On the second day of the Songkran festival in Bangkok Silom area, 3 young girls took off their top and dance provocatively on top of a car. Their obscene behavior became the talk of the town since the day it happened because it was taped. At first they were thought to be prostitutes advertising their craft to potential customers, but after closer examination, they looked too young to be prostitutes working at the red-light district of Patpong. The girls have surrendered themselves to the Thai Authority and will be fined 500Bt ($16 US) for their obscene behavior.
I really don’t know what to say, they are so young. Their ages are 13-14-16.
Oy, now they’re embarrassed covering themselves and wearing ski masks.
Future Thai coyote girls.
Source: Sanook, Siamdara, The Nation (1) (2), NYtimes
More pictures of the girls in action here.
Hi all,
There seem to be a few people who have a very odd and/or incorrect impression of what Songkran festival is. For those of us who have participated (willingly or by accident) we take it for granted, the fun and the atmosphere that is incomprehensible unless you’ve participated. Imagine the energy of Mardi Gras, but more innocent and without all the stupidity and drunkenness. So let me explain a little about Songkran for those of you who are curious.
Songkran is not so much a religious holiday, (other than the fact that religion is somehow tied into almost every holiday somehow) but it is truly a New Year (Thai New Year) festival. Agriculturally, it also represents end of the dry season, and fertility. Thus the belief is that water begets water, and the more water used on Songkran, then better the farming season will be. There may be some mythology behind this too, but I never asked too many people about it.
Songkran has traditionally been a period where the taboo of direct courtship was suspended and young girls and boys are allowed to wander their villages, openly visit the houses of boys and girls of the opposite sex, then physically mark each other with a paste of water and powder to indicate their affections. Ideally, the affection would develop into courtship, then marriage. I think this might still be happening in smaller villages and towns, but not so much in the city.
However, the tradition of powder and water and physical contact are still the main draw of the Songkran water festivals in the cities. Many areas in Bangkok are wet for a week and have 15,000 people or more crowd into the streets, in popular areas, with water balloons, squirt-guns, water-bottles and powder cakes (they look a little like white macaroons). Revelers will normally walk through the crowd and draw a white powder mark on members of the opposite sex and occasionally on the same sex. The powder is sometimes smeared as a paste, or squirted as a runny mixture, and occasionally dry powder may be used to dust someone. It’s also not uncommon to see people caked with powder from head-to-toe.
The intentions are friendly, innocent fun and the vibe is that people genuinely connect with one-another while participating in some extensive squirt-gun battles and enduring the occasional ice-water ambush. Words of warning: Mobile phones and wallets MUST go into plastic bags during Songkran, even if you don’t intend to participate! (because you will). Hope everyone finds this information useful. If any Thai people wish to chime in and add something I missed or correct something I got wrong, please do. Thank you for reading.
-Dan
Hi all,
The girls are very young and impressionable, I think this type of behavior is typical of teens anywhere, but their statement (toplessness) speaks volumes about sexual repression and the conflict between conservatism and modernization (and to some degree, in Thailand, Westernization).
It’s too bad that the sexually charged US media and entertainment industry has been such a heavy influence in Thai modernization. I really wish that we Americans would loose our prudish and conservative behavior in regards to he natural state of the human body. My belief is that the primary driver is pop-culture and high fashion, in contradiction to many people’s opinion, that it is the sex or porn industry driving this type of behavior.
In my opinion, if you see any nudity and are affected to such a point where you either incredibly offended OR uncontrollably aroused, then you are a victim of – or are a proponent of – the same sexual repression that causes good kids like this to act out. It’s the repression that drives the poor judgement (and thus poor behavior).
If the prudists enlightened themselves and took the pressure off the young and de-sensationalized the slightest bit of nudity, then suppressed countries would start behaving a bit more civilized in regards to sexuality and nudity. Note that many European countries do not exhibit the same sexual sensationalism that the US and Thailand both suffer from.
That’s not why I decided to post today, however. It was really the comments of MeeMee and shina that struck a nerve, and the mention that they are the resident Thai-haters. This is for you, MeeMee and shina. I can tell that you are bigots – racist, ignorant and completely uninformed.
First, If you feel so strongly against Thai prostitution and the Thai sex trade, then there are a number of missionary groups who volunteer to spend their time and effort to help innocents in the sex trade industry in Thailand. I’m talking about people who make a difference, who rescue girls who have been enslaved against their will, nurse them back to health, and support them, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Maybe your passion and energy could be put to some good there. I’m just hope you could see past you’re own bigotries enough to help another human being, particularly if their culture is different than your own. That would be prerequisite.
