March 31, 2007
BANGKOK (AFP) - Nude photos of Thai celebrities to be auctioned to raise money for AIDS patients have drawn criticism from the army-backed government and conservative activists, reports said Saturday.
The auction, organized by Thai fashion magazine Fame, aimed to raise money for a financially struggling Buddhist temple that cares for abandoned AIDS patients, English-language newspapers the Nation and Bangkok Post said.
Prisana Pongtatsirikul, secretary-general of the Office of the National Cultural Commission, said posing naked was not something "decent women" did.
"I would like them to cover themselves. Being naked is not beautiful, nor is it a practice of decent women," Prisana told the Bangkok Post.
Conservative activists also accused the naked models of setting a bad example for the country's youth.
Model and actor Penpak Sirikul, one of 32 celebrities who posed for the auction, defended her actions.
"People are born naked," she was quoted by the Nation as saying.
"This is the art of women's beauty. We did it for free," she said.
The nude photos will be shown in a Bangkok exhibition from April 5-9, but the papers said the temple has already told organisers it would refuse any money from the upcoming auction.
Neither the temple nor the organizer could be reached for comment. An official from the cultural commission was not available either.
While Thailand is known for its anything-goes sex industry, the mainly Buddhist country remains shy about sexuality.
In February, a revealing black dress worn by a minor Thai actress sparked a moral outrage, forcing the young woman to publicly apologize for her apparent lapse in judgement.