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5 Feb 2013

'Tomboy' students at Bangkok university demand right to wear pants

'Tomboy' students at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (SSRU) in Bangkok are demanding the right to attend school wearing pants as part of their uniforms after their professors banned them from doing so, reported the Bangkok Post.

 

The Bangkok Post reported that gay male students are currently allowed to attend class wearing skirts although it was probably referring to male-to-female transgender or katoey students.


Uncaptioned photos from Kapook.com via the Bangkok Post

'Tomboy' (or 'tom' in local parlance) typically refers to butch or masculine lesbians as understood in a western context.

The women complained that being forced by teachers to wear female attire to classrooms, instead of male clothing, distressed them. It also denied them their free will, and breached the constitution and the principle of gender equality, the report quoted the Thai Sunandha News website as saying.

One 'tomboy' student Kanokwan Wongsaroj said that she had been asked to leave a classroom just because she was wearing trousers.

The news has attracted debate on Facebook and other local websites with netizens expressing mixed opinions on university students cross-dressing.

SSRU professor Nantida Ohtagam was quoted by the Post as saying that the reason she does not allow 'tomboy' students to come to her class wearing pants is because "they still look like women, unlike gay students who change their hair and looks as well."

Again, she is likely to be referring to male-to-female transgender or katoey students as the understanding of the concept of 'gay' is difficult to grasp given that there is no equivalent word in Thai.

Thailand

讀者回應

1. 2013-02-06 04:55  
What a rubbish article.... in the 'western context' a tomboy does not describe a butch les, but merely a short-haired girl or woman, irrespective of gender... but I understand that in the typical asian stereotype thinking all females MUST have long hair... right? stupid!
2. 2013-02-06 14:19  
#1, You've misread, it's "butch or masculine lesbians" as understood in a western context, not tomboys. When Thais say "tom" (from the word tomboy), they are describing a butch or masculine lesbian.
3. 2013-02-07 16:43  
#2, And you're missing the proper English usage of the word 'tom-boy', which the Thais are using improperly and not used in the English language to describe butch women.
4. 2013-02-12 18:41  
Many types of English are in use. However, I'm unsure which English Thailand use by default.

Oxford, Macmillan, Collins, Cambridge and Merriam-Websters dictionaries roughly define "tomboy" as "a girl who acts and/or dresses like a boy".

In addition, sexuality was excluded in the definitions, meaning any girl, regardless of sexuality, can be laballed as a "tomboy".

The definition presented in this article compared with multiple dictionaries is "misaligned" (i.e. where did this definition come from?) unless Thailand has its own national English dictionary or "tomboy" was treated as slang in this context.
修改於2013-02-12 19:10:29

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