Exposing breasts in Fashion show sparks controversy in Thailand

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Exposing breasts in Fashion show sparks controversy in Thailand

Revealing attires showed at a recent Bangkok fashion week have raised concerns of the Thai government and sparked bitter argument on whether to cover the model more.

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Revealing attires showed at a recent Bangkok fashion week have raised concerns of the Thai government and sparked bitter argument on whether to cover the model more.

Alarmed by a perceived increase in the number of models wearingclothes revealing bare breasts, Culture Minister Anurak Jureemas reportedly asked the police and the Consumer Protection Board to closely monitor fashion shows and publications.

The ministry also sent a letter to the publisher of fashion magazine Elle, warning against a repetition of the "Elle Bangkok Fashion Week 2003," which drew down the curtain on Nov. 9.

"Culturally speaking, it's not right," thundered the newly swore-in culture minister when commenting on the fashion show, during which models catwalked in plunging necklines or one-shoulder tops that could hardly hide their breasts.

"The ministry considers the show to be a breach of Thai cultureand a violation of Article 388 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits obscene acts," director of the ministry's cultural watchdog center Ladda Tangsupachai was quoted by newspaper The Nation's online report on Tuesday.

The ministry also threatened that it would expand its jurisdiction to censorship so as to crack down on "obscenity disguised as art."

So far, the police are in charge of censoring publications and performance in Thailand, while the Culture Ministry has been thought as a paper tiger with the law, lenient to bare breasts in fashion show or magazine photos, according to Ladda.

"But the Culture Ministry is going to take over and oversee thecensorship work of the police in two years, so things are about tochange," he said. "We'll seek legal amendments to make sure bare breasts are illegal and that both the models and the media are held accountable."

The recent report of the raising popularity of nipple stickers among Thai teenagers is another fact provoking the Culture Ministry into action.

The circular sticker, similar to medical adhesive plaster and four centimeters in diameter, is normally used by models or girls in sex business to take the place of bra.

It's not the first time that the authorities have raised eyebrows on dressing issue when talking about Thai culture.

Ladies in April were advised not to wear exposing clothes such as spaghetti-strap or shoulderless tops and hot pants when celebrating the Thai new year Songkran, or the Water-Splashing Festival, for they would better observe Thai culture at such traditional moment.

However, not all think the same as the Culture Ministry.

"Nobody wants to walk naked in public," said Elle's Thai editor-in-chief Kulawit Laosuksri. "Everyone just wants to promote and sell outfits."

She also pointed the finger to the media, saying the media covered more of the revealing clothes and gave people of the wrongimpression.

To some people, the ministry's action didn't go well with the government's ambitious plan to build Bangkok as a fashion center of Asia.

Others think it is sermonic to relate the issue of bare breastswith phrases of "negative influence on youths" and "demeaning Thaiwomen's dignity."

A public opinion survey has found that almost 60 percent of respondents viewed such breast-baring behavior as normal for models, while many others agreed that this breast-baring behavior was unacceptable.

"I don't think Thai women will follow the model's example. Theyknow how to behave themselves," a young Thai woman named Phon toldXinhua.

"The Culture Ministry took the issue too seriously," said the young lady who used to study and live in the United States.

Two months ago, the Culture Ministry also incurred heated moraland cultural debate when it banned some love songs believed to contain controversial lyrics.

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