All sorts of sexual fantasies have found a home at Krubb, a sauna catering to the specific needs of gay men in Bangkok.  It is discreetly located just a few minutes walk from the Phra Kanong BTS station. Inside, on the walls of a dimly lit corridor behind a rusted door, hang photographs of men expressing various forms of kinks – Shibari, dog costumes, and more...

At 14, Thanalop Phalanchai became one of the youngest people ever charged with royal defamation. At 15, she was arrested and held in pre-trial detention, making her the youngest person to ever be detained on a royal defamation charge. Her arrest and detention raised questions about the Thai juvenile justice system and whether it is serving the best interests of the country’s children.

During the height of the pandemic, Thailand saw a growing number of reports of university students committing suicide, while others suffer from stress and mental health problems due to sudden changes in their lives as the country went into lockdown. Although mental health issues were on campus before Covid-19 arrived, the pandemic made the problems more visible. Now, students are calling for universities to adopt proactive mental health support measures, but with the shortage of mental health professionals, implementing a long-term solution may not be easy.

While women have long been considered “ornamental,” with the media and the public mainly focusing on their looks or how they dress and act, LGBTQ representation is nearly non-existent. They are subject to the same fate and even worse. A watershed moment for the community came in the last election when 3 self-identified LGBTQ people won MP seats.

As the 2023 general election approaches, activists and members of civil society hope for policies that will ensure LGBTQ rights and gender equality for Thailand.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when performance and entertainment venues closed, Thailand's musicians faced unemployment and lack of income. Many were forced to sell their beloved instruments or resort to finding other jobs to make ends meet, while missing out on assistance from the government for being informal workers. Meanwhile, the pandemic brought to the surface issues faced by workers in the Thai music industry, from precarious employment and unfair working conditions to lack of support for the creative economy.

The Salween’s standing as “one of the few remaining free-flowing international rivers” is being challenged once again. Many factors suggest that dam projects along the river are being considered anew. Signals come from the Myanmar government, investors, and Thai politicians. If projects move forward, related human rights violations are likely to emerge once again.

Living along a river destabilised by dam discharges, Upper Mekong residents tell how they cope with unseasonable water level fluctuations to protect natural environments, like the “Boon Rueng Forest” wetlands, and preserve traditional Akha cuisine.

A series of photographs and essay by Real Frame photographer Yostorn Triyos explores life in communities on the banks of the Salween River after the Covid-19 pandemic and the February 2021 Myanmar coup, such as Sop Moei and Mae Sam Laep where people continues to live in uncertainty amidst the war. Meanwhile, the Thai and Myanmar government's project to build 6 dams across the Salween River has been put on hold due to the pandemic and the war.

No government has ever admitted that the building of dams is the cause of “poverty” among the people of the Mekong River. The fish of the river and their economic value have been taken away in the name of development that comes with the construction of dams.  Mekong people have seen their options for survival restricted and narrowed. The poverty of their lives is not something that has just appeared out of the blue. Their fate lies entirely in political decisions, despite the government’s attempts to make the issue apolitical.

Fermented fish jars, once a sign of prosperity in Thailand's northeast, are now a grim reminder of a culinary tradition threatened by the construction of dams on the Mekong River.

<p>Thai sex workers and supporting organisations are petitioning for a legalisation of the sex industry.&nbsp; In the meantime, the illegal status of the industry leaves loopholes for corruption, human rights abuse, and inequality.&nbsp;</p>