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Home » Reader question » Reader question: Why do Thai swim with their clothes on?
Reader question: Why do Thai swim with their clothes on?
Dear,
I have the following reader question: Those who visit indigenous beaches notice how Thais apparently like to swim with their clothes on.
Sometimes it's even embarrassing when I show up there with my swimming trunks, they look at me.
What is the reason for that clothed swimming? Still bizarre!
Regards,
Herman
That used to be the case in the Netherlands. Has everything to do with chastity. With this you do not offend anyone else.
I think this has to do with the sun, Thai people don't like to see brown, as is the case with us 😉
correct me if i'm wrong :p
The Thais think it's inappropriate to show their body to everyone, some people call it prude and in total contrast to what one sees in the 'famous' nightlife areas, but Thais are, in general, shy and don't think it's appropriate .
The 2nd reason and certainly not the least is that the Thais love a light skin color and clothing, as everyone knows, protects against the sun.
You call this "bizarre" the average Thai calls the clothes of the tourists, actually more the lack of clothing inappropriate and certainly how some of us enter restaurants and shops, bathing suits and/or bare-chested shameless and bizarre.
You say they look at you, but you look at them anyway, do you get comments on your swimwear? The Thais are gradually used to this, but they don't really like it, it is even true that you make the average Thai shy.
Yours faithfully,
Lex K.
Yes, lex K. You are right on all points, in addition, the cheapest bikini set I have ever seen in Thailand still costs 350 THB, yet another day's wages for the average Thai and if everyone has the t shirt on why would you spend your good money on that.
By the way, my girlfriend had no problem walking around in a sexy bikini,
albeit that she then sat at a reasonable privacy distance and of course in the shade.
That is indeed the main reason. Thais are very prudish.
It also appears that in hospitals (I am currently in one) x-rays are preferably taken through clothes. If your pants need to be taken off and you cannot do so yourself, a sheet will be placed over your pants and they will take them off based on feeling. When he is finally finished, the face is demonstratively turned away and, like a kind of Hans Kazan, the sheet is pulled away. While you still have your underwear on!
It is bizarre to call the fact that Thais usually go into the water dressed 'bizarre' and it is bizarre that 'we' then have to look for reasons to explain that 'bizarre' behavior as if our own behavior were the measure of all things and not statement is required.
A hundred years ago, many Thais walked around bare-chested, both men and women. The westerners who came here, especially the missionaries, found this 'bizarre', and by extension also the Thai elite. That elite started a 'civilization offensive', Thais had to dress like Westerners, buttoned up from head to toe, that was Western and therefore civilized. Kissing and hats became compulsory, betel nut chewing prohibited.
Why do other customs and customs of other peoples always have to be called weird, strange, unusual and even bizarre?
Agreed, although I can imagine that someone sees a completely different approach / vision as striking or remarkable. You shouldn't immediately attach a judgment such as "bizarre" to that.
As for the reason for swimming like that, it must indeed be a combination of squeamishness and not wanting to get a tan. I sometimes see Thais swimming with a hat on (or other Asians doing this in other countries). Prudness will play a role, the question is to what extent this is personal prudishness and to what extent this is group pressure: do you do this because you are afraid of the judgment of others or because you want it yourself? I can't detect much prudishness in my girlfriend: she just swims in bikinis but tries to avoid the sun. In Thailand, she and her friends from work sometimes wore shorts that barely had a leg on them... And no, these were not fancy ladies but just average Thai. To me, the prudishness/concerns seem to revolve more around the upper body (the breasts).
See also the statement: https://www.thailandblog.nl/stelling-van-de-week/thai-preuts/
@Tino Kuis
Can I please call it bizarre that you apparently once looked for an explanation for this change in the clothing behavior of "the Thai" at the time under the influence of the (confessionally or otherwise) "Westerners"?
In my opinion, it is healthy curiosity that drives us to develop learning processes, precisely so that we learn to understand aspects of other cultures that are difficult to explain FOR US.
Only by developing that understanding through insight and knowledge is it possible to better understand “the other” or “the Thai” and to respect it from that understanding.
So it's a blessing (and certainly not a "disability" or even an expression of self-righteousness or the like) to call the things you don't immediately understand "weird, strange, or even bizarre," and from there, if you don't get to an explanation for the "deviant" comes, to ask "the" environment (or the Thailandblog community) to help you with that….
In addition, I believe that it is precisely our mutual diversity that makes / keeps us interesting for each other.
For example, I am firmly convinced that many expats would never have migrated here, if they were not so fascinated by the many surprises that the "deviating" culture and behavior of "the Thai" hold for us every day.
