Why Do Farangs Like Thai Girls With Dark Skin ?

[IanForbes]

I think it must be racism. I want to play basketball in the NBA and earn 3 million dollars a year. Just because I'm almost 70, can't jump or shoot a ball through a hoop I think it's racism that's keeping me from getting the multi-million dollar contract I deserve.

[atyclb]

I think it must be racism. I want to play basketball in the NBA and earn 3 million dollars a year. Just because I'm almost 70, can't jump or shoot a ball through a hoop I think it's racism that's keeping me from getting the multi-million dollar contract I deserve.

In the above case it is not racism, simple delusion.

[Heng]

Ageism. Totally improper to suggest that a 70 year old can't go toe to toe with Kobe. After all, we're all the same beneath our skin.

[eurasianthai]

I actually posted a thread on that matter in the ladies forum, wrong forum I guess. So I copy it here

I had a strange encounter yesterday, a girl from a Bangkok car company visited my place.

She wanted us to buy a car, I won't say the brand.

This girl was quite educated, from Chula, but still a bachelor, no boyfriend.

And wanted to get a farang as boyfriend (a quite recent trend actually, not so long ago, it was just forbidden...)

And her question was, why do farang like tanned girls more than white girls?

Well, maybe it does not really matter for foreigners...

[atyclb]

When I was in a HS basketball team and considered decent, I played many one on one half court games with my friend Nancy Lieberman (later played on womens pro team and US olympic team if I am not mistaken). I never won against her. I was within 2-3 points but could never win. I am not as tall, nor as talented as Kobe but one on one with him would be an exhausting and LOSING experience, as I have played former high powered college guys. I would love to play with him to meet him and joke a bit, a great talent indeed.

[atyclb]

I actually posted a thread on that matter in the ladies forum, wrong forum I guess. So I copy it here

I had a strange encounter yesterday, a girl from a Bangkok car company visited my place.

She wanted us to buy a car, I won't say the brand.

This girl was quite educated, from Chula, but still a bachelor, no boyfriend.

And wanted to get a farang as boyfriend (a quite recent trend actually, not so long ago, it was just forbidden...)

And her question was, why do farang like tanned girls more than white girls?

Well, maybe it does not really matter for foreigners...

Perhaps it has something to do with those girls (Chula or otherwise educated, white or dark skin) not hanging out at Gullivers, Lucifers, or Beer Garden?????? Correct me if I am mistaken please.....

[Tongdee]

Whiter Thai Girls are accustomed to a lot of attention from Thai people who almost all find them to be very beutiful. This makes most (not all) very full of themselves and a pain in the arse, conseited & uppity. The darker Thais dont get such attention and in fact get the opposit treatment which makes them (again not all) somewhat humble & relish the attention they do get. A few compliments and wow. The whiter girls know theres a line-up to get some, as there always has been. The darker girls find someone that does find them beutiful, that someone gets "the Treatment". While attractivenes at a glance will bring men in, "The Treatment" will keep them around. It keeps me around anyway.....

[Eggmeng]

plain and simple racism is quite rampant whether it be overt or covert. many dark skin thais are educated and still face discrimination. MLK said a man should be judged on the content of his character, not the color of his skin. i dont know if there is a thai equivalent of MLK.

You might argue that sadly, Coco Chanel was more influential than Martin Luther King, in her way.

Apparantly until around the early twenties, European women valued white skin at least as much as Asians for status reasons. Then one summer Ms. Chanel, who was the standard bearer of her time and a fashion icon, spent some time lying on the beach in the South of France, and returned to Paris honey colored. Womens' fashion in Europe changed overnight, much as mens' did when JFK appeared on national television the first time without a hat.

I'm not saying European women wanted to be black from that point on, but many people decided a less chalky skin color had its allure.

I think Thailand is likely to get their Coco Chanel before they get their MLK.

On a separate note, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit this, but despite the fact that I have no preference for skin color, after I'd been here many years, I was more comfortable in public with my light skinned Thai girlfriends, than I was with the darker skinned ones.

[Heng]

Yeah, Issanites are so different when they are well to do.

[webfact]

It doesn't appear that anyone has crossed the line yet, but be aware about "racism".

So lets be very careful in the words we chose when discussing this topic.

[JulianLS]

To clarify the desire for tan skin amongst farangs...

This was not always the case. 100+ years ago, European's favoured desired white skin too.... Elizabeth I put more white powder on her face than any Isaan girl; Victorians carried parasols like thai women do today; and anyone who knows the story "Snow White" will appreciate the association of fairness with beauty.

