Lucia

de Vernai

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June 2, 2008

Panties for Peace Bringing Burma’s Junta to Its Misogynist Knees

The words “panties” and “spreading” usually don’t appear together on the agenda for bringing democracy, but a Canadian human rights group is changing all that. Panties for Peace has been around for less than a year, but the underwear revolution has spread to the Philippines, Spain, Poland and the U.S. It plays on the popular belief in Burma that contact with women’s panties strips a fighter of his strength.

Yes, you read that correctly. Burma’s women have been victims of sexual violence and rape as weapons of war of the military junta for over 20 years. Now the body parts the military has used to degrade women are becoming the threat, with the use of women’s intimate apparel to counter the abuses. It’s a peaceful means of promoting democracy by using the misogyny that so far has worked in their favor.

In Burma, men’s clothes, sheets and towels must be kept separate, and offenses are taken seriously. This may seem outlandish to American women – Cosmo and Sex and the City have been convincing us that slipping a little leopard print sumthin’ sumthin’ into a man’s briefcase will disarm him. In Burma, it’s a different kind of disarmament and it will not get you a candlelit dinner.

Panties for Peace encourages women to send a pair of their underpants to the Burmese embassy, preferably with a picture, slogan or a photo of a junta official to disarm attached. Lacy and racy or worn out with ladybugs on them, we all know where they’ve been. And to some, it’s a scary, scary place . . .

The timing couldn’t be better. Cyclone Nargis hit the South Asian nation at the beginning of last month, causing an estimated 2.5 million people to lose shelter. The paranoid military government refused international help from public and private donors alike. The government’s pride has superseded its obligation to the citizens, causing additional harms to already-suffering victims, often hiding them from sight when UN convoys approached.  

The secrecy and mistrust of the junta is not surprising. Totalitarian governments in Cuba and the former USSR and Africa have displayed similar characteristics. Panties for Peace is a new method of taking on the challenge of weakening the old system. Perhaps it is an indicator that we have learned something since the days of the explosive cigar – taking cultural values seriously to dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools. The cross-national aspect of this project is also proof that international cooperation without coercion is possible.

If mailing strangers your undergarments is not your political statement of choice, it’s still good to know that a sense of humor and knowledge of a foreign culture can make an impact where standard diplomacy has been ineffective. If you are keen on the idea, register your special package online with Panties for Peace and send it on its merry way. However, no matter how much the human rights abuses of the Burma junta anger you, pick a pair from the clean laundry pile. Anything else would just be . . . indecent.

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