Thais and skin colour?

[richard]

I have seen some small changes in attitude over the last few years which is also perhaps connected with the political scene in Thailand but there is now the start of a sort of 'Issan pride' movement which has some people from that region becoming more aware of their origins and less ashamed of their dark skin tones.

GOOD NEWS

Perhaps we shall see some Isaan soaps on TV soon

I could make one. Sort of Thai Coronation street and Eastenders combined

Need a camera crew and a work permit though

[Khundon1975]

I have seen some small changes in attitude over the last few years which is also perhaps connected with the political scene in Thailand but there is now the start of a sort of 'Issan pride' movement which has some people from that region becoming more aware of their origins and less ashamed of their dark skin tones.

That's good to hear Steve, unfortunately "light skinned Thais" seem to be looked on as comparatively rich (which most are) and as has been mentioned, those with darker complexions are treated as dirt poor farmers.

I don't blame the darker, less well off Thais, from trying to better themselves, but find it hard to swallow when they try to conceal their true origins, even if it is just to avoid the way they are treated by the Hi So idiots.

I know, easy for me to say.

[kendo]

I think there is a strong link with Thai directness, sometimes this really annoys me when you get strangers ask qestions and try and work out your status and how well off you are.
I also can't help that think that some of these milky White Thais have a little envy as many of these dark girls like my wife are married to farangs and live all over the world, I particularly notice this in shopping malls and restaurants when we are having a conversation in fluent English this allways attracts attention from the Hi so's.
Ken

[MrPlum]

I think its quite funny, people with white skin always trying to get a suntan and dark skinned people aways trying to make themselves lighter.We are never satified

This is the essence of the capitalist system. To create dissatisfaction with who you are and what you have. There was a stink about it in the UK press, a few years ago. Avon reps would go into villages and have the women spend their money on skin creams when they barely had enough for food.

[hhfarang]

they do seem to go OTT when a child is almost white

No wonder Michael Jackson was so popular here!

Sandman pegged it. My wife says exactly that, white means you are wealthy enough to not have to work outside. Brown means you are forced to work in the sun all day; part of the class structure.

[cookmanchef]

Each to their own. I think the lighter skinned Bangkok girls look great, but then again I think the darker skinned ones look great too!

[Terry]

Agree SM67, ..............
All to do with vanity and class level. If you're a pasty faced light skinned girl then you work in an office or don't work at all, and if you are dark skinned then you work outside and therefore have less money, or perceived as so, even if untrue regarding occasional individual cases. That's the general perception and, however wrong, stereotypes die hard everywhere.

Just the snooty fashion victims on a countrywide scale that have read too many magazines and watched too much TV that get miffed when it doesn't fall down how they like it or how they beleive it should be so.

Sad and shallow IMO, one of the 'cons' of LOS really is their hopeless belief in such shallow things as this in an attempt to feel better about themselves when really they all live in denial.

Not much different than a western bird thinking that because she's got a tan from the Med holiday that she appears desirable and rich as she has the cash to travel as opposed to staying in the UK and being white as a sheet.

Same thing but different way round really. Women in the west pay thousands of pounds to have the same skin colour/look of your average Asian.

Spot on Spitfire - Spot on

Mrs T and I have been together for around 19 years and she was born in Chanterburi and is about as 'true Thai' as you can get - darker complexion with round eyes as distinct from the pasty white with 'slitty eyes' (As Phil the Greek would have it ) Whilst having no 'formal' English lessons her English accent is almost perfect - on account of living in England with me for a year and my constant correction of her diction over the years (Which she welcomes).

It always makes me cringe when I hear the obviously well educated Thai cabin crew on Thai Airways refer to 'fRight number' etc and when the meal serving is over the retreat behind the curtains to put the next layer of skin whitener on.

I have worked in offices in Bangkok over the years and seen with my own eyes the 'class distinction' between the 'white' and 'not so white' girls. It really is sickening.

