Moral Authorities Encourage Songkran Attendees to Dress Appropriately

[Jacob Maslow]

The Moral Authorities are encouraging Songkran attendees to dress appropriately for the festivities this year. The state media is warning the public that the sexual assault of women is caused by the clothing they wear.

Sin Suesuan, Center Director, said that Songkran’s high rate of accidents is caused by alcohol usage, unsafe driving, disputes and sexual assault. Suesuan noted that sexual assault was primarily caused by inappropriate attire.

The Moral Promotion Center has laid out “7 Values” that they’re encouraging the public to adhere to. Following these values will help attendees enjoy the festivities safely.

1. Show Discipline: Follow the law. Obey traffic laws and drive within the speed limit. Stand in line when waiting for public transportation.

2. Be Kind: Show kindness and compassion to others by lending a hand and offering support.

3. Be Patient: Tolerate anger from individuals who are drunk to avoid unnecessary disputes. Avoid gambling.

4. Be Responsible: Know your duties in society to safeguard the safety of others.

5. Be Giving: Share and give to others. Be helpful to others.

6. Exercise Caution: Be cautious in everything that you do. Avoid doing anything that would bring harm to you or others.

7. Consciousness: Know the consequences of your actions; not drinking and driving.

-- 2015-04-08

[zaphod reborn]

"The state media is warning the public that the sexual assault of women is caused by the clothing they wear."

Name and shame.

[NongKhaiKid]

More ' values ', more hypocrisy, more BS that no one will pay the slightest attention to.

Ladies dress appropriately or you encourage a sexual assault ! Does this apply to ugly women who may wear bikinis ?

[selftaopath]

The level of ineptness of the Thai officials is startling - year after year. Are any of these "high degree" individuals ever really knowledgeable or educated to conventional wisdom from a scientific approach?

[DrTuner]

Moral forcefeeders may go <deleted> themselves.

[Kerryd]

This image used to be on the Ministry of Culture website (until the 2011 Songkran episode):

That image was a portion of this original painting by the Thai artist Sompop Budtarad:

The offending image was changed after the MoC condemned topless revellers during the 2011 celebration and a flurry of people pointed out that the MoC had an image of topless girls on their website !

Perhaps what is "appropriate" depends largely on how it looks when you wear it (or don't) yourself !

Edited April 8, 2015 by Kerryd

[Robby nz]

sexual assault of women is caused by the clothing they wear

And here's me thinking sexual assaults were caused by men and all the time it is done by the women's clothes.

Reminds me of the defense of a Muslim man who was accused of raping a women who had been wearing a burqa. "She tempted me with her eyes your honor"

[Stradavarius37]

Ministry of Culture - Thailand's most bullsh%t ministry by far....

[Bruce68]

Ministry of Culture - Thailand's most bullsh%t ministry by far....

Established on 3 October, 2002 by Thailand's most bullsh%t PM by far...

[Bluespunk]

"Suesuan noted that sexual assault was primarily caused by inappropriate attire."

No it's not.

I remember this guy banging on about some other piece of moral outrage BS a while back. What was it again? Something to do with teenagers?

He's not in the govt I think but leads or speaks for some sort of quasi fascist religious group.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Bluespunk

[Somtamnication]

Moral authority? I am taking my mankini out of storage just for that!

[ezzra]

Yes, do dress appropriately, but don 't forget your water gun, the dodgy powder and of

course , the ice water....

[chooka]

The clothing women wear causes sexual assault??? What about the lowlife scum who have no respect for others?

[chooka]

Ministry of Culture - Thailand's most bullsh%t ministry by far....

Established on 3 October, 2002 by Thailand's most bullsh%t PM by far...

Congratulation you did it. You were able to blame these comments made today on Thaksin.

[BritTim]

Is this what the moral police have in mind as appropriate attire to avoid sexual assault?

[OOLEEBER]

This image used to be on the Ministry of Culture website (until the 2011 Songkran episode):

The offending image was changed after the MoC condemned topless revellers during the 2011 celebration and a flurry of people pointed out that the MoC had an image of topless girls on their website !

When my kids have grown up and left home I'm going to hang this in my bedroom if the wife is okay with it

[EyesWideOpen]

This image used to be on the Ministry of Culture website (until the 2011 Songkran episode):

That image was a portion of this original painting by the Thai artist Sompop Budtarad:

The offending image was changed after the MoC condemned topless revellers during the 2011 celebration and a flurry of people pointed out that the MoC had an image of topless girls on their website !

Perhaps what is "appropriate" depends largely on how it looks when you wear it (or don't) yourself !

Haha yes I have posted that fact before. Apparently in Amazing Thailand , hypocrisy

does not exist...... :-)

[FangFerang]

"the sexual assault of women is caused by the clothing they wear"

No. The sexual assault of women is caused by idiots lacking self-control -- of both sexes.

