Women League for Social Change: Perspective Vision

While tapping on my computer keyboard, I realized that I might probably share identical goals in life with other fellow applicants of the 2011 Voices of Future Correspondents (VOF) program.

I want to see myself as an accomplished social activist, a community researcher, and a writer who is recognized by her unique, reflective, provocative, and sensible style in bringing to light stories and insights of women from Thailand, and the Greater Mekong Sub- Region (GMS).

In my writings, I aim to bring more genders and sexualities related lived experiences, struggles, and triumphs of women from Thailand and GMS to regional and global dialogue. I have strived to interconnect personal life experiences of women with social issues.

Most notably, I am driven to address socio-cultural violence, power, privilege and social actions from feminist framework which can bring about fruitful insight of the world around me as a woman.

As a biological woman, I have been through diverse experiences of womanhood with laugh and tears just like other women. This has brought me where I am nowadays joining league with global women in uprooting patriarchy. Therefore, we women feel no more shame and reluctance to make departure from our gender roles of being a mother, a wife, a care taker and so forth, and are free to engage in sexualities of our preferences.

As a bisexual woman, I foresee the world with sexual diversity. Diversity in this token does not only deal with recognition of homosexuality within mainstream world of heterosexuality, but also refer to greater extent of realization for a diversity within homosexuality itself. I recall my heartache when was reasoned by my ex-partner who ended 5-year relationship with me due to my bisexual identity. She mentioned, “You being bisexual does bother me. I came to realize that real intimacy and bonding between us has not progressed any further because of this. I believe I will be happier, more spiritually connected, and intimate with a lesbian partner, not with bisexual woman like you”.

As an abortion-experienced woman, I want to echo more voices of Thai women experienced abortion. In so doing, a tolerant, understandable, and accepted community where women can defend their rights over their bodies without fear of social stigma and discrimination can become reality. Most importantly, I imagine Thai public health facilities in which safe abortion can be demanded from professional health service providers when unintended/unplanned pregnancy is not wanted. I envisage abortion related services in Thailand prepared and equipped with pre-abortion counseling where women can feel comfortably assured with their informed abortion decision and choice.

As a woman activist, and a feminist, I have battled with an invisible and discursive bio-power that controls our mindsets and bodies, dictates our genders and sexualities, and restricts our pleasure choices. The bio-power that does limitedly regards physical aspect of women’s bodies, misleading ways in which women perceive themselves bodily, and make them hostile to their own bodies.

Being part of the 2011 VOF program, I am hoping to meaningfully participate in a forum where women worldwide can interact with one another with mutual respect, understanding, and acceptance. That will lead to personal as well as professional growth which is central to enable supportive environment for me to live with pride and dignity while continuously assuming an active social change agent role.

The so-called “transformational partnership” which highlights four main principles of mentorship and training program namely witnessing, listening, catalyzing, and nurturing strikes me the most about PulseWire VOF program. It manifests that a non-patriarchy is core to PulseWire principle of social activism. This obviously stresses her genuine determination to \"transform herself” in the pursuit of personally and socially transformative world around her.

To get accepted into the 2011 VOF of PulseWire, undertaken the five-month online training, and paired up with professional mentor will certainly help better my writings in a more unique and outstanding fashion, and reshape my thoughts and concerns in a more vocalizing, and action-oriented manner.

In my stories, I will provide different exposure of social activism taken by local women of Thailand and the GMS countries for women internationally. In partnership with PulseWire, writings can be powerful instrument to relate me with worldwide women league for social change.