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9781493538706

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Prasopchai was born in Thailand, on the banks of a tributary of the Mei Kong river, not far from the border to Burma and Cambodia, in a part sometimes described as the 'GoldenTriangle', not because it is a great place to live in, but rather because of the money traffickers and gangsters can make by buying and selling drugs, gemstones and gold, smuggled across the river in small boats during the night. Her family were poor, their subsistence coming mainly from fishing, and from farming small plots of land. They owned buffalo, and Prasopchai remembers riding on them when they were taken for regular mud baths on the banks of the river. Her ancestors had been military in the service of the King, who fought against Burmese troops. In her house were pictures and medals. She had cousins in Khorat and in Bangkok. She was sent to the village school where there were no books, tables or chairs, but the teacher was good. She won a scholarship to study in Khorat where an aunt taught her why girls in the city are dressed like dolls and paraded by their families. Prasopchai did not want to experience that. It was the start of her feminist thinking. She entered Chulalongkorn University and met other girls from rich families who studied for fun. Prasopchai became one of the best students: she had learned that better jobs are for people who know something, and that girls who do not study get married off to rich old men. She also saw that girls who know too much frighten men away, but accepted this as the price of freedom. She was whisked away to an American University, and learned about feminism, but found it inappropriate for her country. She studied sociology, and wrote a thesis on ecogenetics. She went on a tour of Asia and met a Russian painter. Together, they discovered Shibari art, and travelled to Italy, where he worked. Prasopchai observed how religion and art mix. This made her wonder about adapting such knowledge to Asia and to Thailand. A practising Buddhist, she reconstructs a better starting point towards equality of genders. Rather than follow the confrontational approach of the West, she advocates exploitation of men's sexual weaknesses. This needs Asian women to free themselves from imported guilt brought by the sex tourists. She teaches philosophy and history of art in Pukhet. Her radical views on worshipping female incarnations of Buddha and restoring sexual dominance by women, her advocacy of bondage and tolerance of lesbianism have provoked controversy.

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