That’s the title of a local anthropology seminar three years ago. A summary of it is here. No, I did not attend. Only just heard about it. But some interesting stuff.
That is a fascinating article, Sam. There is definitely a lot of up side for Thai women marrying non-Thai men. I can see two losers in this scenario - Thai cultural purity and Thai men.
I hate to say it, but Thai men really are an unimpressive lot. Most small businesses in Thailand are actually owned by the women, and that’s a good thing because otherwise, the men’s gambling, drinking and whoring habits would put them under. And among the lesser-educated couples, it’s a lucky wife indeed who is not beaten at least on a semi-regular basis.
I can see why Thai women are interested in marrying foreigners, then. I was getting hints from that article that it is frowned on by Thai society, or Thai society is trying to discourage it by making out like the women are being treated like commodities - is there any truth to that?
Thai society =? p.o.'d Thai men
No, I’ve never had that feeling. One of the reasons there are so many foreign husbands here is that the society is so welcoming. And in many villages, many of the families will push their daughters to find a foreign husband, because of the cash factor. It has changed a little bit, though; as time goes on and tourism increases, one sees even more of the obnoxious sort of foreigner, so in Bangkok at least, foreigners have begun to lose some of their luster.
And it used to be that white males were all the rage, but fads change, and these days it’s Koreans who are most sought after. It was Japanese for a while, but after a few high-profile incidents of Japanese maiming or killing their girlfriends, they fell out of favor as husband material. Today, anything Korean is popular: Men, television shows, movies etc.