Why did this change? (1) the industrial revolution which meant that working in the fields was no longer a major occupation. (2) the invention of the jet aircraft, which meant that now tanned skin was a sign of "rich enough to holiday in southern europe" rather than "has to work in the fields.

So the Asian desire for light skin is nothing unusual...

[Tod Daniels]

This question has been paraded out periodically by the illustrious posters on T/V for as long as I’ve been reading this forum.

I get asked the same question by thai men all the time; "Why do foreigners pick dark skinned thai women?"

I believe a LOT of it has to do with where foreigners meet the women who end up becoming their (in)significant others, aka as their "thai-in-tow". It’s far more difficult to meet a 'normal' (read middle working class) thai women with a comparable education and earning parity, than it is to meet women 20+ years younger who are working in the "time-share" or "rent-2-own" industry. The women in the latter category learn engrish as a skill set necessary for employment in their profession.

I do agree that the thais for the most part say the darker someone is the more dirty and or low class they look. Conversely, I've also heard thais say that foreign men/women who are very tan look 'dirty" and/or "lo-so" as well, so it's more a thai thing than a thai man thing.

It seems to stem from the very rigid and inflexible 'class system' which has been in place in this country for eons. It’s as pervasive as it is detrimental to the society as a whole. It stands to reason the more a thai is out in the sun the darker they'll be. To a person almost all the bangkok thais I know look down on farmers or rural people for the simple reason they are darker; even though it’s those same people who provide the food for the snooty nose-in-the-air bangkok thais.

When I question them about this mindset, they fall back on the all too often trotted out oxymoron; "you don't understand thai culture". In reality that means, “Don’t make me question the logic behind my way of thinking for I prefer to be a mindless sock-puppet than have an original thought.” Everyone knows how dangerous it can be for a thai to "think too much".

I've met more foreigners with wives and/or (in)significant others who are dark as can be, with little education, and with neither person having anything remotely close to a minimal grasp of the other's mother language, yet they seem happy. Sadly, all too often, the first thing out of their mouth when introducing their wife is "she's a good girl" or "I didn't meet her in a bar". (As if I need to know, or care what their criteria is for their (in)significant other.)

Personally I'd rather buy a puppy than have a partner who I can't talk with. While I don't have a predilection to either light or dark skin per se; with all things being equal (education, income, etc) I'd pick a light skinned thai over a dark one. It is about personal preference and as long as someone else’s preferences don’t impact my life in a detrimental way, I say, “up 2 them”.

[steve73]

Lots of good points being raised and some utter crap, but I must admit to not going through them all as I've only just come across this topic.

But, having lived and worked in T/L, VN, Sing, Indo, Malay, in Asia, and also a couple of weeks in Brazil, I will offer a few opinions.

Generally in hotter climes (& third world regions), HiSo people work indoors (offices, etc), and are pale. LoSo work outdoors (farming, construction, etc) so obviously get tanned.

In the affluent West a much higher proportion work indoors (particularly the colder Eurozone) and so are usually paler, (outdoor workers still manage to get a tan, but only for a few weeks a year). HiSo take foriegn holidays (or use sun-beds) and get more tanned, and LoSo just have a week in Skegness...

So pasty farang tend to go for tanned partners (whether farang or Asian). In T/L that tends to be the LoSo ones (from which the majority of bar employees hail). Incidentally in VN the entertainment industry are staffed by people often much paler (all you paleface lovers take note). Conversely the Asians tend to go for pasty farang (although often they don't really have a say in the matter), in the same way they would be attracted to HiSo's of their own nationality.

I also agree with one of the previous posters, that Farang with darker skinned partners are looked down on throughout the region.

[IanForbes]

The question asked is "Why Do Farangs Like Thai Girls With Dark Skin?", not Why to Thais like women with light skin. I really doubt whether the farangs care HOW dark a girl's skin is if she has traditional nice features and a good figure. I look at the figure first, the face second, and the age third. But, that's just me. I just happen to like women with nice, slender figures, but I'm not overly concerned if she has big boobs. Breasts are not really that important to me and I'm used to the smaller busted Thai woman. Most of us understand that Asians value lighter skin as some sort of caste system. Not being Asian, I couldn't care less what appeals to other people.

[Heng]

Surely there are plenty of more difficult/annoying/antagonistic questions that the average local could field, but the dark skin question is easily answered and harmony is maintained.

