Traditionally, women are required to enter the ring by going under the bottom rope, while men go over the top. This practice stems from social hierarchy and age-old superstition.
EMMA THOMAS (she/her)
founder
Emma is a former professional Muay Thai fighter who fought in Thailand from 2012 to 2017.
Emma has been writing about gendered issues in Muay Thai since 2013. Her writing includes personal experiences, journalism, Thai news with English translation, and documentation of women’s Muay Thai history.
Emma has lived experience of sexual violence in Muay Thai. This first-hand knowledge puts survivor-centred and trauma-informed principles at the heart of her work.
Emma has spent more than ten years advocating for gender equality and the elimination of sexual violence in Muay Thai.
Emma holds a master’s degree in Sports Ethics & Integrity. Her studies combine sports philosophy, ethical training and social science. Through Under the Ropes, Emma explores ethical issues in Muay Thai through a feminist lens.
Emma is trained as a sports safeguarding officer. She has completed advanced training for safeguarding leads in sport, and is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Safeguarding Officer in Sport course 2025-26 cohort.
Emma now provides consultancy services to advance survivor-centred safeguarding approaches, specialising in the context of Muay Thai and combat sports. She works with gyms, coaches and sports organisations to create policies and procedures, and provides educational workshops to influence cultural change.
Emma’s Story
Emma Thomas is a former fighter, survivor-advocate and sports ethicist specialising in safeguarding in Muay Thai.
After discovering Muay Thai while backpacking in Thailand in 2010, Emma moved to Thailand to pursue training and fighting long-term, fighting professionally until 2017. During that time, she launched Under the Ropes to connect with other women in the sport, and shine a light on the gendered issues she saw and faced as a fighter. This included disclosing her experience of sexual assault by a trainer early in her Muay Thai career, which prompted her to become a vocal advocate for other survivors in Muay Thai. She has shared her story at the United Nations ESCAP in Bangkok, UN Women’s HeForShe University Tour, Bangkok’s first-ever Human Library event, the British Embassy’s Rape & Sexual Assault Survivor Handling Conference for Thai police, and Southeast Asia’s first gender equality summit, Dragonfly360.
This increase in awareness led Under the Ropes to become a support hub for survivors in Muay Thai, providing emotional support and signposting to organisations providing psychological, legal and financial assistance. The influx of stories from fellow survivors brought the issue of sexual violence in Muay Thai to light, prompting Emma to find ways to move from a reactive approach to a preventative one. This led her to seek ways to conduct research collecting hard data that could convince federations to address the issue. In 2023, she was awarded an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in Sports Ethics & Integrity for this purpose. For her thesis, she conducted the world’s first study on sexual violence in Muay Thai. This involved trauma-informed interviews with survivors and an analysis of safeguarding policies by Muay Thai organisations. Since graduating in September 2025, she’s now contributing to the creation of safer, more inclusive spaces in Muay Thai. She’s currently undertaking a course to become an IOC-qualified sport safeguarding officer, and working towards disseminating the findings of her study to share her recommendations for how Muay Thai federations can implement survivor-centred safeguarding policies and procedures.