Finding something strange, bizarre or deviant does not mean that you also condemn that “deviant”. Or denigrates. On the contrary: you indicate a certain personal lack of knowledge, an inability to understand (immediately).
Kito
Dear Kito, is it so important to find an explanation for everything in life, to understand everything.
Some things are just the way they are, and as far as I'm concerned don't need an explanation.
I have a good friend, Somsak, professor of Thai Cultural Studies at the university here. A nice and intelligent man. Always willing to help me. I just called him.
'Sum', I say, 'I have a question for you. You know that Thai always go swimming dressed. No, not you, nor abroad, I know. Neither does your wife? Okay, okay. But you are no longer real Thais, 555555. Do you have an explanation for this bizarre, strange and deviant behavior? What, what do you say? Hello Hello….'
The word bizarre has an annoying connotation in everyday speech. That means that if you want to “express diversity that connects people”, you better find a phenomenon surprising, or something like that. In any case, express that you do not condemn the phenomenon that you do not know. It is certainly appropriate for farang in general to pay some attention to the use of words, especially when you are engaged in “learning processes concerning aspects of other cultures that are difficult to explain”.
Thai men and women do not want to tan. Brown is associated with working on the land and therefore with poverty. Thailand's drugstores are overflowing with whiteners that promise to make you look whiter. White is THE beauty ideal in Asia (not only in Thailand, but also in China and Japan).
Since the years when the wealthy Europeans (who no longer had to work because they were so rich) traveled to the south of France by stagecoach, brown has been associated in the west with being rich, doing nothing and health. “Wow…you look so brown. Surely you had a good holiday?”. ” Dude… have you been on holiday in Thailand. You still look so white. Have you had a lot of rain?"
Ton Lemaire has written a nice story about it: the philosophy of tanning.
Considering the possible skin cancer that you can get from sitting or lying in the sun for too long, the shade is probably healthier than the sun.... Are the Thai right after all?
That's all true, dear Chris, but that whiteness obsession doesn't explain why Thais go swimming dressed. That obsession mainly focuses on the public body parts and especially on the face. I've seen someone swimming in a hat once in a while but usually not and they should if your statement is correct.
best tin
I can read that you really live in a man's world. I have about 75% women in each of my classes and see about 200 students a week. And they want nothing more than to be as white as possible and not just in their face; but also their legs, arms and shoulders. They all use whiteners and don't just smear it on their face. If their legs and arms get too tanned (from wearing shirtless blouses or short skirts), they then (unfortunately, according to them, of course not sexy) wear clothes with long sleeves and long skirts for days on end.
The Thai are also practical. That's why they don't wear hats when they swim. But they never stay in the water for long and quickly seek the shade…..
My experience is that Thai ladies are quite conservative when it comes to showing the partially naked body to strangers. A woman in a bikini is equivalent to naked for some Thai ladies. And the idea is that a woman only shows her naked body to her boyfriend or husband.
Another aspect to opt for body-covering clothing in the water is the fear of tanning. Thai ladies do everything they can to appear as white as possible, that is the ideal of beauty.
I just asked my girlfriend why Thais often swim with their clothes on, her answer was “sometimes they are shy”. Now that I think about it: here in the Netherlands she swims in a bikini without a problem, in Thailand also in hotel swimming pools (preferably with as few people as possible) but in places where Thais swim (with clothes on) she also swims with clothes on. So I think it's peer pressure: "What will the other (Thai) think of me?" and therefore adapt to how the majority behaves somewhere.
Prudishness is too short-sighted, because some street clothes don't have much to offer. But a bikini will feel a lot more naked than shorts (with no/barely any legs) and a short shirt. I also prefer to swim with swimming trunks with legs and not in swimming briefs (feels more comfortable down there and otherwise you have very little to wear..).
My conclusion in short: a bikini or swim briefs is -sometimes- very naked, especially if the majority of people have a lot more covered.
Hi Rob, Peer pressure and what is expected of you certainly play a big role. The circumstance too. When a Thai lady goes into the water in the Netherlands, she won't keep all her clothes on. Then everyone looks at you and that is not a pleasant thought for many Thai people.
Totally agree Rob V. If you want to explain behavior don't look at the 'culture' (prudeness or whiteness) but at the circumstances (group behavior in this case), and that element plays everywhere. I've been advocating for that for a long time. Cultural explanations are rarely justified.
In the last century the Dutch were also quite prudish and now we have gone all the way to the other side, with exceptions.
Isn't it possible to respect other cultures?
What does our little country actually represent with its bias!
Do we determine the norms and values or can we muster the courage to simply accept a different way of life than ours?
