Do You Sometimes Enjoy Being the “Token White Guy” in Asia? Do You Charge Money for Your Services?

[GammaGlobulin]

Dear Fellows,

 

I have been here in Asia a very long time, practically since before most of you were born.

 

During this time in Asia, I have been asked to do many things, simply due to my lighter shade of pale.

 

I have been asked to do casual photo shoots to promote products in various Asian countries, just using my white skin which is the color of Jasmine Rice.

 

I never charge money for these photos. I allow people to photograph me for free. I mean, if I charged money for this, then I would, in my mind, be prostituting myself.

 

I do not consider myself to be extremely good looking, even though the girls in Pattaya would say I’m handsomer than most white people.

 

I have been asked to work for companies solely as a result of my skin color.

 

I do not mind it when companies such as these so obviously objectify me.

 

There is an interesting phrase in Chinese which describes this situation: “to be a vase” (当花瓶)

 

Some white guys become perturbed when they are singled out for being white.

 

Not me!

 

I don’t care if I am white.

Being white has never troubled me.

 

If anybody wants to single me out for being white, or wishes to call me white, then I am not bothered in the least.

 

Just don’t call me some oreo cookie, white on the outside, dark on the inside, because I am not.

 

My advice is to not charge money for your white skin

 

If somebody wants to pay you money for a photo, then just smile, and say that you don’t take money for beauty.

 

Never prostitute oneself for one’s skin color.

Otherwise, this will be one’s first step to eventual moral ruin.

 

So then, how many times have you been asked to be a “white vase” for a company, a photo, for a promotion, in Asia?

 

I am guessing countless times.

 

Just smile.

But don’t take money in return.

 

Personally, many years ago, I forgot I was white.

Even when I stare in the mirror in the mornings, I do not recognize myself as being a white person, these days.

 

It’s quite strange, really: The human brain tricks us into believing that we are, more or less, the same as the group we hang with.

 

Even John Merrick often was lulled into this state of feeling himself part of the group.

 

Thankfully, I am handsomer than Merrick, but maybe only on the outside.

 

Never take money just for being white, is my advice, or you may live to regret it, like John Merrick.

 

Best regards,

Gamma

[HuskerDo2]

You come nowhere close to making a point on anything. What is this supposed to mean? 

 

You are a white guy who doesn't see himself as white yet many people want to photograph you because you are white and you don't charge them. Also, you are more handsome than some other white people that no one has ever heard of. W-T-F? 

[GammaGlobulin]

23 minutes ago, HuskerDo2 said:

You come nowhere close to making a point on anything. What is this supposed to mean? 

 

You are a white guy who doesn't see himself as white yet many people want to photograph you because you are white and you don't charge them. Also, you are more handsome than some other white people that no one has ever heard of. W-T-F? 

You have almost perfectly summed up some of the points of this topic. 

 

I am just a white guy in Asia. 

 

Yet, sometimes, Asian people objectify me due to the color of my skin. 

 

These days, it's all the rage to discuss the objectification of women. And, these days, everybody gets in a righteous huff about it. 

 

But what very few people talk about is the objectification of white men in Asia. 

 

For example:

 

Five years ago, I was walking through a country village in Sichuan. One of the villagers approached me. He asked me if I wouldn't mind posing for a photo, dressed up in Qing Dynasty costume so that he could take a photo. His intention was to put my photo on a billboard in order to promote his beef noodle shops. 

 

He just wanted white beefcake, I guess. 

 

Naturally, I was flattered and acquiesced to his demand. 

 

However, most days, unless some villager asks me for a photo of me standing with his wife, just for laughs, I do forget that I am white. 

 

Even now, it's once in a blue moon that I see another white man. And, concerning white women? The only white women I have seen during the past three years is on YouTube. 

 

The only women I see around here are not the white ones. 

 

That's the way I like it. 

 

That's the way I've liked it since before the Y2K bug. 

 

Being an oddity in a foreign land is not new to me. 

 

I have only one white friend, and he is in NYC, a professor of Linguistics, not Steven Pinker from McGill. 

 

 

 

 

[papa al]

holy <deleted>

[HuskerDo2]

Just now, GammaGlobulin said:

You have almost perfectly summed up some of the points of this topic. 

 

I am just a white guy in Asia. 

 

Yet, sometimes, Asian people objectify me due to the color of my skin. 

 

These days, it's all the rage to discuss the objectification of women. And, these days, everybody gets in a righteous huff about it. 

 

But what very few people talk about is the objectification of white men in Asia. 

 

For example:

 

Five years ago, I was walking through a country village in Sichuan. One of the villagers approached me. He asked me if I wouldn't mind posing for a photo, dressed up in Qing Dynasty costume so that he could take a photo. His intention was to put my photo on a billboard in order to promote his beef noodle shops. 

 

He just wanted white beefcake, I guess. 

 

Naturally, I was flattered and acquiesced to his demand. 

 

However, most days, unless some villager asks me for a photo of me standing with his wife, just for laughs, I do forget that I am white. 

 

Even now, it's once in a blue moon that I see another white man. And, concerning white women? The only white women I have seen during the past three years is on YouTube. 

