The Bangkok Post is really hitting the big stories:
Good Thai girls learn to striptease
The students who come to Harvard graduate and striptease instructor Busakorn Vorameth are mostly educated, upper-middle-class career women between the ages of 20 to 50, who have found that erotic dancing helps reduce stress levels… Thai society, at least at the middle and upper strata, is deemed quite conservative, and sexually suggestive dancing is definitely frowned upon. “Thai society is extreme. One side is very conservative while another side is very open,” said Busakorn Vorameth, 36, owner and chief instructor of Rumpuree Dance Studio, located on the fifth floor of the upmarket Amarin Plaza, in central Bangkok. “I believe that conservative people want to express their emotions as well but they can’t,” said Busakorn, who graduated with a Masters Degree in design management from Harvard University in the United States… Six months ago she began offering classes in erotic dancing and striptease, which she had taken classes in for fun while working as an architect in New York. “At first I didn’t dare to open a striptease class because I was not sure if Thai people could accept it,” said Busakorn. “It could have drawn criticism.” Instead, her classes drew a lot of media attention and plenty of interested customers, mostly educated, upper-middle-class career women between the ages of 20 to 50 who have found that erotic dancing helps them reduce their stress levels. “I’m learning striptease because I love dancing,” said Kewalin Sukapiboon, 33, a nurse at a leading private hospital. “It is fun, like I am playing a role. In daily life, I never do that, so my stress is released. I feel relaxed. Besides, this kind of dancing is a good exercise because it uses a lot of muscles.” During the first half hour, Busakorn relaxes her students with soft music and dim lights in the room while teaching them to stretch their muscles. Then the music is turned up in tempo, and she starts teaching her pupils how to make sexy dance steps and enticing movements in front of the mirror. There was plenty of laughter as these career ladies watched themselves in the mirror.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Disgusted // May 9, 2007 at 11:21 am
I just love the hypocrisy of the Thai elite.
When a farmer’s daughter from Isaan does it, they consider it dirty and shameful. But when a Harvard-educated architect does it, it’s considered cute and artsy.
2 Vichai N // May 9, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I believe your sense of humor and recent choice of topics Andrew Walker border on the tittilating these days.
Today’s Nation News article by Tulsathit Taptim may be more ethically and intellectually stimulating to New Mandala readers (nationmultimedia.com/2007/05/09/opinion/opinion_30033735.php).
Tulsathit asks this question: ” Do dying patients all deserve immediate access to affordable drugs, given that the world is now capable of producing them – anywhere, any time and in an instant? At a time when ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’ are supposed to be more indomitable than ever, and at a time when our world is richer and better equipped than ever, it’s just strange that this still has to be a question.”
3 Andrew Walker // May 9, 2007 at 1:10 pm
“…border on the tittilating.” Border! No border intended here. Pure titillation. But, as Disgusted notes, there is a political dimension.
4 nganadeeleg // May 9, 2007 at 1:48 pm
The rest of the Bangkok Post article:
“The striptease I am learning is not like what saucy nightclub entertainers are doing,” said Reiko Sakamoto, 36, a manager at the Senju Metal Trading Company. “They do something a bit similar with the expressing of sexiness but it’s not the same.”
In Busakorn’s opinion, women are sexy when they feel relaxed. “Sexiness is always from inside. Nobody can pretend to be sexy. Especially, in such a plastic world today, it is hard to get back to the nature,” she opined.
“This is why this dancing is different from others. Striptease isn’t only about learning a pattern of body movement but emotional expression which is sexually explicit,” she said.
“This is the principle of the striptease. To get people to feel free to express themselves,” she said.
Busakorn insisted, “Striptease is an art, not just a dirty dance to arouse man’s sexual desire. Striptease makes a dancer feel more comfortable to their bodies and also has psychological benefit. Many women are not self-confident, feeling uncomfortable to express their feeling, but inside they really want to do so. Striptease makes them think that to release their emotion is not a bad thing.”
Busakorn’s striptease philosophy, unfortunately, may be lost on the thousands of go-go girls engaged in erotic dancing in Bangkok for a living, rather than as a hobby.
Busakorn said she understood that these women were dancing for money, and probably couldn’t afford her classes at 300 baht (8.50 dollars) an hour, but she refuses to call what they do art.
“I don’t think Thailand has a real striptease, even at Patpong. I don’t see girls in Patpong dancing, they just move their bodies a bit,” she said.
I like this quote: “Striptease is an art, not just a dirty dance to arouse man’s sexual desire”
5 Zheng Chao // May 9, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I suppose there’ll be no trouble as long as they’re not called upon to dance at the local temple fair…
I must say, I shall never be able to look at Amarin Plaza in the same way.
6 Pig Latin // May 9, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Vichai, I think your question about drugs has a lot to to with borderless regionalisation. Checkout the APEC summit in September! Steven Gerrard should too!
Maybe instead of a pay rise, one of these generous Harvard graduates can give Paul Wolfowitz a massage in exchange for curing all the sick!
7 serf // May 9, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Thouhts from a person who has a slightly prudish attitude to se. Titillating perhaps!? But it is an important issue. And we would do well to reflect on the fact that the MAJORITY of ordinary Thai women (not just the jaded middle-class or poor farmer’s daughters) obviously feel the need to express themselves through dress and behavior that doesn’t really exactly conform to the code that some local moralisers would wish. Indeed, the headscarf is often accompanied by figure-hugging jeans.
I rather fancy many of these moralisers have a great deal in common with the dreadful General Sarit, who obviously wished women to constantly conform to his current alpha male whim. Such hypocrites often have a heavy agenda on ‘family values’ and religion, while at the same time expecting us to completely ignore their mia noi habits. Certainly, a temple is absolutely NOT the place for sexual expression, but the gym, the aerobics court and the home are. (Compare with General Sarit, who apparently felt it was OK to have this kind of entertainment in some temples.)
Millions of Thai women are breaking the bounds on a daily basis. (One wonders when was the golden era when it was ever any different!? Traditional dress has always had its erotic elements.) It’s time for these moralisers to shut up, and show some respect for the desires of a clear majority. Indeed, it is often the wish of some members of the elite here, to continue controlling every game in town, that has contributed to poor farmer’s daughters having no other real option in life than to work in the sex industry. We should remember, also, that the police & the elite have played a very active role in the creation of the modern Thai sex industry.
8 Jon Fernquest // May 9, 2007 at 4:19 pm
“I don’t think Thailand has a real striptease, even at Patpong. I don’t see girls in Patpong dancing, they just move their bodies a bit”
This is a little ridiculous, the haughty airs of a rich amateur.
IMHO I don’t know how many hours a day the women in Bangkok or Pattaya go go bars dance, but with 8 to 12 hours per day plus trying to sell drinks to bar customers, the constraints of their profession would probably only allow artistry for short periods in a work day, when they were trying to close a deal, for instance.
At least NGOs like Empower provide these women with a professional collective identity.
I’m sure articles about Empower have been published in the Bangkok Post. I’ll find some in the archives and publish them on our site. This is an important issue.
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