The book is aimed at women for a variety of good reasons. Of course, number one is that it was written by one. That is obviously important. But there is also a more general reason. Over too many centuries (in fact: millennia) large numbers of women have been abused. Of course, it is often pointed out that according to tradition, this did not happen everywhere. In the earliest times, there were Amazons, who ruled the world. But, for some strange and unknown reason, they disappeared. In the XXIst century, human behaviour is changing, as part of worldwide social and cultural progress. In the near future, it is clear that women will soon be in charge of Society and, naturally enough, that they will be the ones to decide how lovemaking is to be done. The signs are all around us. Actually, this process has already begun, and Prasopchai's work is simply part of making it more evident, as it develops in all modern societies. It is no surprise that an Asian woman should be the first to address this theme. One may surmise that Asian women have, throughout history, received worse treatment than those on other continents and thus have developed a specific form of resilience. So it is logical and indeed inevitable that this aspect of the sexual revolution should first have appeared in the East, before it could exist elsewhere. To establish and consolidate the new bond between woman and man will require nothing less than a rewrite of all the outdated conventions which somehow persist in public prejudices, but are no longer in tune with our times. This is the case in all of the main cultures. Prasopchai, however, is the first to have recognized that the most important issue is not to aim for sexual equality, but rather to tip the balance completely the other way for a period of time which will have to be long enough to compensate. In fact, she advocates that women should now play the leading sexual role until they are satisfied that justice is done and (perhaps) accept some degree of equality. For the foreseeable future, this of course implies that female dominance must become the accepted norm, and the whole of Prasopchai's thinking revolves around the search for the best way to express it in a feminist context. Prasopchai's message is of great practical as well as philosophical importance. She proposes a complete revision of the usual conventions, which have been falsely attributed to 'natural' behaviour. She is helped in formulating such views by the fact that Asian societies, although they have become, in the past hundred years or so, more machist (mostly influenced in this trend by contact with the West and by colonial dominance) nevertheless have a very long and respectable tradition of avatars, i.e. of Gods transforming themselves, both in terms of what they represent for humans and in respect of their sexual orientation. Even Buddha has female forms. The relationship between female gods, Society, feminism and sex is the essence of Prasopchai's subject. The book is illustrated with many drawings, mostly by a Russian artist Dimitri Alexandrovich Molchine, who seems somehow to have been involved in its conception. In addition to this controversial text (translated from the Thai original), biographies of Prasopchai Sasithorn and DA Molchine are also included.
Prasopchai was born in Thailand, on the banks of a tributary of the Mei Kong river, not far from the borders to Burma and Cambodia, in a part sometimes described as the 'GoldenTriangle', not because it is a great place to live in, but rather because of the money traffickers and gangsters can make by buying and selling drugs, gemstones and gold, smuggled across the river in small boats during the night. Her family were poor, their subsistence coming mainly from fishing, and from farming small plots of land. They owned buffalo, and Prasopchai remembers riding on them when they were taken for regular mud baths on the banks of the river. Her ancestors had been military in the service of the King, who fought against Burmese troops. In her house were pictures and medals. She had cousins in Khorat and in Bangkok. She was sent to the village school where there were no books, tables or chairs, but the teacher was good. She won a scholarship to study in Khorat where an aunt taught her why girls in the city are dressed like dolls and paraded by their families. Prasopchai did not want to experience that. It was the start of her feminist thinking. She entered Chulalongkorn University and met other girls from rich families who studied for fun. Prasopchai became one of the best students: she had learned that better jobs are for people who know something, and that girls who do not study get married off to rich old men. She also saw that girls who know too much frighten men away, but accepted this as the price of freedom. She was whisked away to an American University, and learned about feminism, but found it inappropriate for her country. She studied sociology, and wrote a thesis on ecogenetics. She went on a tour of Asia and met a Russian painter. Together, they discovered Shibari art, and travelled to Italy, where he worked. Prasopchai observed how religion and art mix. This made her wonder about adapting such knowledge to Asia and to Thailand. A practising Buddhist, she reconstructs a better starting point towards equality of genders. Rather than follow the confrontational approach of the West, she advocates exploitation of men's sexual weaknesses. This needs Asian women to free themselves from imported guilt brought by the sex tourists. She teaches philosophy and history of art in Pukhet. Her radical views on worshipping female incarnations of Buddha and restoring sexual dominance by women, her advocacy of bondage and tolerance of lesbianism have provoked controversy.