[dumbnewbie]

Funny that no one is considering who the gals like.

They like me because I'm gorgeous, though limited in funds.

They like you because you're a land owning fascist rich bloke, but not much to look at.

Come the revolution, and land re-allocation, I'll still be gorgeous, and you'll be single...

(just in case the revolution doesn't come, I'm planning further steps down the slope: Cambodia then Bangladesh then Swaziland, not sure after that, but those Swaziland chicks have beautiful bone structure...)

[dumbnewbie]

The actual answer to the question "why do farang like girls with dark skin" is "we don't, and we don't dislike it either - we don't care much about skin color one way or the other. Western countries are very mixed nowadays, so we don't care so much about race and skin color. We care more about general beauty, figure, personality, compatibility, etc."

It's not that farang like dark skin, but rather that Thai look down on dark skin, which is why they're so shocked to see "high status" white guys choosing to be with dark-skinned girls (which Thai guys look down on).

One likely reason for this prejudice that I haven't seen mentioned here in this entire thread is that the Thai (and Vietnamese) originally came from the north, in what is now southern China, thus, their lighter skin. Much of what is now Thailand and Vietnam used to be part of Cambodia. So these lighter-skinned northerners conquered darker-skinned Khmer and became the warrior/priestly/governing elites, ruling over the darker-skinned Khmer peasants who gradually became lower class Thais and Vietnamese.

Then the Chinese immigrants came to these countries and quickly became the business elite, mixing with the Thai and Viet elites, thus lightening up the skin even more.

So it's all a matter of socio-economic status for these people. Of course, most people tend to prefer "their own kind", so that explains the elites preference for others with light skin. On the other hand, people also look up to wealth and power and want to improve their own social status - so that explains why even darker-skinned Thais prefer lighter-skinned mates.

Of course, this is a world-wide phenomenon - lighter-skinned northerners conquering and dominating darker-skinned southerners. Indo-European tribes from Central Asia conquered India and stayed on as the ruling upper caste. Later the light-skinned Mongols and Persians came and mixed with these upper caste people as well.

The Spanish conquered Latin America and mixed it up with the native Americans, so that most are mixed, but the elite are still pure Spanish or other European. In Brazil the Portuguese did the same, except there weren't so many natives, so they imported a lot of African slaves to mix it up with. Again, the elite is still mostly white.

Later the British and French conquered the Middle East, Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Not so much mixing, and they didn't last long, eventually going home, but not before impressing on the people (rightly or wrongly) that light skin = wealth, power and status.

Finally, Hollywood (and Bollywood, as well as Latin American and Southeast Asian film and TV industries) broadcast the images of beautiful light-skinned stars far and wide. There are plenty of beautiful dark-skinned people, but they are not shown, and this perpetuates the idea that "light skin = beauty".

My personal feeling? I think all of this will change in time as the West continues to age and decline in population, wealth and power and darker-skinned peoples continue to improve their relative economic and social status. After all, civilization started in China, India, Mesopotamia and Egypt - not in Europe.

Also, as Western countries continue to become more diverse, I expect their film and TV to show more and more diversity in beauty. This has already been happening over the last several decades in the US - moreso on TV than in the movies, and I think it has had a huge effect on perceptions of race and beauty in North America. I expect this trend to continue and to increasingly influence the rest of the world in the same way.

[Huey]

Pretty easy answer... Westerners for the most part like to be "tanned", so its a cultural norm.

sure white girls look good in a tan but asians ??? maybe its just me and the thais but i never thought asians look great in a tan

Dude, my wife's Thai and she looks damm good with a tan. And as far as the OP question I would say the answer is simple; By and large if the white men that came here wanted white women, they wouldn't have came to Thailand. They would have stayed home or went to Russia or some eastern block country. Fact is many people like something different.

So many Thais are caught up in the multi Billion baht (hel_l mabye dollar) skin whitening brainwashing that says if your dark skined, your, ugly, stupid, and will never succeed in life or have a good partner (I kid you not look at some of the commericals) that they could not immagine any oppionion on the subject beyond that.

But outside of Thailand folks generaly love something a lil different. White guys that come here often like the blackest Thai they can find, usualy the smallest skinniest one too. Allot of Blacks and Arabs that come here like em on the plump white side, expecialy Arabs who are used to having philipeno and indian maids that look like the girls the white guys are takeing out.

Bahhh who cares really, Something for everyone I think Thats the main reason why this place stays so popular despite the insane amount of anti forginer sentement at the immigration level and the double price scammer bastards.