Not just Thais but the same throughout most of SE Asia.

In HK just observe a typical business area at lunchtime when all the office workers waiting to cross a road junction will put up their umbrellas (as parasols) or retreat to the shade offered by doorways to avoid being in the sun for an extra 2 minutes.

So a pale skin and a bit of stomach fat (=good eating = wealthy) are their ideals.

Again Spot on Chopsticks - Spot on

It's the same here in India where I'm currently working. the amount of shite pumped out on TV by Garnier et al is beyond belief. If you don't look like a Bollywood Bozo then you're not worth knowing.

[crazy88]

Great comment Cookmanchef. Blondes , brunettes and redheads also. Skin colour, nationality no problem. Personality, a sense of humour shared, honesty, loyalty etc.. much more important. Of course having a body most western women 20 years younger would envy is a bonus.

On the whitening products issue I am surprised none of the marketing whizzkids have thought of whitening condoms. Just thought I would lower the tone in time for the weekend.

Stroll around Bangkoks shopping centres or travel on the skytrain and you will see thousands of pale skinned Thai people that are far from "Hi-so" . Big hairdos, 70's gangster sunglasses and cloying perfume are a much clearer indicator IMHO.

Have a great weekend everyone.


Crazy 88

[STEVE G]

I think its quite funny, people with white skin always trying to get a suntan and dark skinned people aways trying to make themselves lighter.We are never satified

This is the essence of the capitalist system. To create dissatisfaction with who you are and what you have.

Well we've survived it for 2000 years!:

Now, when you have had your full of sleep, and your delicate limbs are refreshed, come learn from me how to impart a dazzling whiteness to your skin. Strip of its straw and husk the barley which our vessels bring to our shores from the fields of Libya. Take two pounds of
peeled barley and an equal quantity of vetches moistened with ten eggs. Dry the mixture in the air, and let the whole be ground beneath the mill-stone worked by the patient ass. Pound the first horns that drop from the head of a lusty stag. Of this take one-sixth of a pound. Crush and pound the whole to a fine powder, and pass through a deep sieve. Add twelve narcissus bulbs which have been skinned, and pound the whole together vigorously in a marble mortar. There should also be added two ounces of gum and Tuscan spelt, and nine times as much honey. Any woman who smears her face with this cosmetic will make it brighter than her mirror.
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – AD 17/18

[Terry]

I think its quite funny, people with white skin always trying to get a suntan and dark skinned people aways trying to make themselves lighter.We are never satified

This is the essence of the capitalist system. To create dissatisfaction with who you are and what you have.

Well we've survived it for 2000 years!:

Now, when you have had your full of sleep, and your delicate limbs are refreshed, come learn from me how to impart a dazzling whiteness to your skin. Strip of its straw and husk the barley which our vessels bring to our shores from the fields of Libya. Take two pounds of
peeled barley and an equal quantity of vetches moistened with ten eggs. Dry the mixture in the air, and let the whole be ground beneath the mill-stone worked by the patient ass. Pound the first horns that drop from the head of a lusty stag. Of this take one-sixth of a pound. Crush and pound the whole to a fine powder, and pass through a deep sieve. Add twelve narcissus bulbs which have been skinned, and pound the whole together vigorously in a marble mortar. There should also be added two ounces of gum and Tuscan spelt, and nine times as much honey. Any woman who smears her face with this cosmetic will make it brighter than her mirror.
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – AD 17/18

This guy Pubius Ovarious - was he the founder of Garnier

[cookmanchef]

I do find it hilarious when they smear their faces with talcum powder, what is that all about? Auditions for the rocky horror show?