[Lupatria]

I learned they sent legal experts to Europe to discover democracy (good luck for that).

Now I am curious how many teams they already sent to Malaysia to ponder the chances how to copy and implement the concepts of RELA. This religious police with sometimes 17 year old boys has the authority arresting 60 something year old foreign couples in their rented houses for not producing a marriage certificate under “Khalwat” (being together without marriage).

Check out your local sweatshop if they are working on SS-like uniforms for the burqa cops over here…

[aripengu]

The Burka-Junta...

[Docno]

So what I learned from this announcement is that sexual assault is an accident (their words) caused by women wearing inappropriate clothing. Now I understand.

[willyumiii]

This image used to be on the Ministry of Culture website (until the 2011 Songkran episode):

That image was a portion of this original painting by the Thai artist Sompop Budtarad:

The offending image was changed after the MoC condemned topless revellers during the 2011 celebration and a flurry of people pointed out that the MoC had an image of topless girls on their website !

Perhaps what is "appropriate" depends largely on how it looks when you wear it (or don't) yourself !

I never have, and never will, understand why so many people think it is bad to show the female breast and or nipple!

Some sort of strange puritan, victorian perversion I guess.

Before western influence interfered, it was common for Thai women to not cover their breasts.

Breasts and nipples are not all about recreational sex.

If they were not kept hidden and secret, those who are so excited about them, would not be nearly as interested in them.

I was told by a japanese girlfriend once that when Japanese women were prohibited to expose the back of their neck in public, Japanese men considered the nexk the most erotic part of the female body!

Why are male nipples not taboo to display in public?

IMO..the whole concept of bad breasts is ridiculous!

Can anyone please explain to me what is so bad about a nipple?

We all have them!

[willyumiii]

So what I learned from this announcement is that sexual assault is an accident (their words) caused by women wearing inappropriate clothing. Now I understand.

I have read a few articals recently where Muslim men are claiming that if a woman is raped, it is her own fault because she was probably dress inappropriatly!

The man who rapes her is not responsible for his actions since the bad women force men to rape them!

It sounds to me like these "Moral Authorities" in Thailand are on the same page as these radical Muslim men!

What century is this????

[HHTel]

And after our illustrious PM shot himself in the foot when he made similar comments about the Koh Tao murders.

Seems they have difficulty getting their feet out of their mouths.

[ravip]

More ' values ', more hypocrisy, more BS that no one will pay the slightest attention to.

Ladies dress appropriately or you encourage a sexual assault ! Does this apply to ugly women who may wear bikinis ?

As "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" who knows?

[chooka]

So what I learned from this announcement is that sexual assault is an accident (their words) caused by women wearing inappropriate clothing. Now I understand.

Yep you can go out and grab a handfull of all the muff you you like and if they complain, just say it is her fault as she is beautiful and appealing. Case closed now where is the next woman.

[onelasttime]

'Suesuan noted that sexual assault was primarily caused by inappropriate attire'.

I was going to make a comment about hypocracy, crass stupidity, duplicity, ineptitude..the list goes on but what's the point? Bangkok has (acording to recent findings) the highest incidence of domestic violence against women..I'm guessing they were all dressed inappropriately or perhaps the guy had been watching too much Thai soapies where assault against women is common place yet never censored. I pissed myself laughing the other day when, during a documentary about the Eutruscan civilisation a chap was being interviewed. In the background was an ancient male statue where the 'boy bits' had been blurred out. So I'm guessing that Boticelli's 'Birth of Venus" will never be shown here, or, if it is will have the 'naughty bits' censored. God help us if Michaelangelo's 'David' was ever to go on display. What a bunch of pathetic losers...but, the people get the governments they deserve.

[maidee]

"Tolerate anger from individuals who are drunk"

does it mean, offer your other cheeck, once they deceided to hit you on one side?

[Jacob Maslow]

Presumably this will also apply to a jewelry store that gets robbed or a bank that is "asking for it" by keeping all that cash behind the counter.

[warriorbangkok]

It is both worrying and shocking that a state official would publicly blame sexual assaults on women on the clothes they wear.

The attitude that men cannot control their sexual desires is utterly wrong, and is dangerous.

Any man who sexually assaults a woman is a scumbag. Full stop. There's never an excuse for it.

Instead of blaming female clothing for sexual assaults, more focus should be given to educating children in schools about correct behaviour and appropriate sexual conduct. Just because a certain behaviour is culturally engrained that doesn't make it right.

Without a proper national schools PSHE programme, along with media support, I see little hope of sexual assaults decreasing significantly in Thailand in the near future. However, in Bangkok I have noticed that women are becoming more empowered and are more likely (I think) to not allow such advances from men. Bangkok, however, represents a monoculture that is distinct from the rest of Thailand.

With the advent of the AEC and the growth of ASEAN's powers, one can only hope that Thailand will mature into a developed, civilised country where women feel safe.

Fingers crossed.