Whatever happened to just regular ridiculous photoshopping of actual physical, living, breathing models? Or, sweet Goddess forbid, a little "corrective" plastic surgery?
The Future of Fashion, as the Thai media is reporting it today, is here.
Meet Katii. Thailand's first virtual brand model.
Honestly, is this how the fashion industry responds to the demands for body positivity & body diversity for women?
They have given her a virtual identity, even.
BANGKOK -- Katii, 22, a virtual Thai model became the first locally-created virtual model to be featured on Calvin Klein Thailand advertisement. Katii was created by a private company and was supposedly born in Khon Kaen province. Source
If you're not aware, Khon Kaen is a city in rural North Eastern Thailand which has arguably contributed more than it's fair share of bargirls and prostitutes to Bangkok's seedy nightlife.
As a mom of a 17 year old, I WORRY about pedaling clothes via virtual bodies. I WORRY about how this virtual approach enables the fashion world to sidestep all kinds of issues about body image, ideal weight, sexualization of girls etc. Cos at the first accusation, the company can turn around and say "Everyone knows it's not real."
And so they can merrily pedal provocative images of about-to-be-undressed girls for male domestic fantasies.
The divide & disconnect between what a REAL woman is like and the images SOLD in the media grows ever deeper.
Should we be grateful that she doesn't have DD breasts? Or be even more disturbed at how this feeds the latent pedophiles out there?
One can only imagine the Katii merchandising. Blow up dolls and dark web gamification. This in a country where a real woman can still be arrested for buying a vibrator.
The tragedy is that I personally KNOW western men here in Thailand who will look me in the eye and say we women have brought this upon ourselves, through our unwillingness to be sexual and docile on demand, and our demands to be loved despite maybe being overweight, too tall, a different colour, skinny, shy or beautiful in ways the eyes can't see.
So what do you think??
- Am I over-reacting?
- Should I be grateful all the wanna be models can now retrain as welders and business analysts?
- Should I add Calvin Klein to my boycott list?
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Ain't humans grand.
Only sometimes. 😆
Yep, mostly not.
I do find this extremely worrying but just feeds into the ridiculous gender dynamic here in Thailand which is purely rooted in the 19th century and is ingrained at every level of Thai society.
Despite me agreeing with your opinion on the subject matter, I think your social opinion on Western males and the mention of bargirls and prostitution in Bangkok a little misleading.
Every tiny amphur in Thailand has 'VIP' karaoke and 'massage' etc which doesn't hide the fact they are simply brothels as we in the west would call them, and are simply for the benefit of local men. Prostitution has factually been a huge part of Thai culture for centuries, long before westerners turned up to join in.
What's needed is a massive change in mindset and cultural values regarding gender, with education of both young males and females before things can change, but the question is, do Thais want anything to change?
Having said that, this obsession with teen girls across the whole of Asia is a continental disgrace.
The obsession with teen girls by men in general is a global disgrace... 😆
I think you misunderstood my reference about Khon Kaen - there are surely prostitute and bar girls in every village, that's true. But the reference was to the very much larger representation of Khon Kaen girls in Bangkok being likely related to the choice to make this virtual model from Khon Kaen.
My opinion of western males comes from 20 years here of helping to find jobs for girls and ladyboys they've discarded, taking female Thai staff to STD clinics and just from pure observation. I get it that my view may make other western men uncomfortable. They're not ALL like that, but definitely the majority.
The question is not whether Thais want to change, but whether MEN want to change. I think. 😊
Nailed it. Appreciate the detailed response. 🌿
You are right to alert about the use of images of skeletal bodies, virtual or not, in fashion.
When I was in my 20s, I watched my effervescent young dance teacher wither and literally die from trying to be thin... it became such an obsession that it finally killed her. Body image MATTERS in the media, particularly for vulnerable girls and young women.
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