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You are here: Home / Women/Dating / Opinion Piece: Is Degrading Thai Women Part of Our European Nature?

Opinion Piece: Is Degrading Thai Women Part of Our European Nature?

It isn’t that I’m not used to the negative stereotyping and degradation of Thai women, it’s just that each time I witness the mindlessness of my fellow Europeans, the more disturbed I become by the ignorance and damage caused by such behaviour.

It seems Thailand can’t be mentioned without some ignoramus making a stupid comment based on pub rumour / the experiences of a sex tourist. A prime example of this was a dinner I recently attended with some friends and associates.

A few members of the party had previously holidayed in Thailand, others had heard about Thailand through friends, and naturally, with my presence, the conversation took a Thai theme. It wasn’t long before the comments started to fly and Thai women became the punching bag.

One of the guys explained that he had gone for a Thai massage to heal a neck problem, this statement was then met with rude comments pertaining to Thai women and oral sex.

Another guy in the group then told of a woman he knew who had recently returned from a business trip in Thailand and had witnessed Thai women putting darts in their private parts at a show.

The jokes continued to spill, and even when someone tried to describe a non-sexual experience of the country, he or she was met with a barrage of double entendres and sleazy comments.

What’s strange to me is that the general perception of Thailand is one of a huge knocking shop, a country consumed by sex, yet except for a few strips in the major tourist areas, not only is this completely inaccurate, but totally out of sync with what is in fact a prudish nation by nature.

Thai women (generally) don’t like to openly speak about sex and are not open about their relationships. Funnily enough, it is European women who have a reputation in Thailand for showing cleavage, getting naked and being somewhat promiscuous – yet it is we who point fingers.

Bar Stool Experiences Are Not a Reflection of Everyday Thailand

Even more disturbing is that the negative imagery engrained on the minds of foreigners is passed on by the most unreliable of sources – tourists who spend weeks on end sitting drunk on bar stools, sleeping with prostitutes and never getting outside of the hedonistic circus.

Thailand is known throughout the world for the red light strips of Bangkok (all three of them) and a few scattered amongst the tourist islands. But then Amsterdam is also famed for its prostitution.

And indeed the group I had dined with that night had recently been to Amsterdam. Yet Dutch women are not perpetually referred to as potential prostitutes or constantly degraded in jest.

No, Holland gets away with being a place where prostitution is legal. English women also escape punishment, even though we have Soho in London and a wealth of street prostitution up and down the country, not to mention endless adverts for visiting massage services online, in local papers and magazine supplements.

And let us not forget the numerous times Spearmint Rhino and other strip clubs have been exposed for prostitution.

If a Thai man spoke about English, or European, women in the way we European men speak about Thai women, he would be verbally abused. But we think its fine to tarnish an entire nation of women with the sex worker brush.

“He’s got a Thai girlfriend”, “Did she used to work in a bar/is she a ladyboy?”

Would you ask a friend if their European-born girlfriend, or mum, used to be a prostitute? I very much doubt it.

How Did Thai Women Get This Reputation?

So how and why did the Thai female come to be seen in this light?

Largely because of the Vietnam War, actually.

To simplify the story, American forces had a huge presence in Thailand during the war, and carried out 80% of air strikes on North Vietnam from air bases situated mainly in the North East of Thailand.

At the request of the U.S. government, Thailand provided rest and recreation services (R&R) to U.S. servicemen, which the Americans affectionately labelled I&I, intercourse and intoxication.

The war injected $16m into the Thai economy year on year, money that would need replacing by some means when the war ended.

During their stay, some servicemen took girlfriends and some took wives, many had mistresses and took care of their needs financially.

But with the servicemen gone, tourism rising and the rich-poor divide increasing, many of those involved in R&R were lured to the capital for more I&I with foreign tourists.

Subsequently, Pattaya, Soi Cowboy, Nana and other sex areas were established, and ever since, the government has allowed Thai women from the poorer sectors of society to sell sex discreetly (r not so) in these areas.

Of course this suits them because it injects money into the economy and acts as a self-serving welfare system.

Would We Speak the Same Way if They Were White?

Contrary to popular belief, the concept of Go-Go bars and “Bargirls” actually originates from China. The concept migrated to Thailand as demand rose for this trend. Statistically, both China and Japan have bigger sex industries than Thailand.

In fact, it is estimated less than 1.7% of the population work in the sex industry (men and women), so why the funny looks when a person says they live in Thailand, or they have a Thai girlfriend, or would like to visit the country?

Arguably, Thailand has no more sex available then any European country, so I wonder if there is a deeper issue at hand?

I ask, if we were to consider Thai’s as “white”, would we condemn their women in the same way?

That might sound far-fetched, but the same people who demonise Thai women are for the most part the same who make racist and bigoted comments about other non-whites.

