Brown or white in Thailand
When I once went to the Antilles for eighteen months for the Navy, the first thought was “has to get a nice tan”. That was right and the first time you went to the swimming pool every day beach and bask in the sun for a while.
But yes, after a while that starts to get boring and you often sleep during the day to be fit to start the nightly activities of drinking and women. A few weeks before the journey home, it's time to get back into the sun, because the home front must be able to see that you've been to the tropics.
White/brown
What is it that we, white people, like to get tanned? We do a lot about it, we go on a sun holiday (to Thailand), crawl into the sandwich maker, which is called tanning bed or use self-tanning creams or lotion. At least get a "healthy tan", we say, but unfortunately, that tan is not so healthy. It is generally known that your skin ages faster due to the sun and the UV radiation can cause skin cancer.
Apart from that period in the West, I never cared much for tanning myself. Here in Thailand you naturally discolor a bit, because the UV rays reach you anyway if you just walk outside on the street. I am blond and white, but some parts like arms and legs are quite brown and other parts are quite white. Muscle white, so little pigment in the skin, seems unhealthy, think of the sometimes milky white legs of English tourists. Redheads also seem to find it difficult to tan, but I have good news for them. Come to Thailand, because the Thai ladies have a huge soft spot for redheads.
Brown White
Speaking of those Thai ladies, the exact opposite is happening again. The darker their skin, the less attractive they are to a Farang, or so they think. A light-tinted (coffee with milk color) lady from the North is simply more attractive than a dark brown (dark chocolate) iot de Isaan, isn't it? So, something needs to be done about that and the market for “whitening creams” in Thailand (and other Asian countries) is huge.
Many whitening creams contain mercury compounds such as hydroquinone and – you guessed it – are extremely unhealthy. The active substances must prevent the production of melanin. Parts of creams that are put on the skin can quickly be found in the blood and can cause kidney cancer.
This type of cream is also strongly discouraged for pregnant women. These chemical preparations are already banned in many European countries. An alternative is to use natural creams made from substances from the leaves of some berry and pear varieties.
But all in all, I wonder why people like to change their skin color so much!
we as whites like to come home brown, if necessary burnt, after a holiday in a
warm country to show the neighbors and relatives that the sun always shines there.
It gives us extra pleasure to hear from them that the weather was bad in NL and that the
sun barely shone
We don't say that it has hurt us nothing but pain to get that color.
Hi Gringo, it is true that the Thais are not fond of dark skin, only the motive you put forward ('the darker their skin, the less attractive they are to a Farang, or so they think') does not always apply. Most Thais I speak think that the farang in general DOES like the darker ladies from the Isan, and the Thais themselves like those Korean / Japanese-looking Barbie doll types with those weird big eyes dressed with lenses, which unfortunately it has become the beauty ideal for many Thai women.
Dark skin is associated by the Thai with working on the land, poverty, lo-so, etc. As stated, the Thais themselves have a strong preference for light skin, and perhaps some Thai ladies simply assume that the farang doesn't like the dark ladies either.
With those whitening creams, which can never be good of course, there is sometimes something wrong. Particularly in the USA, a racist society up to and including, politically correct discussions about these creams regularly take place in the media. Complete nonsense of course – since these discussions are mainly conducted by white people who themselves like to get a 'healthy' tan in the sun. I think the grass is always greener on the other side.
Well, it didn't take me long to find such an article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/01/skin-whitening-death-thailand
Curious what others think about this. Racism or not?
sunlight is healthy to a certain extent, I understand.
Brown skin masks blemishes, so you could call brown objectively (biologically) beautiful.
That status plays a role in poor countries is a completely different story. That is indeed purely subjective.
In the past, status also played a role in Europe in terms of whether or not the skin was discolored. If you were tanned you belonged to the working class, the peasants and farm workers; the nobility made sure to stay stark white.
In my opinion, there is not a single cream in Thailand WITHOUT "Whitening". It is therefore apparently assumed that whitening “must…. Even for the farang who just wants to buy a cream to make dry skin supple. If I just got a nice tan during the day, that cream takes it off again in the evening…. TiT.
Racism, yes!
Nice article, but typical, to put it racially speaking, for someone with a Pakistani name (sunny hundal) or the kind of immigrants who think they see racism everywhere.
Incidentally, we should perhaps be less easy to express prejudices against the US. If there were objective standards for examining racism, then the only society where racism is rare or non-existent would be a society with a mostly homogeneous population. Iceland, Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, you name it.
