It's not often we associate a singing concert with sexual harassment, but that certainly happened with Workpoint's popular show <i>The Mask Singer Season 2</i> last Thursday.
It was a final round in which the winner would be determined by public vote. But before the result was announced, the masked contestants -- professional singers famous in showbiz -- had to answer questions from the judges, who were guessing their true identity.
But on top of the questions, this week the show's host asked one female judge to come up onstage to "touch" the Jaguar Mask -- a male contestant who was later revealed to be singer Peerapat "Bee" Thenwong. Cue in the audience's screams. People were cheering on, wishing they could take her place and be the one to put their hands on the talented singer.
First, the female judge put her hand on top of Jaguar Mask's costume before another judge suggested she feel under the singer's armour-type costume instead. The screams went louder. The judge's face was all smiley as she felt up his chest for a few seconds. Later, she also slapped his butt, following the encouragement of another judge.
We heard laughter and cheers, but we didn't hear anybody asking the singer if it was OK to do so. No one thought to ask for the singer's permission. And in the end, everyone just laughed it off. Everyone got on with the show, already forgetting the moment ever happened.
However, if the genders were reversed and we saw instead a woman being touched in the same places by a man, would we laugh it off so casually? No. We would perceive such a scene as obscene and perverted.
If things don't look right when genders are switched, then why is it all right when a man is the one being touched?
Some now ask what this scene says about our society, and what sort of effect it will have on its audience, particularly among younger members. What would they have learnt from what they saw on TV last Thursday? That boys shouldn't mind it? That they don't have to be careful of their own body because that's just a girl thing?
Khen Dek Khuen Phukhao, a Thai Facebook page run by a child psychologist, expressed these concerns following the show's airing.
"If boys watched the show's segment, they may learn that, as a man, he must allow any girls to touch or tease him. This is probably not right," wrote the psychologist.
Of course, some netizens just brushed it off when the point was raised online.
"They probably staged it anyway. Don't think too much. It was all for laughter and entertainment," said one comment on social media.
Why so serious? Actually, why are we not serious about it? Shouldn't we be concerned that an act of sexual harassment played out in front of us with everyone laughing?
Unless not many consider what happened sexual harassment. The concept is somehow more applicable when the victims are women. And we don't have to discuss the cultural appropriateness of touching a man's chest and his behind in our sort-of conservative country. Forget that for a while. Let us discuss consent, respect and rights over one's own body.
Over the years, we would occasionally see headlines of a boy being raped or harassed by older men, and sometimes women. But try and gauge society's reaction. If it was a case of a female being raped, netizens would already be vowing to kill the perpetrator barehanded. But for a male, that kind of reaction is never seen from the public.
Sexual harassment and rape of men does exist, and they are no jokes. Despite what some believe, men can also be victims. Another example is a news story we heard earlier this month of Congo man Stephen Kigoma, who told the BBC about his experience of being raped.
"I hid that I was a male rape survivor. I couldn't open up -- it's taboo," said Kigoma. "As a man, I can't cry. People will tell you that you are a coward, you are weak, you are stupid."
Back in May, there was a report of a man being kidnapped and raped by women for three days in South Africa.
In a 2015 study conducted in the UK, it was estimated that there were 652,568 cases of sexual assaults of males taking place between 2010 and 2014. Researchers estimated that one in six men have experienced unwanted sexual experiences. These statistics are possibly underestimated, due to male victims' tendency to keep silent due to shame. The pressure to be stereotypically masculine have sealed their lips in a silent, lonely suffering.
Isn't it now time that we improve the situation? Shouldn't we start educating both males and females that violating another person's body is unacceptable? Don't be a perpetrator yourself, and don't put up with it when you're a victim.
Melalin Mahavongtrakul is a feature writer of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.