Some Europeans make a habit out of stereotyping entire ‘dark skinned’ countries over the actions of a minority of their citizens, but as Europeans we would never admit that copious amounts of our own women are stripping and sleeping with men for money.

Seldom do conversations concerning Thailand speak of beautiful temples, serene landscape, provincial diversity, an interesting amalgamation of eastern culture or the fact that its people are some of the kindest, dearest, friendliest in the world.

No, generally we would rather focus on the men who flock to Thailand each year and pay peanuts to sleep with under-privileged women whose lives have put them in a position none of us would choose for our own daughters, mothers or sisters.

We would rather come back home and speak about a show where a woman is completely degraded through the firing of ping-pong balls out of her vagina than speak of the hospitality of Northern Thailand, fine architecture of the Grand Palace or amazing beaches.

And because of that, Thai women are thought of in a derogatory way. They are not seen as individuals, but as a collective representation of a few seedy sex strips in a foreign land.

But then this is what we are good at. We Europeans have been doing this for centuries, going around the world degrading, judging, manipulating and stealing; all in the name of progression, self satisfaction and enjoyment.

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Comments Sort by : newest | oldest

  1. J says

    February 12, 2021 at 5:08 am

    I think is a-shame that’ women of any culture, country, skin type, religious believes or anything else should be judged by anyone !! Yes some women like sex and so what !! Some women don’t !! Some women want marriage some don’t !! Some women want kids some don’t !! It is not decided by your country of birth, your skin colour nor your religion!! So stop all this negative racist comments we are all humans at the end of the day !! Show love not hate !! If you don’t agree with someone’s behaviour then don’t get involved !!
    Reply

    Feb 12, 2021 at 5:08 am

    • TheThailandLife says

      February 12, 2021 at 4:53 pm

      Spot on!
      Reply

      Feb 12, 2021 at 4:53 pm

  2. Sirin says

    March 29, 2019 at 6:30 pm

    Thank you so much .... I almost lost my faith in expats in Thailand as they always treat me disrespectfully and think they are smarter, even in a professional environment.
    Numerous websites said Thai women are lying and easy to have sex with.

    For me, with my upbringing, I would say that might be because of the type of girls foreigners like. I don’t hang with those girls who make it their job to find a westerner as a husband and dress purposely to get a man.

    Scammers are bad people not smart ones. A Thai wife who runs away from her husband with money is a bad person who betrays trust. The same as westerners nowadays talking nice just to have sex with Thai women and bragging about it online, as another woman among the 50 other ones he get in to bed in 3 months.

    From my view, when seeing such comments toward women, I feel pity for them. Look, a fat old narcissist man who is a no one in their home country dating a beautiful woman half his age. They can’t communicate much together, and he treats the woman like a maid + sex slave.

    Now, for all the suffering he endures when she is gone, and then he calls it love? Funny ,right? Besides money, what makes him attractive? If the women in his home country don't love him, why should a Thai woman? Bad attitude is what brings him there and that was the price for a woman to pretend that she loves him.
    Reply

    Mar 29, 2019 at 6:30 pm

    • TheThailandLife says

      March 29, 2019 at 7:08 pm

      Hi Sirin, thank you for your comments. Unfortunately there are Thai women who are desperate for a foreign boyfriend or any man with money so that they can have a better life. Let's face it, a lot of these women come from poor backgrounds and already have children that they need to take care of. So they play a numbers game: they look for foreign men and go out with as many foreign men as possible, hoping that sooner or later they will meet a man who wants to stay with them and take care of them. But this is not exclusive to Thailand; this happens the world over.On the other side many of the men are simply taking advantage of this situation and sleeping with as many women as possible. I don't have a problem with adults making the choice to have sex with each other, and of course men and women both discuss their sexual exploits with their close friends, but what I don't like is to hear men degrading women and generalising about a whole race of women based on a few experiences with a certain type of woman from a certain sector of society. It is unnecessary.And, why is the woman always judged and not the man? Why is a man congratulated for telling 5 women he really likes them and wants to have some sort of relationship, just to get them into bed? But if a woman does the same she is a slag, slut, prostitute, etc.Honestly, whether CEO, cleaner or prostitute, I try to be polite and courteous to all women, unless they are rude to me :) You never know what people have been through, and what they are going through.
      Reply

      Mar 29, 2019 at 7:08 pm

  3. Kevin says

    January 28, 2019 at 11:52 pm

    Thais in general , are very derogatory to dark skin, racist to Myanmar , next Indiana’s , Arabs and don’t like Chinese , even with many Thais looking like Chinese . On the flip side, they look up to whites as superior and rich, even if a white guy is an unemployed dole bludger or lives off social security.

    So, apart from this, Thai women in general are stereotyped as women who are just after your money and sex is certainly easily available. Now this is partly true. In fact, single decent men are ashamed to tell family and friends in Australia that they are going to Thailand. In general. For fear of being branded perverts.

