Celebrating Breasts with Embroidery: An Interview with Jetaime

Jetaime is a model, mom, and craftswoman selling embroidered tops celebrating breasts of all sizes on her Instagram account @jetaime_kantan. You can also find her modeling work on her account @jetaimetuna.

In our Thai-speaking episode of The F Word podcast, we sat down with Jetaime to discuss her journey with her brand, as well as her struggle with body image and slut-shaming. This is an English transcript of the interview.

How did you start your brand?

I used to work at a jewelry company and I was not happy working at a 9-5 job. So I wanted to start something on my own. At first, I was unsure, but I found this account on Instagram; she does embroidery work. I thought it was so fascinating and I didn't see this being done in Thailand, so I became obsessed with her work. I thought, why not try doing this?

I tried to find the right needle, I looked through all the comments just to find out what thread she used. I experimented and tried embroidering with my pants. I was so proud of it and I posted it on Instagram. It took me three days to learn the technique.

It started as a personal passion and I never thought I'd make a business out of it. But posting it on Instagram that day led to someone asking to buy it from me. I did the second one, the third one, and people kept asking to buy it. So I started selling them.

Why breasts?

At the time I saw that a lot of people around me weren't happy with their proportions. My friends would ask me for advice; they were feeling pressured to have bigger breasts, asking me if they should get surgery.

So I wanted to make something that celebrates small breasts. Something that would encourage them to be proud of themselves.

So I started embroidering breast silhouettes. Back then it was just an outline, with no details.

And my husband is an illustrator so he would help plan the sketches. The design evolved to what we have today.

I wanted to make something that celebrates small breasts

I feel that every woman possesses an inner beauty, but a lot of the time women get pressured by society - you have to be pale, you have to have a smaller waist. That's external. I feel like even if you are confident internally, I think that's a success on its own. It means you are going past the limitation that society has handed to you.

What is your journey with self-confidence?

When I was starting puberty, the things I was most unhappy about were my shoulders and my height because I was an athlete, a swimmer, so I was always bigger than my friends. I would get made fun of. I was taller, I developed breasts first.

I told my mom that I wish I was smaller, that my shoulders were narrower. My mom cheered me up by telling me how that just meant I would look good in cut-off tops, and it made me felt proud about my shoulders.

I think when you are a teenager you are seeking perfection without even knowing what this perfection means.

Then, later on, it was my thighs. When I got a bit older, I stopped growing and I was shorter than a lot of people. My friends would tell me that my thighs were too big. I tried to solve this by putting plastic wraps around my legs, hoping it would make them smaller.

I think when you are a teenager you are seeking perfection without even knowing what this perfection means. When my mom saw this she scolded me: "What are you doing? Stop it right now. You've got this muscle and not everyone has it. It's a beautiful thing, only an athlete could earn these thighs." She helped me overcome this insecurity too.

You are a very empowered icon on social media and tend to post a lot of provocative photos. Have you ever had to deal with harassment online?

My husband is a photographer and he likes taking nude photography. A friend of his texted him asking if he could see more photos. I saw that and asked my husband to call him so I could confront him.

I told him: "I am not an object that you can just consume, that you can just ask for whenever you like." It was not right. He was looking down on me. And even if I want to post nudes, he should not be acting this way.

Some people messaged me asking: "How much?" And I would just block them.

That wasn't the first time these sorts of things happened to me, though. In high school, I had this guy friend. He thought me playing with him, touching his arm, was flirting. One day, he called and said: "Do you want to go out with me? Come on, go out with me!"

Since I saw him as a friend, I was just confused and told him: "I am happy to have you as a friend."

After that day he changed entirely and went around spreading rumors about me to other boys in the class, and all my guy friends stopped talking to me. In this one English class there was this activity where you were supposed to send anonymous questions to classmates. I got a bunch asking: "How much?" and I recognized their handwriting.

I stopped interacting with that guy because he didn't even respect me as a person, much less a friend.

The reason I don't care now is because I have been through all these things and it builds an immunity.

Do you have other experiences with slut-shaming?

There was also this other instance during my teen years when I was doing pageants. All the contestants were posted online and I saw that I got 300-400 comments on my photo.

But when I looked at the comments, half of it was negative and half of it was positive. These were all anonymous comments because of the way the platform worked. Some of the comments were: "Her? Who knows how many she's slept with." These sorts of comments I have been dealing with since I was a teenager.

No one knows me as well as I know myself.

There would be nice people who come in and defend me. But so many were saying: "She has so many boyfriends!" They would list people out. I was just 14 at the time. I cried right in front of the computer when I saw this and my family got worried about me.

This issue got to my school and they tried to see if it was someone inside the school bullying me, but they couldn't find anyone. It made me felt so bad because it wasn't even true. It was just that I had a lot of upper-class men flirting with me, so people looked at me a certain way.

My neighbor loved to tell my mom: "Oh, she's going to get pregnant before she finishes middle school, or high school, or university." She has been saying this for the longest time, but my life never turned out that way.

How did you learn to cope with all this?

After a certain point, I realized that I don't need to care. To think, Wait, I am good? My mom told me I am beautiful, so I am beautiful. A part of it could be because the people who are closest to me, like my husband, are supportive of who I am.

I have been through so much that these things don't affect me anymore. At the end of the day, I just think that I like who I am. I am living my life according to what I want; I exercise, I eat when I want to.

No one knows me as well as I know myself.

Tell us about Linda! What is your vision for raising her?

I try to raise her in the most natural way; to just let her be who she is, whether she wants to be whatever gender, or if she wants to experiment, or get skinned knees because she explores. I just want her to be happy with herself.

I have a mom who acts like she is my friend, and I like having that relationship.

I stopped caring what other people might think of how I raise my child. I just care that she gets to become who she is. I want her to grow up seeing me as a friend she can talk to. I have a mom who acts like she is my friend, and I like having that relationship.

I went to a pub for the first time with my mom, drank alcohol for the first time with my mom. I want to be able to have this closeness with my daughter too.

Any advice to girls struggling with loving themselves and their bodies?

I believe that loving yourself is something you can train yourself to do. You need to learn to reject what you feel isn’t you. You can’t be okay with not being yourself to please other people. You have to try to fulfill yourself within yourself. To be happy with your intrinsic worth.

I believe that loving yourself is something you can train yourself to do.

You shouldn’t put up criteria for you to be happy with yourself, and understand your context. Once you learn to celebrate this personal charisma that exists in living each moment of your life, rather than having anyone else validate it, you stop needing a man or anyone else.

By Blue Rachapradit

Blue is an aspiring illustrator, sometimes poet, living in Bangkok. She is the founder of The F Word art magazine and passionate about the intersection between arts and social activism. You can see more of her illustration as well as her poetry on Instagram at @thisbluecreature.

Photography Allison Joyce

Allison Joyce is an American photojournalist with over a decade of experience working in the United States and internationally. She covers news and human rights stories throughout the region with a special focus on gender issues. In 2019 she was nominated for the Joop Swart Masterclass, and her work has been honored with multiple awards, including from POYI (Pictures of the Year International), South Asian Journalists Association and the NYPPA (New York Press Photographers Association). Her work can be seen at www.AllisonJoyce.com