[Jaime]

Mrs T ...... was born in Chanterburi and is about as 'true Thai' as you can get - darker complexion with round eyes as distinct from the pasty white with 'slitty eyes'

Sorry to pick you up on this Terry (I'm not baiting you honest!) but I would have thought that the rounder eyes are more to do with intermarriage between the Thai population that originally migrated South from parts of Southern China and the many other ethnic groups in the region that either pre-dated the Thai migration or traded with the Thais, particularly in former Khmer areas like Chantaburi which is after all quite a long way from the original homeland of the Tai ethnic group.

The different ethnic Tai sub-groups that exist elsewhere in Asia, including Laos, Vietnam and China all seem to have predominantly 'slitty eyes' rather than round ones. Thailand has been a melting pot of Asian cultures over the centuries so I think identifying rounder eyes as being a definitive feature of being 'true Thai' (whatever that means) could be misleading to say the least.

As an example, my wife, who is Lanna Thai, has fairly round eyes and darker skin but other members of her family have the more oriental type 'slitty eyes.' Our nieces and nephews in Bangkok are all very pale skinned - purely on account of working indoors in the city but are just one generation away from being subsistence farmers from a very insular village in the rice bowl of Thailand. Despite being pale skinned, they are far from Hi-So and there is no modern Han Chinese influence in the family in living memory.

They all consider themselves to be 'Thai roi percen!'

[sandman67]

@j

I don't understand why some posters seem to get hot under the collar about this issue.

maybe you dont care when you see your missus watch an ad on TV and see some computer enhanced ghost faced bleach white model, look down at her own brown skin and sigh either audiby or just with the look in her eyes. I do....it fucking pisses me off. I point out that we know nobody who looks like that, and Ive never seen a bleach white clothesrack worth a second glance, but Im on an uphill struggle, as Richard points out so correctly.

Its also a situation continued through ever two bit cliched cackass soap show on Thai TV. The same no talent half dozen so called actors slapped up in whiteface screaming and hawking but all in their lovely Essex Boy stylee chintz and tack mansions looking bleached and "perfect". To me its laughable, to Mrs S it sends a message that cuts deep. I point out they cant act, they look stupid and over made up, dress like c**ts and "live" in houses that are decorated by idiot retards with no taste...but as Richard says IM a farang so what would I know?

Why do I care? Mainly because it make sthe woman I love, who is better than most I have ever known, feel less about herself. A pack of snake oil salesmen and no talent bleached clotheshorses selling lies and making a fast buck off people who dont know better and have no regulatory environment to protect em....and it justifies a whole shed of stupid predjudice where people are sorted according to skin colour rather than on merit.

But mostly because Im sick of seeing Mrs S sigh.

[Jaime]

@j

I don't understand why some posters seem to get hot under the collar about this issue.

maybe you dont care when you see your missus watch an ad on TV and see some computer enhanced ghost faced bleach white model, look down at her own brown skin and sigh either audiby or just with the look in her eyes.

Or maybe it's because my Mrs doesn't seem to do that. Don't get me wrong -when she sees the soaps (and like most Thai women she watches them bloody continuously!) she admires the way the women in them look but it doesn't seem to make her feel inadequate in any way.

I think she enjoys her life and her family and feels comfortable in her own skin, whether she is mixing with pale skinned or dark skinned Thais - of which there are both in her Thai family. It doesn't make a difference to her so why should it make a difference to me?

I see it as one small - but very visible - part of the archaic class system of Thailand, which, like all class systems has aspirational standards. In the case of Thailand these standards seem to extend to physical features. This causes some to strive to attain those standards and in others it causes resentment or feelings of inadequacy.

The key to changing these attitudes is, of course, raising standards of education so that more people feel that things to which they aspire are within reach. Once that happens, the aspirational goals will change to something else and attitudes based on things such as the hue of a persons skin will soften. I believe that this will take at least another couple of generations in Thailand.

[crazy88]

So I take it the "7 sexy Leo Girls" are off the menu SM67? Same for me as I am in a relationship. So along with JLO, Beyonce, Kate Beckinsale, Catherine Zeta jones and the rest I guess they have missed the boat.

Crazy 88