Some of Thailand’s most famous feminists spoke at the Bangkok Post's Women Vision event on Thursday about their work advocating for women’s rights and menstrual health, and against sexual violence.
Cindy Sirinya Bishop, one of Thailand’s most famous activists, actresses, and models shared how her career on the screen and runway suddenly turned her into a feminist author and campaign leader.
“I didn’t set out to be a women’s rights activist, it happened very quickly,” she told the audience in a panel discussion on the topic of "Inspiration".
Her 2018 campaign ‘Don’t Tell me How to Dress’ was a push back against the idea that what a woman is wearing is the cause behind their sexual assault. In the panel, Ms Cindy spoke of her sexual assault, which occurred during the Songkran water fight festivities on Khao San Road in broad daylight when she was 17.
After reading headlines about women’s dress code for Songkran, Ms Cindy said, “It brought up so much anger and frustration that I recorded myself on Instagram saying ‘don’t tell me how to dress,’ and it went viral."
Women all over Thailand began sharing their stories and within one week #Don’tTellMeHowtoDress became a movement.
“I then had a responsibility, I am not going to let this opportunity slip away. This is a huge problem nobody is talking about, let alone a celebrity beauty queen."
"There is a notion that women belong to men, are the objects of desire and sexualisation and we do not control our bodies,” she said.
This led her to write a children’s book called "My Body, My Rules".
“At the time there was no such book in the Thai language about consent and respecting body autonomy,” explained Ms Cindy.
The former Miss Thailand now leads programmes about menstrual health with information on the basic changes a girl goes through as a teen.
“This is the information that is lacking in this country,” said Ms Cindy, whose programme has trained over 3,000 young girls about what to expect when they reach puberty.
Ticha Kanticha Chumma, actress, model and influencer, spoke of how she found herself a sex education advocate on social media.
“When you reach a celebrity moment, you ask yourself, what's next?” Ms Ticha said.
“I noticed there is a gap in Thailand where sex is a taboo topic, especially if you are a role model. I thought, let’s do this, let’s talk about this. How can I talk about sex in a way that is interesting?”
With 1.6 million followers on Instagram, Ms Ticha uses her platform to invite people to talk about sex, from consent and protection to their real life experiences. "It’s a space where people can relate to us.”
“I call it sex edutainment, a mix between education and entertainment,” she said. “I am inspired by all the women who came before me. They are the ones that paved the way, broke boundaries and pushed forward. It is on us now to carry on with the journey to impact the women after us,” she said.
Surisa Suzana Renaud, actress and model, decided to enter Miss Universe Thailand 2024 with no pageant experience. Ms Surisa won her first runner-up award at 31.
“I was not the favourite to win and I didn’t win, but I gave it my best,” Ms Surisa said.
“I wanted to do it to represent women my age. It was the first year women over the age of 28 could enter, so I thought, 'If I could do this, it would not be just for me, but for other girls too',” she said.
“Something I’ve never told anyone, was when my name wasn’t called as runner-up of Miss Universe, my first thought was ‘Thank god I can sleep again’,” she laughed. "All of us here are more like you than we think we are.”