Female Fisticuffs: Women in Muaythai
Along the dust-choked battlefields of central Thailand, men once fought murderous wars in defense of their territories. Beside them, brandishing the same long-handled swords stood kunying Mae Yamo, Thailand’s first women warriors. Although we don’t know how many or how often females took up arms with their male kin, legend tells of women answering the call to battle in times of great need.
With the advent of fire power, such fight skills became dangerous and obsolete. But the support for the arts of war did not die among the Thais and their unique style of combat was eventually transformed into a spectator sport. Between that time and this, the sport, now called muaythai, became a male-only affair and while there have been periodic incidents of women in the ring during the intervening years, nak muay ying or female fighters, had mostly faded from history.
Today muaythai is considered the country’s national sport. Loved by many, it can be seen regularly on Thai TV and in stadiums throughout the country. Prior to the 1970s, however, it was almost unheard of outside the region. With western exploration of Southeast Asia during the Viet Nam era, G.I.s and others finally discovered Thailand’s secret. Foreign trailblazers who first sought training in muaythai faced great challenges simply to learn the art’s most basic techniques. Both competitors and coaches often treated western interlopers with suspicion, or curiosity at best. “Back in the 70’s the Thai’s kept the secrets of muaythai to themselves” claims Patrick Cusick, a native Australian and one of the art’s earlier western practitioners. While he did manage to learn a few fundamental techniques, he stresses that, “they never really taught me the tricks.”
But Cusick and many others eventually did learn, and as more western men gained knowledge and confidence in the art, they brought it home with them and began teaching others. In the 1970s, Thai master instructors also started teaching and promoting their country’s pride abroad and it wasn’t long before western women were showing up at gyms and boxing facilities to learn.
In the kingdom, the 1960s and 70s was hit by the first waves of gender-role changes. Thailand’s biggest muaythai stadiums, Lumphini and Radjadaemnern, hosted a series of female bouts. But the Thai’s resistance to girls in the ring was immediately evident. The virtually all-male audience simply refused to watch or – more importantly – bet on the bouts. What began as a hopeful expansion of the sport to include the entire population was quickly scrapped, with the few aspiring female athlete returning to their traditional domestic duties.
The Thai conflict over women in the fight ring continues to this day, but is in steady decline. The objection stems in part from pre-Buddhist spirit worship beliefs in which the presence of females on the all-male altar of pugilism was thought to be an affront to the spirits of place. In the late 1970s this suspicion and fear was compounded by an incident at Radjadaemnern Stadium. Following a female TV producer’s presence in the ring, every fight that night ended with at least one competitor suffering serious cuts and injuries. What ensued was a near total ban on female fighting throughout Thailand.
Outside the country, however, finding women in the fight ring was becoming commonplace. Over the past twenty years, females from as far a field as Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States have taken up muaythai in their homelands. As their numbers and passion for the sport grew, they, like their male counterparts, began coming to Thailand in hopes of testing their skills. What they found was discouraging: few camps willing to train them and a frightful dearth of qualified Thai female opponents.
According to Noah Griffin, a Bangkok resident and retired fighter hailing from Ireland, Thai female fighters were not being properly trained. “Foreigners basically destroyed them,” she recounts of her early exposure to feminine fisticuffs within the kingdom. This seemed to be a wake-up call for the Thais who take great pride in their unique sport, and in 1995 the World Muaythai Council began allowing women to fight professionally.
Thus it was foreigners who managed to open a door for Thai females to enter the arena. But despite the changes, there were caveats for women spurred to competition. On fight cards, it was only after all the ‘regular’ bouts of the night were complete that females were allowed their five, three-minute rounds of sparring. Women were also discouraged from jumping over the ring ropes as they entered the fight platform. They were required to squeeze through the middle ropes so as not to offend their male audience or scare them into doubts of spiritual contamination. (Interestingly, today some western women will jump over the ropes, although Thai females still tend to step through them.)