    One thing I have encounted is white guys are in huge denial that they are favoured and looked up to because of Thai perception of skin colour while at the same time, lapping it up to full advantage.
    Reply

    Jan 28, 2019 at 11:52 pm

    • TheThailandLife says

      January 29, 2019 at 7:18 pm

      Thais can be racist, as can anyone else. I have been racially abused in Thailand, but also in the UK. And I'm white. But Thailand is a largely homogeneous, insular society and therefore you would expect a different perspective - and they wouldn't view their views as necessarily racist. For example, they think Indians, in general, smell bad and are stingy. This stems from encounters with Indian tourists. They think the Chinese are rude and primitive; again, this stems from encounters with mainland Chinese people and the horror stories detailed in the press. They tend not to like Arabs because they treat women badly and are Islamic (remember Thais have all grown up with the Southern insurgence). Is this racism or just stereotyping a race/culture based on experience? I think the lines can blur here depending on the type of society you have grown up in."On the flip side, they look up to whites as superior and rich, even if a white guy is an unemployed dole bludger or lives off social security."I think this is only true for a certain sector of society. Maybe for a naive girl from the provinces who lands in Bangkok with only movies and stories of other women marrying rich white men as a reference. And for such a woman, from a poor background, even a monthly social security cheque is a steady and comparably good income. But for a middle class Thai, or one with a half-decent upbringing and education, they are fully aware that not all "white" people are wealthy, and indeed they may be much wealthier than "old whitey">
      Reply

      Jan 29, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    • Annika says

      January 17, 2021 at 10:18 pm

      As for myself, I was adopted from Bangkok, when I was six weeks old, by white Swedish parents, brought up in Sweden obviously and I now live in England, but yes I've had a lot of racist skirts from both white, black and Asian men in regards to my adoption. It's crunchy at times. I normally just bitch back at racists arseholes and there's freeloaders in all race groups, after all the Eastern Europeans and South Americans, even the whites, are normally freeloaders
      Reply

      Jan 17, 2021 at 10:18 pm

  4. Annika W says

    February 25, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    I was adopted from Thailand at six weeks old, by white Swedish parents and brought up in Sweden, now residing in the UK. I hate how men judge you, was sexually harassed by men from all race groups, especially when blacks and muslims etc would shout racist, when it suits them. Hypocrites. I've had some retarded comments, but having friends who lean to the right of politics, I've learned to answer a retarded question with a retarded answer. PERVERTS!!!!
    Reply

    Feb 25, 2018 at 9:47 pm

  5. Matt S. says

    June 27, 2017 at 10:24 am

    I think the West (as a whole) may be a civilization obsessed with race. If you look at the western art, they've been idolizing their likeness in the stone and bronze sculptures for millennia. No other advance culture did this.

    Anyway I just want to point out that the Thais, despite their cultural preference of white skin, are one of the most non-racial society I've ever seen in the world. I mean "Thai" is not a race, that word just denotes the nationality, not a racial markers. The Thais never discriminate among themselves whether they are of Chinese origins or of ethnic Mon, Lao or Khmer (Isaan people). If you think about it, 90% of the sex workers in Bangkok and other tourist destination in the country are Isaan people. In any other country, this fact will doubtless lead to ethnic shaming. But in Thailand, Isaan people are just folks at the lower income ladder. Central Thais people think of Isaan folks much like the way Americans call poor white in the South "redneck" or "Dixie."

    Like you said, white Europeans tend to have strong biased against colored or ethnic sex workers. I believe one of the reasons why Thais have such a great tolerance toward prostitution or the sex industry is because of the lack of racial distinction/discrimination/awareness in their society. They don't see that "otherness" in the poor sex workers.

    The other reason is probably the buddhist culture which emphasize the responsibility of one's own action. Devout Thai Buddhists know that they are not responsible for the prostitution because they do not participate in it. It's the (white or Japanese) tourists who buy services from the girls. At the same time, Thais view poverty as resulting from bad karma (in past lives) and feel that the poor sex bar girls did not have much choice either. So they tend to refrain from judging other.
    Reply

    Jun 27, 2017 at 10:24 am

  6. KrOjah says

    June 23, 2017 at 8:25 am

    Thais are not prudish anymore in sexual matters. Youngsters date, experiment, wear skimpy clothing clothing and on a world scale there is definitely a sexual energy about the whole nation.

    Regarding the p4p scene, you mentioned the 3 red light districts targeted towards foreigners in BKK, but forgot to mention the huge scene there is for Thai males where brothels are a plenty in every city and a town that surely has the largest red light district in the world in Pattaya.

    Now whilst I do not think any of that is bad necessarily, I do think you are panting a picture of Thailand in your mind that is simply not the reality.
    Reply

    Jun 23, 2017 at 8:25 am

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