The Iron Ladies
2000 film by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon

The Iron Ladies (Thai: สตรีเหล็ก or Satree lek) is a 2000 Thai comedy film directed by Youngyooth Thongkonthun and written by Visuttchai Boonyakarnjawa and Jira Maligool. It was Thongkonthun's directorial debut. The film follows the true events of a men's volleyball team, composed mainly of gay and kathoey (transgender) athletes.
In 2003, the combined sequel and prequel called The Iron Ladies 2 (Satree Lek 2) was released. The film is based upon how the characters of The Iron Ladies met, and how they would later reunite for another volleyball tournament.
Plot
The film was released in 2000 and is set in 1996, when the real team competed and won the national championships in Thailand. The two main characters, Mon and Jung, play two gay transgender women, who had been constantly overlooked by volleyball coaches because of their appearance. However, when a local team changes coaches, the new coach holds tryouts for a new team. When Mon and Jung are selected, most of the old players resign, leaving the new coach, Coach Bee, in a sticky predicament.
Mon and Jung are then forced to enlist the help of other gay and transgender friends who they used to play volleyball with in university.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Iron Ladies” as 2000 film by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2000 film by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q962111. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2003 and 1996.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Iron Ladies”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Iron Ladies primary sources, The Iron Ladies archive and Iron research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Iron Ladies”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Iron Ladies” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.