I was recently interviewed by Thai news outlet The People about my experience as a female fighter and a feminist in Muay Thai.
The article is in Thai, and you can see the original in full on The People’s website, or in the Facebook post below. It was captioned with a Thai translation of a quote of mine from the interview. It reads, “I love Muay Thai…but sometimes I feel like Muay Thai doesn’t love me back because I’m a woman”.
Here is an English version of the article:
Emma Thomas: A Muay Thai fighter who calls for equality in the ring.
The path of female fighters in 2020, when Thai society is still under patriarchy: We Talk to Emma Thomas, Muay Thai fighter and creator of the Under The Ropes blog.
βAre women physically weaker than men? No, you canβt generalize like that. You can find very strong women and very weak men everywhere. We see a variety of shapes and strengths in every gender, so we canβt simply say that women are inherently weaker than men. Itβs far more complex than thatβ.
In 2019, UN Women honored Thailand as the first country in Asia to host the #HeForSheUniversityTour. As part of this campaign to end sexual violence, one of the speakers invited to speak at the event was Emma Thomas, a young English woman who began chasing her dream of becoming a professional fighter in Thailand in 2011. After spending several years training full-time and fighting professionally, she has now slowed down her pace of life. In 2018, she stopped fighting (although she still trains regularly) and began working with Decathlon Thailand to help create their Muay Thai brand, Waikru.
On the HeForShe stage, this tough female fighter shared her experience of being sexually assaulted at a Muay Thai gym. She talked about her feelings and the reactions of those around her. In almost 10 years of living in Thailand, Emma has seen both good and bad sides of the sport. She wrote a viral article on #RapeCultureInThailand, in which she analyzed the culture of victim blaming in Thai society.
The People met her at Attachai Boxing Gym in Onnut. After traversing through the green canal walkway to the open-air camp beside a small lake, we found Emma waiting for us.
When Emma first came to train Muay Thai in Thailand, she was often the only woman in the gym, or one of very few. She found that many other women would come and go, but it was difficult to find women with whom she made long-lasting connections. So, she created her blog, UnderTheRopes.com to connect and share experiences with other female fighters.
βThe name βUnder the Ropesβ comes from the rituals of how we enter the ring. Men will wear a mongkol before they get into the ring, have the top rope pulled down, and hop over the top. Women, on the other hand, have to crawl under the bottom rope. After that, their trainers will put the mongkol, which passes over the top rope, on their headβ.
Emma remarked that one of her trainers didnβt even know that she had to go under the bottom rope when he took her to fight. βHis whole life was Muay Thai. He knew the sport inside and out, but even he didnβt know about this. Heβd never had to consider it from a womanβs perspective beforeβ, she said. Emma has always respected the culture and traditions of Muay Thai. In all of her fights, she passed under the ropes according to this tradition (even when, on occasion, presented with the opportunity not to). However, she thinks that if possible, we should have the right to question this culture and have open and honest conversations about it.
“If I could choose, of course Iβd like for women to have equal status with men, but in Muay Thai, we donβt have a choice to even discuss the possibility without being labelled as disrespectful to the traditions of the sport.”
There are a number of issues which many female fighters feel unable to discuss with their male trainers or training partners, such as the effects of hormonal contraception or the menstrual cycle on training. Sexual harassment and assault in Muay Thai gyms is a problem that is swept under the rug and rarely talked about. Emma has spoken publicly about her own experience of this. Sometimes, women can feel excluded from certain training activities, too.
βIβve been excluded from clinching many times. Some men and boys have been uncomfortable clinching with me, or refused to do so. Iβve often been told to get out of the ring during sparring and stay on the mats, which has made me feel like an outsider. Sparring with men can be frustrating at times, too. Some will refuse to hit me because Iβm a woman, and some will go extra hard just to prove a point. Itβs like they’re going the extra mile to make sure they donβt get beaten by a woman and lose face”.
In the last five years, Emma has noticed more and more women and LGBTQI+ people becoming visible in Muay Thai. We’re seeing more transgender fighters, and efforts are being made by some promotions to make the sport more inclusive. However, one of the main problems that prevents women from becoming Muay Thai fighters is the lack of opportunity. Women have fewer opportunities to fight and are not paid equally to male fighters.
The biggest Muay Thai stadiums, like Lumpini and Rajadamnern, donβt allow women to fight. Even when it comes to smaller shows, women often have to work harder and longer to prove themselves before they get better-paid opportunities. Meanwhile, itβs very easy for an average, unknown male fighter to walk onto a televised show and earn 10,000 baht. There are shows like these every weekend.
