Most male and female students under study think that rape cases occur because young
women wear too sexy clothes. When asked why those who wear normal clothes were raped,
the students argued that this was because the rapists got sexually aroused from seeing those
girls who wear sexy clothes...and afterwards when there is a chance of not being caught,
they just rape any woman available...most students view the violence on Thai TV as
normal. And
Sitcoms or soap series which portray a male main character kissing a female main character
who then slaps his face, or a male character who rapes the female character out of jealousy
and then falls in love with the victim later, can be watched on a daily basis.3.3 Analysis: Gender and Power as Represented in the Media......
in the Media
“Thailand has a social sphere that considers rape cases normal phenomena, as TV and plays
portray and support the rape culture. The general public may think that these (portrayals)
cause nothing in their sub-consciousness; they have no reactions, nor do they question
whether it is normal that the main characters perform in a rape scene before they become a
pair. We can see that this rape culture is deep-rooted. There are, as well, advertisements that
may indicate a degree of violence against women but we think that they are okay; they are
just advertisements”, stated Ms. Tasanawan Banjong, host of Divas Inter on Voice TV and
administrative staff of the Friedrich Ebert foundation (Thailand) (Wiprawit2016a).
This above-mentioned statement about the“rape culture”may seem exagger-
ating, had we not delved into sexual violence cases in Thailand. According to
Khaosod English newspaper online (March 8, 2016), shocking statistics unveiled
by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, together with, the
Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation (WMP) that an average of 87
cases of sexual violence are reported each day in Thailand, and that means one case
per 15 min. A record of 31,866 cases in 2013 is terrifying; the victims were chil-
dren and females of which the youngest was a one-year-and-nine-months-old girl
and the oldest was an 85-years-old woman (Khaosod 2016 ). Seminars, campaigns,
and discussions have been organized in Thailand to call for a change in the por-
trayals of children and women in the media. For instance, a campaign to stop
displaying the rape scenes in any drama or series on TV was undertaken in 2015
and that lead to a petition to stop the idea that rape and seduction for rape was
normal (Wiprawit2016b). This leads to a call for reviews of scripts and collabo-
rations between TV program producers and the universal services obligation, which
controls the broadcasting and telecommunication of Thailand, on zero-rape scenes
on TV dramas and series. Melodrama is a portrayal of the collective relationship in
a community. The assumption that violence seen on television may cause violence
in real life is based on the hypodermic theory that the mass media have direct effect
on the audience, which has been proven not true. However, we can see that what
people like on TV is about violence on gender. This reinforces the patriarchal
worldview of Thais.
3.2 Female Status in Thai Culture from a Historical Perspective 43