And Robbie, as a right-minded Dutchman I would say: gap in the market!
I don't know if by prejudice against the US you mean my labeling that country as racist, but I can assure you that in my case that is certainly not prejudice. Have lived in both the USA and Canada, cultures that are comparable to a certain extent, and the differences are stark. In Canada, the different races are well integrated in almost all aspects of society, in the USA that is still a long way off.
And yet, dear Kees, this is called a prejudice: the assumption that Americans are more racist than us/Canada/etc. After all, not all Americans are racists, we can assume. But it is more common, so that the chance/assumption/prejudice that you encounter racism in an American is higher than average, but it can also turn out to be a well-integrated black.
Incidentally, I think racism is a term raised by the media and politics, intended to put people away.
makes more sense to look at cultural differences: you write: comparable to a certain extent; a major difference is that the Yanks imported slaves on a large scale. They are still reaping the "fruits" of that (those rich, the niggers poor.
Incidentally, I notice that I almost go along with the trend of calling Negroes blacks. The word gets a bad name, but that doesn't change by changing the name (cf. farmers/farmers) with changing the name, it just obscures.
Dear Rob, you are twisting my words and indeed, not all Americans are racist. I didn't say either. That would be a prejudice. Nor did I say that Americans are more racist than Canadians or anyone else - that would also fall under the heading of prejudice.
However, society in America is largely categorized by race, much more so than in Canada. In Canada you see mixed schools, mixed groups in a restaurant, mixed groups in the office, people of color in high positions and interracial friendships and marriages. In America this is noticeably less. Purely an observation from someone who has spent a lot of time in both countries. Statistics also support this. By the way, I'm not just talking about blacks, but also about Asians and Latinos. That's why I call the USA a racist society, but I want to get rid of that. Let's call it a society with a strong element of racial segregation (and indeed, that will not apply to everyone).
That's why I call the USA a racist society, but I want to get rid of that.
the differences are stark. In Canada, the different races are well integrated in almost all aspects of society, in the USA that is still a long way off.
That's why I call the USA a racist society, but I want to get rid of that.
Anyway, you write all this Kees, so what can be twisted about that? At the most, you will now play yourself with 'I want to get rid of that'.
So a request, if you use such heavy labels from now on, please indicate, for example with an example, what you mean by it.
By the way, we're going way off topic here, so let's close here.
Dark wants whiter, white wants darker. Style wants curl, frizz wants straight. Unfortunately, it is wanted even if it takes poison.
I think the why is simple.
Man has a deep urge to get what they don't have. The always wanting to become something and be what they are not continues to play on with a large part of people.
The farang wants a tinted Thai, a white one from Chiang Mai, for example, is less popular. People want something different.
White and black, brown and pink or yellow it is everywhere.
There is also a form of taste, but then everyone would say that again: it's just my taste. Lies!
In more traditional societies people prefer the same, there is less room to deviate, and the need for this is inherent to the degree of development: the urge to stand out grows as one feels lonely in a group.
At schools the norm is Nikes, but some want a different type again.
Showing that you have money is common, but being smart is more important for a minority.
It has been biologically established that white is more attractive because it betrays more intimacy. You can't see a nigger blushing. We find always brown less beautiful than fresh brown. well, at least me. With such a red blush of slightly burnt, mmmmm.
And becoming something that one is not yet is called evolution. Monkeys already have that.
A few years ago I had a kind of wart on my forehead that turned out to be skin cancer on closer examination. Fortunately, the dermatologist at the hospital recognized it immediately and removed it in time. Skin cancer is one of the fastest growing diseases in the West, often caused by overexposure to the sun's rays.
My dermatologist's advice: try to avoid strong sun rays as much as possible, wear a hat or cap and definitely don't "sunbathe." Just some good advice.
Before my holiday I had a strange spot on my wrist, which turned out to be skin cancer. Decided to have it removed after my holiday, but when I came back, after 9 weeks of lots of sun and being outside, it was almost gone. The dermatologist said that it had only become invisible. I myself believe that, like many people in warm countries (but they are used to it), they do not suffer from skin cancer, even though they are exposed. That the healthy (!) way of life, relaxing with each other, as I learned to appreciate Thailand, is the best cure for diseases. But yes, who am I.
Baking (packed for 6 months, and then suddenly hours in the sun, yes, that's not smart.