 

The only women I see around here are not the white ones. 

 

That's the way I like it. 

 

That's the way I've liked it since before the Y2K bug. 

 

Being an oddity in a foreign land is not new to me. 

 

I have only one white friend, and he is in NYC, a professor of Linguistics, not Steven Pinker from McGill. 

 

 

 

 

You are absolutely in love with yourself. Did you see how many times you used "I" above? None of your post makes any sense. Just looking to tell everyone how great you are I guess.

 

"I have only one white friend"... why am I not surprised and he's on the other side of the world.

 

[GammaGlobulin]

18 minutes ago, HuskerDo2 said:

You are absolutely in love with yourself. Did you see how many times you used "I" above? None of your post makes any sense. Just looking to tell everyone how great you are I guess.

 

"I have only one white friend"... why am I not surprised and he's on the other side of the world.

 

Yes. But it was not always this way. 

 

In the past, he taught in China for a spell, until TianAnMen. 

 

TianAnMen freaked him out. He left Asia never to return. He wrote a book about his experiences, a fine collection of essays. 

 

Nowadays, it's only me, the last one standing, the Last White Mohican in Asia... 

 

Alas... 

 

 

[HuskerDo2]

Just now, GammaGlobulin said:

Yes. But it was not always this way. 

 

In the past, he taught in China for a spell, until TianAnMen. 

 

TianAnMen freaked him out. He left Asia never to return. He wrote a book about his experiences, a fine collection of essays. 

 

Nowadays, it's only me, the last one standing, the Last White Mohekan in Asia... 

 

Alas... 

Does anyone have a butterfly net?

[jerrymahoney]

5 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Just don’t call me some oreo cookie, white on the outside, dark on the inside, because I am not.

Oreo cookies are dark on the outside, white on the inside

 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

I'm not white, but easily pass for it, the same way many farangs can't tell the difference between the different Thais and their ancestral origins. Indeed, out here in Issan one tends to get a lot of attn being the token farang, given there's not many of us around here. As OP stated we often get dragged into photo ops, and as teachers we annoyingly get called to join special events, even if we won't really be participating, as of course we must be there for the photos. As OP stated about the restaurant, our presence adds credence to the value of whatever it is we're involved in, or at least photographed with, as if to say oh wow look, this is of international standard, I suppose. 

[GammaGlobulin]

19 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

Oreo cookies are dark on the outside, white on the inside

 

There is a Chinese idiom which means: There is nothing that does not exist in China. I have enjoyed Oreo knockoffs which have a white cookie on the outside and dark chocolate on the inside.

 

And, that's the way I like them.

[gearbox]

The problem with your generation is that many of you haven't noticed that is not the mid 20th century anymore. We are entering 2023 in less than 2 weeks and nobody wants a photo with a white guy or a black guy just because of their skin colour.

[GammaGlobulin]

12 minutes ago, gearbox said:

The problem with your generation is that many of you haven't noticed that is not the mid 20th century anymore. We are entering 2023 in less than 2 weeks and nobody wants a photo with a white guy or a black guy just because of their skin colour.

You are only able to naively say such a thing because you have never tasted brown sugar. 

 

Brown sugar, as everybody knows, is not the same. 

 

 

[Boomer6969]

23 minutes ago, gearbox said:

problem with your generation

The problem with your's is that hypocritical posturing has been made law.

[HappyExpat57]

6 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I have been here in Asia a very long time, practically since before most of you were born.

I don't think you understand the audience in this forum. MOST of us are old mongerers.

 

I am the only pale face in a school where I teach, so yeah, I was chosen due to my color and I get paid well for what I do.

[sezze]

TBH , i never think about being a white guy , neither do i think about others in any shade . I never looked in the mirror thinking , damn i am a white guy . Neither did i ever looked at others thinking she is black , green , yellow or any other color . I do see the darker or lighter color , like he/she is African , he/she is Asian , or European , but i never think like in colors. Yes the background does do something , like a EU person is different then somebody from Asia or Africa , but not at all in the way you think . I personally think the simple way you think is just racist .

[GammaGlobulin]

28 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I don't think you understand the audience in this forum. MOST of us are old mongerers.

 

I am the only pale face in a school where I teach, so yeah, I was chosen due to my color and I get paid well for what I do.

Haha!

 

I think it is YOU that does not understand that I don't care about the audience in this forum!

 

As for your calling yourself a "pale face", I am just pleased that you picked up on the James Fenimore Cooper allusion, because I was not sure you had it in you to do so...

 

[GammaGlobulin]

25 minutes ago, sezze said:

TBH , i never think about being a white guy , neither do i think about others in any shade . I never looked in the mirror thinking , damn i am a white guy . Neither did i ever looked at others thinking she is black , green , yellow or any other color . I do see the darker or lighter color , like he/she is African , he/she is Asian , or European , but i never think like in colors. Yes the background does do something , like a EU person is different then somebody from Asia or Africa , but not at all in the way you think . I personally think the simple way you think is just racist .

But then, TBH, are you really being honest with yourself? 