By the turn of the 21st century, Thai women had stepped with more confidence into the ring. As their skills improved, interest in watching female fights grew. While they do not yet earn the same purses that men do, female fights are becoming increasingly popular. Professional female pugilists now fight under the same conditions as male nak muay, including permission to use the full arsenal of weapons: punches, kicks, knees and the cutting blows of elbow strikes.
Thailand is a country where females have traditionally been discouraged to participate in sports of any kind, let alone the toughest sport there is. For the few who have bucked the tide of tradition, they face formidable challenges. Some see the sport as a way to escape poverty, but financial gain is not yet a reality for them. Women’s miniscule winnings mean they must also work to support themselves – and sometimes their families – while professional male fighters are supported by the camps in which they train. Although there are 60,000 registered professional male fighters in Thailand, few if any women are registered, because their earnings do not generate even half of their income.
Finding a camp that will train them effectively is yet another challenge women face, as well as the familial and societal pressure to ‘act like a lady’. Finally, their western competition has developed a quick track record of crushing them in competition due to their superior training, and although that is changing, Thai nak muay ying have a way to go before they consistently stand at the pinnacle of their nation’s sport.
But muaythai in its sport form is no longer reserved for serious competitors alone. While some Thai women engaged in their homeland’s battle sport are driven by economic motives, western females practice muaythai for a variety of other reasons. Many never enter a boxing ring to test their skills, but choose instead a discipline that keeps them both challenged and fit for life’s other struggles.
Why foreign women choose muaythai over other, less painful competitive sports varies greatly. For Niahm Griffin, it was viewing a bout by its ethnic originators that inspired her efforts. “I was living in Thailand when I first saw a muaythai fight,” says Griffin. While she had heard about the sport before, “it was only when I saw the ‘real’ thing that I realized how exciting it was!” Serendipity then intervened and she met a Canadian who was training in Bangkok. He took her with him to the gym “and I was hooked. I just loved it!” she exclaims. Although Niahm says she never intended to fight competitively, she went on to become a professional champion in Thailand, boasting a 32-5-0 record with four KOs before hanging up her gloves. Impressive for a woman simply bored with doing pool laps for exercise!
Shawn Farnsworth from California, USA, was inspired to take up the sport by her son. At age 40, Shawn was too old to even consider fighting – initially. But as her training developed under the careful eye of her coaches, Khun Khru Bryan Dobler and Ajarn Chai Sirisute, it became quickly evident that Shawn’s potential exceeded her expectations. At 43 years old and with 3 fights under her belt, she came to Thailand to compete in the Prince’s Cup in 2004. In the end, she took a silver medal home and went on to more wins in California.
Although many gyms within Thailand still do not accept females, things are changing. Fight camps are beginning to recognize the value –monetarily, if nothing else – of putting women in the ring. Shawn’s experience was extremely positive. Training at Sasiprapa Gym during her preparation for competition, she said “everyone was respectful and accepting. I believe they looked more at how seriously one trains rather than whether one is male or female.”
Sinda Maricic is an amateur fighter who hails from Australia. She is 27 years old with a 10-6-0 record and 4 KOs under her belt. Competing mostly in her homeland, Sinda came to Thailand to test her skills in the sport’s birthplace. Her experience here was also positive and in some ways, she prefers it to training at home. “Thai people are very passionate about their sport. They are dedicated to correct technique, speed, power and strength.” She said that the atmosphere and ‘fighting spirit’ within the kingdom is something that is missing from her own society.
Griffin, still active in the kingdom’s fight world, sees women’s presence on the rise among competitors and fans alike. She notes that more and more female fights are headlining events and are even being televised on Thai TV. “The most encouraging sign,” she says, “is the number of [female] teenagers in the ring nowadays.” She argues that as youths, they will have the time to develop into talented fighters. Of those that still refuse to teach women, Griffin typifies the attitude among professional female fighters, “that’s their loss.”
