chapter 6. other concepts relating to sex - Windward Community ...

Woman has two hands
To hold on to the essence,
To strain her muscles in the work force
And not to crave luxuries and clothing.
Woman has two feet
To climb high to her dream.
Standing with them firmly together,
She will not live off anyone's labor.
Woman has eyes
To search for a new life
To find a broader world view,
And not to use them for flirting
Woman has a heart
That is a lasting, blowing fire,
That contributes to the mass' power,
For every woman is a human being.
Woman has a life
That tries to wash away errors with reason,
That esteems her independence and freedom,
And not to provide only sexual pleasure.
The flower has sharp thorns;
It must not bloom to await praise from others.
Rather, it blooms to accumulate
Great fertility for the Earth.
Women's beauty has long been a major preoccupation of Central Thai culture. Women's
appearances reflect their value, both social and moral. Phitprechaa has attempted to redefine the
criteria by which women are judged. Her focus on action over appearance is more in line with
traditional Isan views of women. Damsri (1985, p. 15; also see Gittinger & Lefferts, 1992) argues
that literary works in Isan show that Isan society values women's abilities more than beauty and
suggests that women who are highly skilled at running a household should be praised and that
men should choose a wife based on her household skills, especially cooking and weaving. Isan
literature and proverbs almost never suggest equality between men and women in the sense that
they have equal access to social roles or that they be judged by identical criteria. However, there
is a much greater emphasis on complementarity and partnership between men and women,
especially between husbands and wives, such as in the following Lao proverbs:
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