A big dispute between Thai and Filipino transgender sex workers happened in Bangkok, Thailand this week. There were three fights during the late hours of March 4 and 5, leading to 20 arrests, injuries, and several videos on social media of the brawls.
The conflict started outside hotels in Soi 11, the city's nightlife district. This area is popular among foreign expats and is known for its gogo bars, massage parlors, and red light district. The Daily Mail reported.
Around 9 p.m. on March 4, 20 Filipino sex workers reportedly harassed a group of six Thai sex workers by stomping on their feet and hurling abuses at them. The Nation The Filipino people then tried to shoo the Thai women away before attacking them.
Word spread quickly as the Filipino group uploaded content of themselves mocking and assaulting a Thai trans woman. This led to outrage on Thai social media, as reported by X user @sighyam, who reposted a video of the mockery. reposting a video of the mockery that sparked the large brawl later on.
the video that sparked it all. The Thai woman in red was seen in this video outnumbered. She was forced to put up with mocking and verbal assault before the fight broke out. This is important context. Pay attention to the faces in this video. https://t.co/3I6JbILjlt
— yammi (@sighyam) March 5, 2024
In response to reports of the women’s mistreatment, other Thai sex workers began gathering in the area. When police later escorted two Filipino sex workers out of a nearby hotel around 10 p.m., some of the Thai women began to attack the Filipino women, hitting them as the police took them into custody.
Around midnight, a Filipino trans woman was reportedly attacked when she went onto the street to buy food. When police removed the remaining Filipino sex workers from a nearby hotel, a mob of Thai sex workers began assembling in front of the aforementioned hotel.
The X user @sighyam posted multiple videos of the brawl. They show the women punching, kicking, tearing out hair, tearing off clothes, and pushing around police officers who struggle to control the unruly crowd.
“Thai people do not play when it comes to our trans people. They are not ‘fair [game]’ for anyone, especially not non-Thais,” @sighyam wrote in his social media thread analyzing the incident. “It is the only country on earth where even straight men will defend trans women. I have seen Thai men knock out foreigners for attacking trans women.”
“People were pissed. a crowd of a couple hundreds quickly grew to 2 thousand over the span of a few hours,” @sighyam claimed. “It was pure chaos and the police had no way of controlling the tension despite their best efforts.”
“At this point police had accepted that it was either now or never,” @sighyam added. “Very quickly people were jumping over one another to get a punch in, multiple police officers were catching strays, shoes were being thrown and people were getting scalped.”
Police reportedly arrested four of the 20 Filipino women who initially attacked the group of Thai women. The arrestees were taken to the Lumpini Police Station. ONE News reported that Thailand’s Department of Foreign Affairs is assisting the Filipino women involved in the clash.
The Filipino women may have broken immigration laws by overstaying the 30-day maximum allowed for tourists, said Pol Maj-General Witthawas Chinkham, commander of Metropolitan Police Division 5, according to the Filipino news site PhilStarLife.
Some Filipino women are being questioned at the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok while Thai police review local surveillance cameras to determine how long some of the women have been in the red light district.
One of the Filipino assaulter was caught and subsequently had her ass beat. https://t.co/qhnxbfcaEV
— yammi (@sighyam) March 5, 2024
A brief look at trans sex work in Thailand
However, the biggest and final fight happened around 4 a.m. when police attempted to remove the remaining Filipino women from the hotel. Videos showed a large disorderly group of Thai women throwing shoes, ripping clothes, hitting
Thailand has been a popular spot for sex tourism and gender-affirming care since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Although national law officially prohibits sex work, Thai police and government have allowed it to continue.
Many sex workers are coerced into the industry because of poverty and a lack of educational and job opportunities in rural areas. Others are victims of adult and child sex trafficking smuggled from nearby Asian countries.
In Bangkok, transgender women — a marginalized group often known as “ladyboys” — sometimes engage in sex work for survival, financial self-sufficiency, or to support their families, according to Pulitzer Center, an international journalism site. The government does not permit citizens to legally change their gender, and trans people encounter widespread employment discrimination and poverty.
At times labeled as “contagious, violent criminals,” trans women sex workers in Thailand experience disproportionately high levels of police violence, arbitrary arrests, physical assaults, and sexual violence — they face additional persecution if they report police to authorities.
