Submitted: Tinder in Thailand – an in-depth analysis

If you were not born in the year jug, then Tinder is a given. "Dating" while sitting on the toilet, approving strangers with one finger or shooting them off with one quick flick of the finger from the comfort of your couch. Or from the toilet, with your pants on your knees.

Well, my experience with Tinder & Western women is limited to the ladies traveling through Asia, and a few swipe sessions during my stay in Europe. In Thailand, however, I enthusiastically moved my finger back and forth over the screen for months and you notice again that there are cultural differences between the West and the East.

What struck me is that Western women are remarkably happy to have themselves photographed with their girlfriends at a party. I also saw a lot of pictures of ladies presenting themselves with a wine glass in hand. Well, I know it's superficial, but if the lady in question also turned out to be corpulent, then I have strong negative associations with such a photo.

Tinder also makes it possible to add a number of sentences in which you describe yourself, and here too you see sky-high differences. Where western ladies like to be pretentious with what they do not do, you see a striking number of instructions with the Thai ladies: “Please don't chat dirty with me. I'm not a hooker. Please respect Thai women.” You also read quite often that they are a “simple girl” and are looking for “true love”.

The somewhat articulate ladies let it be known that they are not interested if you smoke, and that ONS (“one-night stands”) are not their thing. This is also something I often encountered on Western profiles; a kind of wish list with regard to my height, eating habits and ambitions.

I'm a totally average person myself, but I abhor the demands of certain profiles. Where the Thai politely ask to say something if there is a match, it is relatively normal on a Western profile to say that you are “below 170 unqualified”. Unqualified for what? I immediately acknowledge that Tinder is super shallow but it still disgusts me (I'm 182cm).

There are also an awful lot of ladyboys on Tinder, which in turn causes a hilarious paranoia among the male users. This goes to the point where pretty much every beautiful Thai says somewhere on her profile that she is “100% lady” and please stop asking if she is ladyboy. The more vicious variant has a more offensive tone: “If you like ladyboy don't talk to me ok? Don't waste my time!”

Thai ladies use too many filters on their profile picture, and posing with a pancake or other pastry that you hold next to your face while looking “cute” into the camera escapes me completely. When it comes to agreements, travel is pretty highly regarded. Women from all over the world like to show that they have stood on Machu Picchu or the Colosseum in Rome. In Thailand, the River Kwai bridge is a very popular motif next to the tiger selfie, and the Eiffel Tower and Brooklyn Bridge also do very well. I've been told that men like to be pictured bare-chested, and for some crazy reason female Tinder users get tons of pictures of men in a river with a 70-pound carp in their arms.

By the way, I think this is the tip of the iceberg, because men in Thailand generally behave three times more dirty online than they would ever dare in the West since there are virtually no consequences. Anyway, I digress… I wanted to point out the differences between Tinder in the East and in the West. For men. Because I am a male user.

It is generalizing, but among all the ladyboys, freelancers and stray semi-models you mainly come across women who say they are “looking” for the right one, and especially do not want to be used as a “toy” (don't play with me). ). Western women, in my opinion, are also just as hard looking, but are more focused on presenting themselves; "This is me. I read books, do pilates and love traveling and a good glass of wine. Take it or leave it.”

Recognizable or not?

Submitted by Alexander