Stop the attacks, BOTH PHYSICAL AND VERBAL
Violent beating caught on camera, transgender beauty queen and gender affirming surgery, in our monthly round-up of LGBT news
ACTS OF VIOLENCE
One of the most talked about news stories in Thailand last week involved a tom beating up her girlfriend. A video clip of the scene later went viral. Kanchana Sinprasert, 27, the tom in question, was soon arrested and brought into custody, in which she claimed she was drunk and was in a fit of jealousy during the violent incident.
The public is enraged, to say the least. Kanchana was quickly nicknamed tom hode, or the cruel tom. The comment section under the news story is filled with nasty retorts, criticism, cursive words and, above all, threats. A threat to “cure” homosexuality and a fix to “turn” the tom straight. A belief of many men is that they can turn gay women straight with sex. These comments usually appear whenever stories concerning lesbians are reported, regardless of the topic of discussion that may range from an assault to a same-sex wedding.
These threats, unfortunately, are quite well received online. They may seem a joke. A boastful (and cruel) taunt aimed at teaching someone a lesson, to exert the power of patriarchy on what they perceive as the weaker sex. But what does it end up reflecting about people’s attitude on gender identity and diversity? That many seem to condone a hate crime against a person based on their sexuality? Violence that people pass off and normalise as simply a joke even when it alludes to forced sexual intercourse and other forms of rape?
It’s no joke, in reality, as many gay women face the threat of sexual assault from even those who are close to them in a belief that experiencing “the real thing” — a man’s penis — would be able to cure their homosexuality.
This attack, while in a verbal form, can be destructive as it perpetuates violence and hate against a person’s sexuality. And the attack on an individual quickly spreads to an entire community, when it’s really uncalled for. Quit the rage, please. By all means, do continue criticising a person’s actions but stop attacking their sexuality. Don’t be a part of spreading the violence.