Day 2: Changing perceptions

With a new direction for our research problem, we were ready to head out to the streets to find out what Thai youth had to say about female empowerment.

We first visited Wat Chedi Luang for a chat with the monks.

Prior to the trip, Prof Natalie linked us up Chirabodee Tejasen, a residential mentor in Crescent Hall who has experienced monkhood in Thailand. From our brief contact via e-mail and my feeble understanding about monks, I had the impression that monks led a very restricted lifestyle. They had to avoid all forms of entertainment and minimise contact with women during their spiritual journey. Since the focus of our research topic is on foreign entertainment media and female empowerment, I thought that they wouldn’t be able to contribute significantly in our understanding of the issue.

In fact, I thought that Buddhism reinforces gender inequality. According to Buddhist beliefs regarding karma, men would be reborn as women if they committed a sin (such as disrespectfully laughing and shouting at the Buddha). As an empowered female youth in Singapore, I simply can’t wrap my head around the idea that being a female is considered a punishment for a sin committed in a past life. What is so wrong about being a female?

I was pleasantly surprised when the monks we interviewed talked freely about make-up and the portrayal of women in foreign entertainment media. They repeatedly emphasised that men and women are equal. Although it’s a pity that time didn’t permit for further discussion outside the scope of our research topic (I would love to chat with the monks and understand why men’s rebirth as women is considered a punishment), I realised I was too hasty in concluding that Buddhism reinforces gender inequality.

I had a chance to know more about the monkhood in Thailand. Much like the National Service that all 18-year-old males undergo in Singapore (though monkhood is not mandatory in Thailand), many Thai males go through this spiritual journey and leave after a period of time. This explains why they were able to give us opinions on the portrayal women in foreign entertainment media, something I thought they weren’t able to share because they had to avoid entertainment of any sort.

One thing that stood out to me was how approachable the Thais were. Despite the language barrier, all of the students we approached were extremely accommodating. Take this group of students for example.

During the interview, we were disorganised. We were fumbing around with the equipment. We had to re-shoot portions of the interview because of a corrupted SD memory card. The entire process took over an hour. If I were the students being interviewed, I would’ve felt annoyed. Yet, not one of the students complained. They patiently waited for us and they graciously acceded to our request of re-filming parts of the interview.

I can’t help but compare Thais to Singaporeans. I can’t imagine Singaporean being as gracious and as accommodating as the Thais were to us. The stark contrast between the two left me feeling embarrassed of my own identity. If I were to be honest, I would be one of those who would avoid interviewers. I like to keep to my own business and if I were with a group of friends, I would prefer if we were not disturbed. Now, standing in the shoes of an interviewer, it puts things into perspective and it has made me realise that Singaporeans are too pragmatic and too cold for our own good. We may boast a first-world economy. We may be proud of our beautiful garden city. But how can we ever be a gracious society, if we can’t even show compassion to our fellow nation brothers?

When asked to write down one word that came to mind when she thought of females, she wrote “smile”.

It’s no wonder that Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles.  Singapore has a lot of catching up to do!