Thisrupt
  • Home
  • Current Affairs
  • Society
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Thisrupt Special
    • Thisrupt History
    • Thisruptor
  • VDO
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Current Affairs
  • Society
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Thisrupt Special
    • Thisrupt History
    • Thisruptor
  • VDO
No Result
View All Result
Thisrupt
No Result
View All Result

Nalinrat Tuthubthim: assaulted by her teacher, ignored by the school, blamed by the adults

Choltanutkun Tun-atirujbyCholtanutkun Tun-atiruj
October 6, 2020
in Current Affairs
Nalinrat Tuthubthim: assaulted by her teacher, ignored by the school, blamed by the adults

Caption: Nalinrat Tuthubthim

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LINEShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

“Five years ago, a teacher sexually assaulted me. He touched my breasts and my body. I asked him to lock the restroom door. It was stupid. There was also a security camera. I did what I did, to act like everything was normal because I was afraid others would know I was being sexually assaulted. I thought it was shameful. I thought society would condemn me for allowing a man to assault me.”

These are the words to the Facebook post on 20 September by 20-year-old Nalinrat Tuthubthim. In the post, she detailed her experience from when she was 16 years old. 

What happened

According to the post, this was the third incident regarding the teacher in question. The teacher who said to her, “You give consent.” However, Nalinrat explained in the post that her “consent” was out of fear and ignorance.  

“When I walked into the restroom, he kept switching the light on and off. I was scared and started to cry. So he put his arms around me and asked, “Are you okay? I didn’t think you would be so scared.” 

“Of course, I didn’t do anything. I actually thought the teacher was playing a prank innocently. I thought to myself that he was a good teacher,” she wrote.  

The first incident was when the teacher stroked her leg after he took her home on his motorbike. The second incident involved tricking her into sitting astride on his motorbike, so that when he brake, which he repeatedly did, her chest would bounce on his back. 

What followed 

In July this year, she gathered enough courage to approach the school authorities. 

The answer she received was, “We already have the [safety] measures, but we understand that there are bad people among good people. No matter the measures, there will be those breaking the rules,”  

“We can’t introduce specific [safety] measures for the school, because we are an educational facility under the Education Ministry.” 

She was told, “Many teachers touch the kids out of affection. If you study psychology, you would know it is to make the kids feel good.” 

An hour after her post went public, she received a message from one of the school teachers. He asked her to take the post down, worried that she was ruining the school’s reputation.

The past five years

Over a phone interview, Nalinrat told us she has been suffering from mental health issues. She had nightmares of sexual assaults and had tried to commit suicide. 

“Schools [in Thailand] are the place that creates and normalizes the authoritarian system and the sexual harassment,” she said.

“The sexual harassment is just the tip of the iceberg; there are many other problems beneath it.”

However, as Nalinrat witnesses young Thais’ political awakening, with students from high school to universities demanding justice and safety, she feels there’s hope. 

Blame the victim 

Traditionally, Thai culture blames the victim. As per Nalinrat’s quote at the top of the article, it frames a victim mentality of “suffering in silence.” 

“If I put myself in a ‘risky’ situation, the society would automatically think that ‘I was asking for it,’” Nalinrat said.

Even news headlines reinforce this belief system. For example: “Security footage revealed the victim was wearing a short dress” or “Teacher revealed the student wanted to trade sex for a grade.” Somehow, it’s always the victim’s fault. 

“It’s not just teaching about sexual harassment,” said Nalinrat. “But more about teaching people to respect each other’s rights.”

Children must know their rights 

Nalinrat explained that when the first incident happened, she did not realize it was wrong. Until later, when she told her friends, one of whom said it’s sexual assault. 

“In Thailand, children don’t have any rights to say no to any physical abuses or authoritarianism from the adults,” Nalinrat said. “Children don’t know what rights they have, so they end up giving ‘consent,’ out of fear and the thought that they are supposed to, that the adults are always right.” 

“My school never taught us anything about consent.”

The repercussion

After her Facebook post caught on, Nalinrat received both sympathy and condemnation. The disapproval comes mainly from older generation people who attacked her for being “inappropriate” and “aggressive,” and that she’s ruining the school’s reputation.  

“The older generation keeps fighting this, which makes the younger generation seem even more aggressive,” said Nalinrat. 

They need to stop fighting the truth and hiding problems, pretending like everything is perfect. We should expose problems and fix them.” 

According to Nalinrat, her intention is not to ruin the school’s reputation.

“So, let’s talk and fix this together. I’m not trying to burn anyone down,” she said. 

Related contents: 

Things you should know about the Sarasas School scandal

Video of the Sarasas School abuses

Choltanutkun Tun-atiruj

Choltanutkun Tun-atiruj

Choltanutkun Tun-atiruj is a journalist covering culture, human-interests and politics. Her words are on BK Magazine, VICE, Al Jazeera English, Vogue International and CNN. She co-founded Thisrupt.

