Thai Men Staring

[mikethevigoman]

Maybe I'm oversensitive/paranoid, but I find that in Thailand men stare much more openly than back home. In Australia if I catch someone looking at me, they look away, but over here if I look back at them and even if I frown back at them they usually they just keep staring until I am out of sight, and it makes me very uncomfortable. I am 23 (but look about 16) and living here by myself, and the people who do it are often Thai men old enough to be my dad. Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure my dad looks at young girls too, but I'd like to think he'd be a bit more discrete about it. It's the fact that they are so obvious about it and clearly don't care what I think that makes me feel so uncomfortable, combined I suppose with the Thai stereotype of farang women being sluts.

I'm wondering how you other women deal with it (say something, ignore it etc) or if you just don't notice it or don't let it get to you.

Unfortunatly most thai men think of western women as easy and loose,. whereas Westerners think of all thai women as prostitutes,. both are wrong,.now you may know how thai women feel

Edited April 15, 2007 by mikethevigoman

[DirkGently]

Good point, well made mikethevigoman. I have heard western ladies calling all Thai women hookers in the same breath they regale others with how they picked a guy up in the Londoner.

I was unlucky enough to work with an American lady that was convinced that she had read that 80 somthing % of thai women were prostitutes. Stupid cow.

The FACT that many British girls (I speak from experience) have many more partners, more STD's and for free than most Thai women proberbly do go some way to providing a false image of western women to Thai men.

or it could be that they have bigger boobs.

[November Rain]

Messrs Vigoman & Gently,

If I asked you really nicely, would it be possible to generalise just a little bit more? I'm sure there are tiny parts of your posts that weren't complete stereotyping...

"Westerners think of all Thai women as prostitutes" - really? Interesting view there, Mr Vigoman. Do I take it you're a Westerner & that's how you know? Funny that, I'm a Westerner too, with many Thai friends (male & female) & very few of them are prostitutes (a couple are, but I don't think that, I know it). Most are ordinary people with ordinary lives.

And Mr Gently... Those "FACT"s about British girls - I take it you have the statistics on hand to prove those FACTs? Links to medical websites about STDs etc? Oh, no, I misread, it's based on your vast experience, isn't it? And how many of those millions of British women that would make up "most", do you know personally? I've never met you, so that's one down...

If the comments you attribute to the Western women Mr Gently, were truthfully made by a Western woman (or more) & not just a product of your imagination, then, I agree, they are wrong and indefensible. Having said that, I've lived out here for more than 5 years & never heard a view like that from a Western woman. I've heard it from Western men, though, strangely.

[sbk]

Dirkgently, is that supposed to be an ironic name?

Regardless, dirkgently and mikethevigoman , before posting in the ladies section again may I suggest you read the rules for posting in this forum. If you are incapable of following those rules then please refrain from posting here and keep your vitriol for some other section of the forum.

As for the idea that Thai people stare. Well, some Thai people. Where I live (and I mean the entire Surat Thani province) it is considered quite rude to stare at someone and when I have been out with my husband, even into the mountains on the mainland where they never see a farang, I never get stared at. I am sure its because I am with my husband but again, it just goes to show that not all Thai people think it acceptable behavior to stare.

One point my husband made, and perhaps this only applies to the upper Southern provinces, but if you stare at the wrong person (or his wife) you may just find yourself shot.

[girlx]

actually i have heard that staring at a thai is the best way to incite a fight? haven't tested that out myself, but it wouldn't surprise me. i don't think it is normal for thais to stare, as it goes against their own code of behavior... if you are stared at it is most likely a- innocuous, out of curiosity and amazement at your uniqueness as a foreigner, or b- out of an uneducated belief that farang women enjoy being stared at and are just waiting for the guy to snap his fingers so she can jump into bed with him. i find the latter quite often from fishermen and laborers in my area, and i give them a pointed glare and move on, nothing more to it. in the former instance, i usually smile and raise my eyebrows and the person blushes and realizes that they have embarassed me. either way, i don't see why it's such a big deal.

Edited April 15, 2007 by girlx