Second, don’t pretend to know anything about Thai culture if you really don’t. Thai families have very high moral standards. Likely higher than yours – by your racist remarks and the fact that you are knowingly passing that bigotry on to your children. This is the behavior of people with LOW moral standards.
Lastly, if you went to live in Thailand for a year, you might not change your mind, but if you spent any significant amount of time with a Thai family and lived in Thailand as a Thai would, then you would come to know that the garbage that you typed earlier is dead fucking wrong! Thanks for reading.
-Dan
Topless teens are not child porn, it’s art! Very nice sample these girls, I love them!
Holy day my ass, they can even dance on xmas eve, it would also be nice. Thai is a feudalistic medieval society it needs to be refreshed! One way or another. Naked girls are nice, I love them, dance more!!! 
http://vimeo.com/user6785001/videos
u need more class.
what is wrong with you Pumpui you need to get yourself check out these girls are still kids and kids dancing around naked on top of a car is not art.
i don’t think its ok for a kid to dance on top of a car naked in any country at anytime.
short and to the point! right on!
These girls are very disrespectful. The day wasn’t a day of spring break but a holy day! Their far to young to be expliciting this behavior. Parenting would have helped here, where are these girls parents when they were arrested? Well I guess if I was one of these girls parents I would be embarressed too. These girls need to learn some manners and maturity.
If they are 13-16 then this is child pornography.
Instead of them being charged their parents should be the ones that be punish.
The sex business in Thailand is really sad.
If Thailand is mention in a conversation. The sex trade always come up.
There are little kids being trafficking all over the world.
I hope one day it will stop but, that day is very far away.
What’s the big fuss ? Here in America, in some small towns, women go topless all the time in public parks, shopping malls, restaurant etc
the big fuss is they are 13 to 16 year old kids!
They are underage girls.
Get a global perspective. Technically the 16 year old is not underage. If this were in China (or many other countries) then only the 13 year old would be underage. In any case, they are dancing topless. Something American’s girls don’t do, right? Unless they are nudists, or those one or two teenagers that have a webcam. Americans take a long time to mature. These girls might be more mature than most 18 year old American girls. You are not there. Don’t judge.
where the heck do you live lol? Here in America, well where I live I don;t see no women doing that. Do Girls even have respect for their bodies? just showing it everywhere? Have some pride and security to your own body for those who do that.
Only in very small communities and those places are designated as nudist communities so yeah it would fine since everyone there has chosen to live like that. It is NOT okay however in most places in America; you would get arrested here too for indecent behavior if you went nude in public.
I share kiki’s curiosity… Other than at very isolated hot-springs, I have never seen a nude/topless person in pubic at a park, restaurant or shopping mall unless it’s some festival, special event, or protest or something. Not in my entire life.
Instead of fining these girls, authorities should look at the bigger issue here but of course this will never happen when you have corrupted officials running the damn country. This goes for all countries and not just Thailand.
I am baffle that they would persecute these young girls for doing something that is essentially supported, marketed, and has long since become the Brand of Thailand. They are doing it at “Good-Time-Road”…aka No money no Honey-Road!! This is something that goes on everyday and every minute in Thailand.
You are right on! Everyone is Thailand is making tons of money out of this sex business, so I really don’t understand why they are making such a big deal out of it. This is Thai culture. They love it. They live it. and they like it.
Meemee, you are at it again with your ignorant comments. I really wish i can just punch the ignorance out of you!!!
No matter what day it is, no matter which country we are in, this is flagged as inappropriate in my book!
It also reminded me of something that happened during a church festival: this group of teenagers were supposed to dance and they chose a song and starting an obscene dance. My jaw almost fell to the floor! Fortunately, the older members quickly turned the music off and had them leave the stage. They were good kids, with no immoral background. So why did they behave like this?
We came to this conclusion: everyone wants to be famous. Teenagers want to be recognized. So if everyone is yelling Woot Woot! at the girls in the videos when they are rubbing themselves on male specific body areas, what should we expect the kids to do?
It’s funny how some argues that people are making a big deal out of this when it is practically legal in Thailand or how the government and what not should be blamed for this. It is true that these kind of things happens and not just in Thailand but everywhere. However, I think everyone is missing the point of why it is such a big deal. It’s because on this particular day that they call Songkran festival, these three girls exposed themselves in an inappropriate behavior. I’m not Thai, but I do respect and knowledge their culture. ^_^
exactly “jellybeans” you are absolutely right