Related Posts

In Chiang Mai, it's worrying to see a large number of motorbikes at night without backlights. Thankfully most have functional brake lights, but many have no lights at all, which cause road accidents. Chiang Mai Safe City is a public safety organization concerned with reducing the number of Thai people dying on the roads. When I got my first Thai license, I was happily doing the theory exam, and I got two questions wrong where the answer had broken tail lights. I found out it was legal to drive tanks on Thai streets, but not vehicles without taillights. We all drive on some of the most dangerous roads in the world, with Thailand's road fatalities perennially in the top ten of the United Nation's lists. Even after concerted efforts to reduce the road toll through road safety initiatives, the average daily death toll is more than 60. Statistics from the UN and local traffic reporting sources regularly highlight three factors: 1. Around 75% of all fatalities are people on motorbikes. 2. Around 30% of all accidents involve driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. After 10pm these percentages rise dramatically. We don't need reduced testing. We need more testing and harsher penalties. 3. Only 50% of motorbike riders wear helmets. These figures are alarming, but we are not seeing any significant reductions in recent times except for earlier this year when Thailand was in lockdown and had 10pm to 6am curfews in place. Also, there were no alcohol sales for a week. Many developed countries have responsible alcohol laws, which prohibit sales of alcohol to visibly intoxicated customers. However, in Thailand, the service of alcohol is self-regulated with drink top-ups by table friends. No one knows how much they are consuming before trying to drive or ride home. The Thai Government has had limited success with law enforcement and road safety awareness campaigns. Social media and news outlets regularly show mangled vehicles and lifeless bodies, but we seem desensitized to real effects. We comment RIP, or we use the "sad" emoji, and we get on with scrolling our feeds for the next cute cat picture or celebrity lifestyle picture. Chiang Mai Safe City is a safety initiative proposing a local approach, Thai people helping Thai people. Safety is something everyone can play a part in. Our roads. Our responsibility. We can all tell others if their light is broken, right? Right now, we all need to check our vehicle and motorbike lights. This takes around 30 seconds or less if a friend helps. It's a simple 20 baht five-minute fix at any mechanic. When riding, look around, and someone doesn't have a backlight or brake light, you can simply tell that person, and hopefully, they will listen. We need to reduce Thailand's road fatality statistics. Roads are for everyone to use. Let's make them safer.
Current Affairs

Dear drivers and riders, use your backlights and save lives

December 30, 2020
2020: Khana Ratsadon VS the Chakri Dynasty Part 2
Current Affairs

2020: Khana Ratsadon VS the Chakri Dynasty Part 2

December 29, 2020
2020: the year of COVID-19, crop tops, and three little misspelled words
Current Affairs

2020: the year of COVID-19, crop tops, and three little misspelled words

December 28, 2020
Next Post
The new army chief says he isn’t a robot, but he might just be a clone

The new army chief says he isn’t a robot, but he might just be a clone

The indoctrination of young Thais: nation, religion, and king

The indoctrination of young Thais: nation, religion, and king

State-sponsored terrorism: the harassment of students and protest leaders

State-sponsored terrorism: the harassment of students and protest leaders

Follow Thisrupt

  • 37.6k Fans
  • 18.8k Followers
  • 1.2k Followers
  • 1.4k Subscribers

Highlights

Why Thailand struggles in an identity crisis?

Is Thaksin Shinawatra a champion of human rights?

Why many Thais rejoice at the storming of Capitol Hill

Why Thai police should not enforce the sharia law

Why Winston Churchill should provide free COVID-19 testing for everyone

3 things you should know about Thisrupt in 2021.

Trending

Where is your humanity
VDO

Where is our humanity?

byVoranai Vanijaka
February 18, 2021
0

It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, a king or a beggar, the one thing we...

The Government versus the Opposition: the knockout punch

The Government versus the Opposition: the knockout punch

January 28, 2021
The psychology of why we crawl

The psychology of why we crawl

January 18, 2021
Why Thailand struggles in an identity crisis?

Why Thailand struggles in an identity crisis?

January 14, 2021
Is Thaksin Shinawatra a champion of human rights?

Is Thaksin Shinawatra a champion of human rights?

January 13, 2021
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram

@Thisruptdotco

Tweets by @Thisruptdotco

Multimedia content platform creating provocative stories to inspire people to stand up and speak out for rights, liberty and equality.


#CheckThePower

Newsletter

© 2020 Thisrupt | Contact

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Current Affairs
  • Society
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Thisrupt Special
    • Thisrupt History
    • Thisruptor
  • VDO

© 2020 Thisrupt | Contact