Currently Reading: Gendered Experience

May 2021 saw the first announcements for women to be allowed to, invited and booked, to fight at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. Famously, women are barred from the Bangkok National Stadia, Lumpinee (Military) and Rajadamnern (Police),...

*The phrase “Female Fighters” is used in the title for brevity and discovery, read as: “People Who Menstruate”. Read more of my Gendered Experience articles here. There are a lot of reasons why talking about the...

Yeah, It Hurts Thailand, Pattaya – My trainer, Kru Nu, is 5’10 and a solid 25 kg heavier than I am. He’s not small. He’s also long, rangy, and doesn’t throw full power when he spars...

Guest Post – Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu This is my interview of Sylvie on what was an extraordinary event that happened this week as Tara, a student at the gym and an attendee of the Women’s Muay...

I’ve been called a man twice in the past month – something I’ve experienced many times in Thailand and in the past largely read as a mixed insult or at best a backhanded compliment. It’s not...

Angie’s beverage shop is on the side of a road that cuts between the very busy Thepprasit and equally busy Pattaya Tai roads. There are constantly motorbikes and cars wizzing past, occasionally pulling to the side...

Email subscribers, see the interview here Almost two years ago I interviewed Angie in anticipation of her first Muay Thai fight, after only a few months of training in Muay Thai. Remarkably, two weeks from now...

After struggling out of my wet sports bra, I stood in front of Kevin who was lying on the bed and waved my hands around animatedly while regaling him with the stories of evening training. I...

My interview with Angie this morning: Angie has been training consistently and with dedication at Petchrungruang Gym in Pattaya for about a year and a half now. When she first appeared at the gym we didn’t...

My hands are shaking as I loosen the laces of my gloves, my fingers pruned and pale from all my sweating. I unwrap and fold the wet strips of linen so that I can hang them...