Ridiculous

[Gaybutton]

I wonder who came up with this one. No bikinis? At a beach? Whoever is responsible for this needs to wake and understand we are living in the 21st century, not the 19th. The idea that bikinis are against Thai culture vanished years and years ago. Not only do I see most females on the beach who have the figure for it wearing bikinis (and plenty who don't have anywhere near the figure for it), I also see bikinis in national beauty contests, Thai movies - everywhere. And if no bikinis really is a part of Thai culture, then why the need for a ban in the first place? Who would the ban be for?

Apparently we have yet another example of some clueless person who doesn't understand his own culture making it to become a high ranking military officer.

At least now they're saying it was a recommendation, not a true enforceable ban. I wonder how they wanted to deal with it if bikinis truly were banned. What did they have in mind?

What if, out of protest, dozens of girls show up at the same time, all wearing bikinis?

And what about men? What applies to men? A lot of men wear speedos and much smaller when they go to the beach.

What happens if someone does wear a bikini at this beach? Do bikini police soldiers walk around the beach looking for violators? And when they catch any, then what? Kicked off the beach? Arrested?

Anyone other than me believe a few hundred baht and the soldiers somehow missed spotting the violator?

Give me a break!

Judge: "Why were you arrested? What terrible crime did you commit?"

Defendant: "Well, your honor - when I went to the beach, I wore a bikini."
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Royal Thai Navy responds to bikini controversy on Koh Samae San, says it is a recommendation, not a ban, will change signs

By Goongnang Suksawat

Friday, 29 July 2022

Koh Samae San is for conservation (eco) tourism, and bikinis contradict that type of tourism, said a Navy spokesperson in response to a Facebook viral post regarding a ban on wearing bikinis for beachgoers on Koh Samae San.

Navy spokesman Vice Adm Pokkrong Monthatphalin responded on Facebook, Friday, July 29th, to netizens and beachgoers about a sign on Koh Samae San in Chonburi, reading “No Bikini. Please respect our culture”, which went viral on social media, drawing numerous inquiries from Thais and other nationalities about why the bikinis were banned on the beach.

According to Pokkrong, the Royal Navy is in charge of caring for Koh Samae San, and it wants to promote conservation tourism rather than ordinary tourism, but the spokesperson stressed that this is not mandatory and the sign is actually just a recommendation.

As for why bikinis were targeted, Pokkrong reasoned that it is against Thai culture and that the Navy merely wants to maintain orders and stick to a conservation tourism policy. “We also ban noisy gatherings and drinking on the beach to preserve peace,” Pokkrong stated on Facebook.

However, to prevent further misunderstanding among tourists, the Thai Navy has ordered all signs banning bikinis to be replaced with more appropriate ones “suggesting” proper decor. The spokesperson did not provide any details on the punishment for violating this policy.

https://tpnnational.com/2022/07/29/roya ... nge-signs/

[Jun]

I wonder who came up with this one. No bikinis? At a beach? Whoever is responsible for this needs to wake and understand we are living in the 21st century, not the 19th. The idea that bikinis are against Thai culture vanished years and years ago. Not only do I see most females on the beach who have the figure for it wearing bikinis (and plenty who don't have anywhere near the figure for it), I also see bikinis in national beauty contests, Thai movies - everywhere. And if no bikinis really is a part of Thai culture, then why the need for a ban in the first place? Who would the ban be for?

I agree entirely. Although Thailand is not the only country where unelected people expect their women to cover up. Iran is far worse.

Thankfully in Thailand, I imagine the whole lot can be safely ignored.

As for culture, that evolves.
In the west, women seem to have gone from 19th century bathing suits to modest bikinis.
Meanwhile, male bathing suits seem to have evolved from tiny speedos to long bathing shorts. Although, apparently men sometimes wore nothing at all in the US in the past.

As far as I can tell, Thai culture is broadly following suit for dress codes. However, there is one well entrenched difference. Young farang often like to spend too much time sunbathing, but Asians mostly avoid the sun for fear of their skin darkening.

[Gaybutton]

Now this is the way some farang responded to the sign. Good! Exactly what the genius who came up with it in the first place deserved.
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PBS World reports that the Thai navy has removed a sign telling tourists not the wear bikinis on Samae San island which is located off the coast of Chonburi. Apparently tourists were confused by the sign and some stripped naked as they interpreted the ban to mean go naked please. No it didn’t mean that and was simply an attempt to persuade visitors properly to observe Thai culture.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ase-405304

[Jun]

Apparently tourists were confused by the sign and some stripped naked as they interpreted the ban to mean go naked please.

