We?re living in a Thailand that now has a female Prime Minister.

This is the same Thailand in which huge numbers of young women work as bar girls and in
go-go clubs.

Is this an exception or the clearest example of the final shift of power to women in the 21st century?

In London, England, the number of strip clubs has doubled in the last five years. Some would argue that this is a direct link to the nation?s rising unemployment figures; that it is merely an unfortunate, stubborn and diehard element of the exploitative nature of the power struggle between the sexes.

Others argue that it is instead an arena where both sides willfully participate in a delusional charade. Or is it, quite simply, just a little bit of fun; a bit of
harmless playtime?

During media mogul Rupert Murdoch?s court hearing last month, when faced by a custard
pie-wielding protestor, the 80-year-old man?s 42-year-old wife leaped out of her chair and
struck the protestor. She was incredibly quick to defend her man?s honor?

It seems that with every stride towards gender equality, societal expectations need to constantly be redefined or they will no longer be a strong and defined enough framework to hang an individual?s character upon.

Perhaps a gender reassessment is therefore needed with regards to not only work and the home, but for what can be quite loosely defined as play.

The statement that women are now valued members in all arenas of society sounds incredibly
patronising and a rather mute point, if only because this is so widely accepted as fact.

Beyonce Knowles? latest hit ?Who runs the world?? purports that it is in fact women who
do so. In the music video, she expresses this in various ways; dressed as a damsel far from distress on a horse, as a lieutenant in an army and also a dancer, complete with stockings, suspenders and thigh-high leather boots.

At the workplace, Maliwan Sangboon- a police officer at Kathu Police station - said that
although she feels her gender doesn?t stand in the way of her ability to perform her duties, she did face a certain amount of prejudice whilst training, ?But it?s
different now than back then,? Khun Maliwan said, ?There?s many more women in uniform
now, but in the past, men weren?t used to seeing women in positions of power.?

Finnish-born Sol Pattni, is another Phuket-based resident who believes that feeling protected is neither the man?s prerogative or responsibility.

She regularly trains at the Rawai Muay Thai gym and does so for a multitude of reasons, ?I
have always been athletic and to me Muay Thai is a sport like any other. To be able to protect oneself is important for everyone, and more so for women,? Sol explains.

Being financially independent and able to protect oneself (and his woman) were traits once
deemed to lie firmly within the masculine domain. So if these women exhibit behaviors
typically associated with the masculine, are they by virtue any less feminine?

Sol certainly doesn?t seem to think so: ?I don?t think there are specific traits to define either sex but who you are as a person and your moral and ethical values.?

As Ethel Mermen is sure to testify, ?Anything you (man) can do, I (woman) can do better,? or perhaps, as is more politically correct, equal regardless of gender or ethnic background.

In Thailand, 26% of university-age women enrolled in universities compared to just
22% of men. Even the construction site is a common place to see the ?fairer? sex, it is threfore absurd to think of a solitary woman?s workplace.

Women make up more than 49.6% of the population. They are literally everywhere and seem to be more in control than they ever were, in every sphere and in every conceivable way,
using their brains, brawn and beauty.

21-year-old Nan, from Issan, moved to Phuket a year ago and found work as a dancer in bar
along Bangla road within a week of arriving. She sleeps on the floor and shares a room with four girls.

She goes to dance from 9-3am, six nights a week, but for her, the life she has now is a vast improvement to what it once was.

?I can make good money by dancing,? she said, ?I don?t go home with any men, I don?t take
my clothes off, I just dance and flirt.?

There?s a tendency to view Nan and the other girls of Bangla as victims who are exploited,
but are they in fact liberated? Perhaps not, but Nan is resolute, ?It?s better than working at a convenience store, it?s actually fun,? said Nan.

Kee, also from Issan, is the manager of the bar but sees things slightly differently,
?It?s sad that so many girls have to do this, but they can earn more money doing this than other work available to them.?

For the girls, many of who are uneducated and from the poor rural areas of Thailand, dancing enables them to have an otherwise unattainable standard of living.

So if one is to subscribe to the notion that such work does not exploit the girls, that they are actually choosing to dance and using their beauty as a tool, then who is in charge? The dancer or the punter?

?I am,? smiles Nan, ?100%, I?m in control.?

The make-believe world of the go-go bar or strip club is one that has gained huge popularity in recent years. Modern theorists, philosophers and feminists have all
previously suggested that with equal opportunity would come the natural emancipation of
women from such ?degrading? lines of work.

The equal opportunities would in turn foster equal respect from men, who would naturally not wish to view such women as mere sexual objects without any other value.

However, the fantasty world of the go-go bar is one where man feels needed, if only in a
monetary sense, for in those dark and dingy four walls, it?s a world where women do not earn more, are not more emotionally equipped and are not more ?powerful?.

It?s a fantasy where men are still in charge. Right? Wrong, at least according to Khun Kee, who believes that it is in fact men who are the ones often exploited, ?The girls know
what they are doing, they take men?s money by making them feel strong,? she said.

Men feel in charge in the go-go bar, they feel special, in many cases K. Kee explains, they delude themselves into thinking that a particular girl is dancing just for him and that they have a relationship with her.

The go-go bar girl gives the emasculated and powerless man a much-needed ego boost, who
in turn deludes the girl that she is in charge and that she is valued.

Having said all that, what do I, as an educated Englishman know?

I'm a man and it's my world, but as James Brown emphatically belted out more than 30
years ago, it wouldn?t be nothing, nothing, nothing without the love of a woman or girl...
regardless of profession.