 

[spidermike007]

I keep asking for a 500 baht tip, but none comply! 

[KhunLA]

I don't know about token honky, but being the 'rich single' guy at bar/club sure doesn't hurt your prospects of leaving with some fine company.

 

We are all millionaires after all, and millionaires in any country don't have to P4P, if having any intelligence at all.  Being handsome doesn't hurt either.

[gearbox]

59 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

The problem with your's is that hypocritical posturing has been made law.

Yeah keep deluding yourself that you are the Big Bwana and the natives are queuing to take a photo with you..

[sezze]

1 minute ago, GammaGlobulin said:

But then, TBH, are you really being honest with yourself? 

 

yes , being honest to myself , i never ever think in the morning evening or any other time , thank god i am xxx color . I never even thought about anybody thinking like that . I am on internet and im drinking some beer so i can talk open ... i am racist in many of peoples believes here in Belgium . I do however never ever come close to your vision of the world . I never think bad about people based on color . Color is where you born , and your parents , more sun=darker . I do not think bad about that .I really mean when i say , your view on the world is very racist . Never i would even mildly think , oh i look in the mirror and say , thank god i am white ... that is a disgrace to me and i really cannot understand such kind of thinking .

 

[GammaGlobulin]

47 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I don't think you understand the audience in this forum. MOST of us are old mongerers.

 

I am the only pale face in a school where I teach, so yeah, I was chosen due to my color and I get paid well for what I do.

Furthermore, I think you do not understand why I come to this forum.

 

I come here simply because there are a few here who seem to have a wickedly dry and biting sense of humor, well written.

 

Sometimes I come here to be derided.

 

If I were not derided, often enough, I would leave this forum.

 

I love to be mocked and ridiculed without mercy.

 

This is the main reason I am here.

 

 

[phetphet]

I have been both visiting and living in Thailand since the early '90's. Also visited several other Asian countries. Including quite a few Philippine destinations.  Perhaps it's because I tend to stay mainly in tourist areas, but even when I have ventured further afield I can't recall ever feeling like the 'token' white guy.

 

Had a few double takes. But that's to be expected. Friendly people saying hello or asking where I am from.

Never been asked to pose for photos. Maybe they can surmise that I would charge them. ????

 

Rural China might be a different kettle of fish. But I haven't been there.

 

[GammaGlobulin]

26 minutes ago, sezze said:

yes , being honest to myself , i never ever think in the morning evening or any other time , thank god i am xxx color . I never even thought about anybody thinking like that . I am on internet and im drinking some beer so i can talk open ... i am racist in many of peoples believes here in Belgium . I do however never ever come close to your vision of the world . I never think bad about people based on color . Color is where you born , and your parents , more sun=darker . I do not think bad about that .I really mean when i say , your view on the world is very racist . Never i would even mildly think , oh i look in the mirror and say , thank god i am white ... that is a disgrace to me and i really cannot understand such kind of thinking .

 

I agree with you that skin color makes no difference to me, simply because I am better than that.

And, also because, I prefer to live in a place where skin color is all the same color, except mine.

 

However, if I were not white, like Jasmine Rice, and if my skin were black, for example, then I still would not mind being a Token Black Man.

 

And, ALSO, I am fairly thick-skinned.

So, I don't mind being called a token anything.

 

Culture, on the other hand, is important to me.

 

 

[sezze]

12 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I agree with you that skin color makes no difference to me, simply because I am better than that.

And, also because, I prefer to live in a place where skin color is all the same color, except mine.

 

However, if I were not white, like Jasmine Rice, and if my skin were black, for example, then I still would not mind being a Token Black Man.

 

And, ALSO, I am fairly thick-skinned.

So, I don't mind being called a token anything.

 

Culture, on the other hand, is important to me.

 

 

No , i know as a white ( aka farang) i am entitled to some priviledges , but i also pay more then a Thai person . Imho , that is my benefit ... i am entitled to pay extra for everything . I do not mind , i do my thing and as long as they act normal to me i am fine . I do understand i am the foreigner in their country and i do not speak their language perfectly .

[HappyExpat57]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Haha!

 

I think it is YOU that does not understand that I don't care about the audience in this forum!

 

As for your calling yourself a "pale face", I am just pleased that you picked up on the James Fenimore Cooper allusion, because I was not sure you had it in you to do so...

 

I called you on a mistaken sentence. If you don't care, then how can we ever consider anything you post as true? Or do you just post nonsense to get a reaction?

[jerrymahoney]

2 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

There is a Chinese idiom which means: There is nothing that does not exist in China. I have enjoyed Oreo knockoffs which have a white cookie on the outside and dark chocolate on the inside.

 

And, that's the way I like them.

Knockoffs in China? Who knows what is in 'em.

 

As Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell sang:

 

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing (baby)

[Ralf001]

3 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

You are absolutely in love with yourself. .

 

He's just a stupid <deleted> troll that for some reason the moderators tolerate.

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

Does anyone have a butterfly net?

Under the circumstances, I think a straitjacket is a better option.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

This is the main reason I am here.

 

 

IMO the main reason you are here is attention-seeking.