midterm

ZHERUI HUANG

PROFESSOR JORDAN HAYES

MIDTERM

2014/05/21

Girls Are Not Buffalo

            These days I was shown a movie of girls who play Muay Thai in Thailand. In this movie, I saw a young girl Stam, a really young Thai girl, goes fight Muay Thai to earn money and supports her family. You might want to know how Stam, the girl who fights Muay Thai, looks like. Actually, this young girl has a very skinny body with only 22 kilograms weigh. In general, a girl especially with such a weak body is not able to participate in drastic sports such as boxing and Muay Thai. However, Stam has to fight with other girl since her family is not rich and her parents are building a new house with the lack of money. Although playing Muay Thai is the best way for Stam to support her family since she has been training for many years and she has won 3 champion in the past, in my view, Stam should not be a part of Muay Thai, instead, her parents should protect her well and find another way to earn the money they need.

            In the UNCRC, the article 32 (Child Labour) mentions: “The government should protect children from work that is dangerous or might harm their health or their education.” In the Buffalo Girls, I saw a frame that Stam was being punched right into her face.

It is totally reasonable that a girl wants to help her family by her own way even if she might get hurt because of this way, yet it is not allowed for the parents to send their children to any works are dangerous since kids are easily injured and injury is harmful to their health while their bodies are growing up. I really don’t want to mention that Stam’s rights are being violated because of the Muay Thai, the sports her parents send her to play, on the other hand, Stam should stop playing Muay Thai right away and she deserve the best protection that her parents and government can provide during the entire adolescence.

            I appreciate the way that Stam is helping her family since they are not rich for sure, however, it might be the time that they need to come out with a new idea to earn the money instead of sending Stam to this drastic game. Because girls are girls, not buffaloes.