The shameless and inappropriate behavior of many foreign visitors disturbs me much more.
There is always a country or person that we can worry about.
It is the story of the mote and the beam.
Herman, you already have the answers. But to go into your 'bizarre' qualification. I don't know what's more bizarre; someone who keeps his clothes on while swimming to prevent skin burns (sun rays are ultimately harmful) or a 150-pound western dude who parades down the beach dressed in an ass-lace?
Haha, agree. Such a Speedo swim slip should be prohibited for men over 40 years old and who are heavier than 80 kilos. You will just be having a nice meal on the beach and then something like this will come along….
Moderator: respond to the question and not to each other, then it's chatting.
Swimming with clothes on is not a typical Thai thing. They do it all over other Asian countries.
Thai girls are prudish. ?? Well there aren't many left and coming
then from a remote village somewhere in Isaan. That's why they never go
been to the beach and therefore have no swimsuit.
Here in Phuket, the girls are just barely naked on the street at night.
They are dancing on bars in very provocative clothing. If I sleep
have a bite to eat and then go back home, sometimes I look my eyes out.
That they dare to walk down the street in such undisguised clothing.
In the Philippines, girls regularly dance naked in bars. If they then
the next day come swimming in my hotel, they also want to keep their clothes on.
After a lot of insistence, a bikini is put on, but they take two towels
into the water. In the evening just naked again on the bar. How hypocritical can a person be
Dear TAK, how hypocritical can a person be? Could it be that they have to dance on that bar against their will? Could it be that they are so poor that there is no other way out? I think it's hypocritical that you think those girls are hypocritical because you are one of the many who do enjoy those naked girls! And if you really know that much about Thai or Filipino culture, you wouldn't talk like that. 99% of those girls are really not there for fun! Yes, I came to Thailand for 20 years ( still ) and am now married to a Filipino, so I know a bit what I am talking about. I still laugh my ass off when I hear people talk about how much they know about Thai or other Asian cultures and their thoughts…..Just nothing!
Dear Mathias,
You are not responding to the statement, but to me.
Which I think is fine in itself but normally not by the moderator
is allowed. That's why I'm curious if I'm just responding now.
I have been coming to Thailand for 22 years and the Philippines for over 10 years. I speak well
Thai and Tagalog I can manage a bit. Have a Thai for 5 years
and had a Filipino girlfriend for 4 years. Have been living in Thailand for 4 years now
visit the Philippines very regularly. I think I have both countries very fair to good
know. No one is forced into a bar or into prostitution in Thailand or the Philippines. Most girls earn their money in a different and legal way. The fact is
only that bars and prostitution attract girls because they can earn much more than with a regular job. I openly advance that I am a visitor and a customer. You can call me anything but a hypocrite. I know this has nothing to do with the statement, but neither did your response to my response.
regards,
YES
Moderator: please don't just reply to each other
Thailand is bigger than soi bangla.
I strongly wonder if you have seen more of Thailand than this street and the street to your house.
Moderator: Please answer the reader's question.
It is not only the Thais and other Asians, the Muslims also swim like this. In our home countries it is forbidden to dive into a swimming pool like that, it is against the rules of hygiene.
Before you ask this question, you could immerse yourself in Thai culture. Norms and values.
If you only know Thailand and the Thai from Soi Cowboy in Bangkok, Walking Street in Pattaya or Bangla in Patong, I understand your question.
It almost all walks around in the nude, so why not by the sea or other places?
It's a bit more complicated. That is certainly not the usual behavior for the "normal" Thai.
Modest and more moral is more in nature.
These women dance in Soi Cowboy, Walking Street and so on almost naked because they don't tan at night anyway.
Protection against jellyfish and sun protection.
, my Thai fishing buddy told me.
Nowadays I also swim with clothes on because I was horribly stung by a jellyfish 2 years ago, the scars on my back will never go away, my fishing mate, then you understand now why we keep our clothes on.
I do indeed see a lot of Thai in swimming trunks or bikini in swimming pools.
The Thai, as far as I have seen them in the sea in clothes, gave the impression that they were people who came to the beach once, because they were in the area and wanted to see the sea and then also go in it.
So they will not have had bathing suits.
Moderator: Please stay on topic. Removed all irrelevant text.
Thai swimming with a hat on.? After an afternoon of cleaning the pool, I understand it very well. 3 hours later my crown was burned to a bloody pulp and two weeks of “lol”. So wear a hat next time.
Moderator: The discussion about swimming in the sea has degenerated into an off-topic discussion about nudity elsewhere.
We close the discussion. Thanks everyone.