THAI LOVE - TEN COMMANDMENTS
Ever since reading about the "official" 10 commandments of Thai love released by the Ministry of Culture earlier this week, I've been trying to track down a copy. I finally found the list this morning, courtesy of Steve Suphan at Thai-Blogs.com. He prefaces the list by writing,"...according to the golden-oldies in charge [at the Ministry of Culture], all proper Thai girls are virgins before the day of their marriage. And any girl who dares get herself involved with any disgusting behaviour beforehand is labeled ‘Un-Thai’ and declared a threat to both national security and Thai Culture."
The Ten Commandments:
I don't know. Sounds pretty reasonable to me...
But it does sound like the Ministry should worry considering polls such as the one reported on in this Reuters article:
Thai Teens Keen for Valentine's Day SexI'm not trying to take some moral high ground here (or, maybe I am?) although I do agree with the points on the Ministry of Culture's Ten Commandments.
Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:51 AM GMT16
By Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK, Feb 13 (Reuters Life!) - A third of Thai teenage girls think Valentine's Day is an excellent time to lose their virginity, and police in Bangkok are out to stop them.
Police in the capital, famous around the world for its fleshpots, will enforce a 10 p.m. curfew on February 14 after a poll of teenagers was published last week.
Love-struck teenagers would be sent home or taken to a police station to wait for their parents to fetch them on Wednesday night, Bangkok Deputy Police Chief Kamol Kaewsuwan said.
"Love is nice and beautiful, but it does not necessarily involve sexual engagement. Teenagers would do better focussing on school," Kamol said of the curfew.
Police would also be on the look out for public displays of affection by under-18 youths hanging out in shopping malls, cinemas and other entertainment venues on Valentine's Day.
"Hugging and kissing in public places are indecent," said Police Colonel Chokechai Deeprasertvith, who heads a special unit to fight crimes against children, youths and women.
The Assumption University poll of 1,578 teenagers published last week found one third of teenage girls were willing to have sex on Valentine's Day if their boyfriends asked.
Another survey of 1,222 youths by the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce found 11 percent planned to lose their virginity on Wednesday night. Nearly 51 percent said they would not have sex.
It's not the first time predominantly Buddhist Thailand has tried a social order crusade popular with the middle class, many of whom are uncomfortable with public sexuality and support moves to rein in anything-goes Bangkok.
A short-lived 2004 morality campaign under former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra cut the operating hours of go-go bars, nightclubs and massage parlours despite warnings it would hit the country's lucrative tourist trade.
Recently, university student and budding movie starlet Chotiros Suriyawong was rebuked for wearing a revealing sexy black dress to Thailand's version of the Oscars.
"Society feels this is a disgrace and her actions have affected the reputation of this university," Suraphol Nitikraipot, rector of the prestigious Thammasat University, was quoted as saying by the Nation newspaper on Tuesday.
I'd also like to point out that such campaigns against public displays of affection and premarital sex are very common in Thailand despite the often Western assumption that the red light areas of Bangkok, Pattaya, or Patong are the only reason tourists come to this country. (And to repeat how offensive the topless swimmers on local beaches are to the devout Buddhist and Muslim Thais that live here. It often amazes me that people come here and repeatedly insult the culture...)
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