#DontTellMeHowToDress: Bangkok officials face backlash after telling women 'cover up to avoid harassment'

Bangkok officials warned young Thai women to “watch how they dress” in order to avoid being sexually harassed during New Year festivities
AFP/Getty Images
Alexandra Richards16 April 2018

Bangkok officials faced a backlash after warning young Thai women to “watch how they dress” in order to avoid being sexually harassed during the country’s New Year festivities.

Local authorities warned women to dress conservatively during the festivities, which include a water fight.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, many women have spoken out against the warning.

Writing on social media, women shared their own stories of sexual harassment over the three-day holiday known as Songkran.

Thai-American celebrity and host of Asia’s Next Top Model, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, launched a now viral campaign called #DontTellMeHowToDress in response to the warning.

In an Instagram post she wrote: “Women have the right to dress however we choose, as long as it’s not illegal,

“Sexual assault and harassment is never the woman’s fault! Tell men to keep their hands to themselves!”

Many people agreed with the campaign and the post has been viewed more than 100,000 times.

Ms Bishop's campaign is said to have gained more traction in Thailand then the #MeToo campaign did.

She told Bloomberg: “Maybe the reason this is taking off faster is because they’re not coming out and accusing anyone,

“Our society is quite conservative, and for someone to come out and point a finger at someone who’s assaulted her is huge, I don’t know if we’re ready for it yet.”

The Songkran celebration in Thailand has been dubbed “the world’s biggest water fight.”

It celebrates the tradition of using water to wash away misfortune.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in