I'm not surprised.
For anyone who was unfamiliar with the supposed Thai culture of dressing modestly, then interpreting the no bikinis sign as meaning it's a nudist beach would be perfectly logical.

As for Thai dress culture, well yes, some people do dress modestly on the beach, but this is by no means universal these days.
I also wonder how well established that culture was. There are plenty of vintage Thai photos where both genders aren't wearing much on the upper part of the body.

It's not a matter that's of particular interest to me, however this blog puts forward one view on that matter: https://mythailand.blog/2017/02/24/thai ... ess-women/

I'm not surprised.

[Gaybutton]

this blog puts forward one view on that matter: https://mythailand.blog/2017/02/24/thai ... ess-women/

I found that blog very interesting and quite a bit I never knew. Apparently it actually was the covering up of breasts that went against Thai culture. Somewhere along the line Thailand became convinced that this was something sexual and something bad. I believe that probably came from religious missionaries. Something nobody paid the slightest attention to ended up becoming taboo. It likely made about as much sense to the people of that time as it would to decide that exposure of fingernails is bad and everybody ought to be required to wear gloves.

I'd say it was the same kind of mindset that today has decided that sex is something bad. How do people like that become people like that? And why does anyone and any government succumb to their pressure instead of telling them to just fuck off?

Here's the latest on the issue:
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First, I disagree with the wording of the headline in the article below. It isn't the Royal Thai Navy coming up with this utter nonsense. That implies the entire navy is behind this and in favor of it. Bullshit! As far as I can tell, it's this one prude who somehow made it through the ranks to become an admiral and decided to try to impose his own views on everybody else by ordering the sign. I suppose he had nothing better to do.

Now they are going to replace the sign with another one "suggesting" proper decor. Why? What is the need for the sign? Who is the sign supposed to be for?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Royal Thai Navy responds to bikini controversy on Koh Samae San, says it is a recommendation, not a ban, will change signs

By Goongnang Suksawat

29 July, 2022

Koh Samae San is for conservation (eco) tourism, and bikinis contradict that type of tourism, said a Navy spokesperson in response to a Facebook viral post regarding a ban on wearing bikinis for beachgoers on Koh Samae San.

Navy spokesman Vice Adm Pokkrong Monthatphalin responded on Facebook, Friday, July 29th, to netizens and beachgoers about a sign on Koh Samae San in Chonburi, reading “No Bikini. Please respect our culture”, which went viral on social media, drawing numerous inquiries from Thais and other nationalities about why the bikinis were banned on the beach.

According to Pokkrong, the Royal Navy is in charge of caring for Koh Samae San, and it wants to promote conservation tourism rather than ordinary tourism, but the spokesperson stressed that this is not mandatory and the sign is actually just a recommendation.

As for why bikinis were targeted, Pokkrong reasoned that it is against Thai culture and that the Navy merely wants to maintain orders and stick to a conservation tourism policy. “We also ban noisy gatherings and drinking on the beach to preserve peace,” Pokkrong stated on Facebook.

However, to prevent further misunderstanding among tourists, the Thai Navy has ordered all signs banning bikinis to be replaced with more appropriate ones “suggesting” proper decor. The spokesperson did not provide any details on the punishment for violating this policy.

https://tpnnational.com/2022/07/29/roya ... nge-signs/

[Gaybutton]

Errr, Admiral - should this be canceled? After all, it's too offensive isn't it? Oh well, look at the bright side - at least it won't be topless . . .

[Jun]

I've never entirely understood the common western conventions on dress code.

Women are usually expected to cover their breasts in public, except partial coverage is OK and when it comes down to it, the only part they're actually expected to cover is the nipples. The photo above is one example of partial coverage. I'm not an expert on this, but the female nipples themselves are almost indistinguishable from the male version, but it's what they're mounted on that's different. Yet the only part they have to cover is the nipple.
Very odd, although not one that has much impact on my life.

Far more unsatisfactory is the recent convention where boys in gogo bars were wearing shorts, or worse still jeans and tops. To the extent that some wear more in the bar than they would wear on the street. Meanwhile, back in February, a walk down Patpong quickly showed the girly bars had no such expectation to cover the legs. That's the kind of discrimination I'm more worried about.