Emma talked to us about her fight experience. She said that in her entire fighting career, which lasted over 5 years, there was only one match for which she was paid 10,000 baht, a Kingβs Birthday promotion at Sanam Luang. At Rangsit Stadium, she was paid 50% of what the male fighters from her gym got paid for fighting on the same night. After another fight in Ratchaburi, she had the same experience. When her trainer handed over her earnings, he told her βsorry, Emma. Itβs because youβre a womanβ. Emma noted that her experience as a foreigner may be different to that of Thai women, and that some may be paid even less, despite Thai women being among the best fighters in the world.
Today, televised Muay Thai promotions are showcasing more female fighters. However, some still report being paid less than their male counterparts. Emma says she heard from one woman on such a show who fought as the main event, but still got paid less than a male fighter on the undercard. As a career, itβs very difficult for female fighters to earn enough to support themselves and their families. Emma also says that itβs not as easy for women to stay in Muay Thai after they retire from fighting. βYou see male Thai fighters become trainers when they stop fighting, but you donβt see so many Thai women doing the same. So, I think itβs harder for them to find a path after they retire from fighting. I think they can have a shorter lifetime in the sport, since fewer fight opportunities and less money means they canβt always keep going for as long as menβ.
Some promoters say that womenβs fights arenβt entertaining, and that spectators only want to see big guys fighting and knocking out their opponents. But Emma says that in her personal experience, many people have told her that they prefer watching womenβs fights to menβs. She also says that women often have to be mentally stronger than men because they can’t show weakness. βIβve seen a lot more mental toughness and βfighting heartβ in female fighters over the years Iβve been in Muay Thaiβ, she says. βThat may be because weβre so conscious of being viewed as physically inferior in some way, that we feel the need to work extra hard to prove ourselves. We donβt want to show any weaknessβ.
We asked Emma for her opinion on whether Muay Thai is LGBTQ-friendly. Emma observes that there are many fighters who identify as βtomβ, but sheβs never known any openly-gay male fighters in the sport. She said that Lumpini and Rajadamnern, stadiums previously reserved for men, have allowed transgender women to fight in recent years. However, they must only fight cis-male opponents, and they enter the ring by going over the top rope. She wonders if this means that trans women who fight are effectively being treated as men.
From Emma’s point of view, Thai society has made many developments, particularly in recent years. She says that there is now discussion of many topics that could never be raised before, including gender equality, consent, and rape culture. She adds that some people might think that women should be happy with how far things have progressed already, but she disagrees. ‘We shouldnβt stop there’, she says.Β
We asked Emma how she thinks Thai society could communicate the ideas of feminism more effectively. βWe need to move beyond just vague messages of βwomenβs empowermentβ, which are often given by those in positions of privilege, but donβt result in any real change for anyone else. So often, the voices of marginalised groups are left outβ, she says. She noted that itβs particularly difficult to make a change because there are so many βdinosaursβ in positions of power in Thailand. βItβs easy for the general public to ignore violence against women when the prime minister is telling women that they shouldnβt wear ‘sexy’ clothes to avoid rape, and police officers and teachers are victim blaming and sometimes even committing violence themselvesβ. There are dinosaurs are in Muay Thai, too. For example, Lumpini Stadium is historically owned by the military. So, making change is a challenge.Β
Emma remarked that while progress has been made for women in Muay Thai, itβs not enough. βSome people would call me uptight or cynical because Iβm not happy enough with the changes that have been made so far, but weβre still so far from equalityβ, she says. βYou might say that the sport is a lot more βfemale-friendlyβ than it used to be, but thatβs not enough. We have to keep pushing. βFemale-friendlyβ and equality are not the same thing”.
As Emma began to wrap her hands in preparation for her training, we posed one last question. Since the first day she started Muay Thai almost 10 years ago, many things have happened to her, both good and bad. We asked her, βdo you still love Muay Thai the way you did when you first started fighting?β
Emma listened and smiled.
βMuay Thai has given me so much. It’s not something I do just for fun, or because I want to win. Itβs driven me to grow as a person and to consistently push my boundaries. Itβs also given me some of the most valuable friendships in my lifeβ.
βI love Muay Thai so much, I canβt imagine my life without it. But sometimes I feel like Muay Thai doesnβt love me back, because Iβm a womanβ.
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