over time. And they're probably chasing after the few advertisers who will dare buy ads, so the Metrosexual focus now is understandable, even if, like you, I'm not crazy about it.

I'm old enough to have lived through the transition from the tell-the-world stage to the just-a-normal-part-of-my-life stage, as heterosexuals, for example, casually refer to an opposite-sex partner in conversation. The early stage responded to a need to assert one's self against a homophobic society (35 years ago, USA): when society pushes you down, you have to push back. Times have changed; I'm more secure; I don't need to do that anymore, though I understand why many people still do.

Gay people in their various countries will find their own best way of progressing. I'll try to remain optimistic, even when reading the kinds of words in the magazine that you cite.

[LeCharivari]

" "Sophisticated gay people are the same as their straight counterparts - they like to eat out, go to trendy places, dress well and keep up to date." (editor Thawatchai Deepattana)

Any interest I had in reading this magazine evaporated on reading this - I have better things to do than waste my time reading something written by someone who thinks that the only gay and straight people who are "the same" are the Metrosexuals.

Maybe if they got out of their comfort zone and met "normal" gay people who lead "normal" lives but just happen to be gay they would understand what being gay means to the majority of gay people, farang and Thai, who are accepted for what they are as individuals and who don't see it as necessary to "tell the world" their sexual preferences.

I agree with you that the original Thai content has some problems, as you cite. ...

It wasn't the "content" that I had a problem with - I don't read GQ either, but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with GQ (whose market Attitude is apparently designed for). My point is that gay people in general are the same as their straight counterparts, regardless of how "sophisticated" they are.

[pjbradley]

" "Sophisticated gay people are the same as their straight counterparts - they like to eat out, go to trendy places, dress well and keep up to date." (editor Thawatchai Deepattana)

Any interest I had in reading this magazine evaporated on reading this - I have better things to do than waste my time reading something written by someone who thinks that the only gay and straight people who are "the same" are the Metrosexuals.

Maybe if they got out of their comfort zone and met "normal" gay people who lead "normal" lives but just happen to be gay they would understand what being gay means to the majority of gay people, farang and Thai, who are accepted for what they are as individuals and who don't see it as necessary to "tell the world" their sexual preferences.

I agree with you that the original Thai content has some problems, as you cite. ...

It wasn't the "content" that I had a problem with - I don't read GQ either, but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with GQ (whose market Attitude is apparently designed for). My point is that gay people in general are the same as their straight counterparts, regardless of how "sophisticated" they are.

Yes, we're in complete agreement. I suspect the editor is making a class distinction (focusing on those "sophisticated" types, which I am definitely not) to kiss up to advertisers. As a former journalist, I wonder: who, if anyone, does speak to gay non-Metrosexuals, whether in Thailand or anywhere else? I get my gay news from various sources, in dribs and drabs; I don't rely on the standard glossy gay magazines (a la Attitude) because, like you, I don't read GQ, either.