Re-inventing the martial ‘hero’ and the weak ‘beauty queen’ through the sporting identity: a tale of two competing gendered bodies,Muay Thai and the stability of the Thai nation-state

ABSTRACT

This article examines the gendered bodies and practices of male and female leaders in politically unstable, conflict-ridden Thailand between 2006 and 2019. In a country where the number of military coups has surged to twenty-two attempts (whether successful or unsuccessful) since 1932, the latest military-led coup by Gen. Prayudth Chan-Osha presents another threat to the stability of the country’s democracy. In response to public unease, Gen. Prayudth Chan-Osha projects himself as a source of Thai national strength and stability; to promote an optimistic public outlook, the general puts his martial masculinity and his militaristic physicality on public display. Culturally informed concepts of ‘good/strong’ male corporeality and its ‘bad/weak’ female countertype enable General Prayudth to identify as a national saviour by assuming the mantle of the martial hero. By highlighting his regime’s masculine military strength, he asserts, by contrast, the softness, weakness, and corruptibility of his key political rival, Thailand’s first elected female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. His public performance of national leadership argues that these frailties render his opponent ‘unfit’ for national leadership.