[007]

Thais ask me this question all the time and i am unable to give any satisfactory answer.

I don't know about other people, but I was raised by parents and school in such a way that skin colour was never an issue for me, but rather the character of the individual.

As for 'farangs, who like Thai girls with dark skin', maybe its the other way round - the Thai girls who like me, for example, can pretty much be divided into two groups: group one is hi-so (highly educated, speaks English well, has more money than I have, drives an expensive car, happily shares restaurant bills, but is unattractive and overweight/fat. Group two is slim or even thin, feminine, with darker complexion, from a poor background, with only basic education, never shares bills, but is actually attractive (to me), as I'm not attracted to girls who weight as much or more than I do. --> I'm not interested in members of group 1.

Edited September 25, 2009 by 7

[kyb789]

Simple answer. They are easy, and, they don't care about your 20yr age difference.

Come on, i don't see a whole lot of guys back in my home country drooling over dark skinned Asian girls. The guys are just not interested. In fact, I have only 1 friend in the U.S who will date an asian girl. So to say (most) farang's like tanned skin Thai girls is a misconception due to what is happening out here in Thailand.

That's my 2 cents.

[Roadman]

I drool over dark skinned Asian girls...one, all day long if I could. Most of the males in the people we mix with drool over dark skinned Asian girls...that is why they married a thai lady. Though not only because of their skin colour (I wish I could be as Brown) but because they are petite, slim, have a beautiful smile, make great partners, cook beautiful thai food, love you long time....I could go on. I and most of them thank Buddha for the gift we were blessed with...dark skin and all. The right ones are pure honey pie....

Edited September 26, 2009 by Roadman

[tropo]

Just you.... nothing worse than a pasty white ghost looking Asian.

He's not the only one. I prefer lighter skinned Asian girls too. Funny thing is, my light skinned girl prefers me tanned.

[tropo]

And as far as the OP question I would say the answer is simple; By and large if the white men that came here wanted white women, they wouldn't have came to Thailand.

I don't along with that. The vast majority of expats just want women. The race and colour is not such a deciding factor. It's easy and cheap (at least that's what they think at first) to find available women in Asia, so that why they come here.

How many of these expats would be able to find available 20 - 30 year old unattached white women at home?

[HalfSquat]

In England I prefer the look of white girls with brown skin over those with white skin.

Now in Thailand the same for me applies to Thai girls or any girls.

Why do I prefer it? Looks more healthy and glowing.

What do I think it looks more healthy and glowing and why do I think that is good? Who knows...

[Maigo6]

I don't along with that. The vast majority of expats just want women. The race and colour is not such a deciding factor. It's easy and cheap (at least that's what they think at first) to find available women in Asia, so that why they come here.

How many of these expats would be able to find available 20 - 30 year old unattached white women at home?

Good post.

[bifftastic]

Ok well there's the cultural aspect to why societies in general regard darker or lighter skinned people as 'better' or more desirable. If your country is cold richer people can go of and get a tan, if it's hot poor people have to work outside.

But for me, my previous g/f here in london was very white, the one before was very black, my current g/f (Thai) is brown, some bits lighter than others but definitely not chinese/white and whilst initial attraction is definitely a factor I love her for more than he skin, having said that i love the way she has different skin tones and darker and lighter bits! why does this brown skin appeal to me? It doesn't on it's own, but it's definitely a feature of the girl I love, that I love. If she turned white tomorrow i'd still love her, take her to the beach more often but still love her :-)

[473geo]

And as far as the OP question I would say the answer is simple; By and large if the white men that came here wanted white women, they wouldn't have came to Thailand.

I don't along with that. The vast majority of expats just want women. The race and colour is not such a deciding factor. It's easy and cheap (at least that's what they think at first) to find available women in Asia, so that why they come here.

How many of these expats would be able to find available 20 - 30 year old unattached white women at home?

Strangely enough you don't have to look too far 'back home' these days to find young women with a couple of kids looking for a life partner....... .....you ever been in that market?......thought not!!!!!

[aras]

Going back in time in the west, normally the upper class had more white skin than the working class.

Seems to be a bit the same in this part of the world as well.

No Hi-So people want to look like they do outdoor labour.

Gets my vote for the best answer thus far.

i agree

[imaneggspurt]

The fair skinned ones are harder to pull, !

[jaideeguy]

Lucky we all have different tastes or we would all be chasing the same girls/men. I like them all.....white, dark [girls] but prefer some color, rather than pasty white.