Thai people and skin pigmentation

KimDidMeGood · May 8, 2009

I inadvertently started a discussion Re. Thai skin colors (pale vs. brown) there: http://www.thai360.com/fbb/showtopic.php?tid/531737/tp/4/

It makes me curious, what about the Thai people themselves? Is that something they typically care about? For instance, is it perceived as normal or rather exceptional that a white-skinned Thai marries a brown-skinned one?

Any insight from those who have lived in LOS for many years?

Faustian · May 8, 2009

Seems to only really matter for the ladies. I know plenty of well to do upper middle class girls who are pale skinned, but their boyfriends are considerably darker. I don't recall any derisory comments being leveled at the guys about their skin, but I've heard more than I care to remember being said to ladies, even when they are mildly tan.

Faustian · May 8, 2009

P.S. I confess to knowing jack shit about this subject as it doesn't interest me in the slightest, but it's just what I've observed/heard. I'm certainly no expert.

Just had to throw that bit in, before I'm told I know nothing, which is true, so there!

HeartThais · May 8, 2009

In just about every country I've visited, there is a general prejudice of lighter skin being more beautiful. And in general, it seems the poorer the country, the more skin color matters. Bangladesh and India are some of the most skin-toned obsessed places I've been. In Mexico City, one of my Indian friends (a very hot girl) was almost denied entry into a posh nightclub because of her skin tone. She was the last one in and they blocked her. Only when several of us noticed she wasn't with us and came out to get her would they let her in.

bust · May 8, 2009

I think it has something to do with whether you were baked early or late in the batch.

Seriously it's all about Melanin. Melanin is the chemical that determines the color of skin. The more melanin there is in a person's skin, the darker that person's skin will be.

In Thailand, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language. One common insult is "tua dam," or black body, a rude term to degrade someone of lower social standing. Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duckÃ¢??s liver).

.. · May 8, 2009

It is actually a scoio-economic statement. The darker skinned people are usually labourers/farmers (and are therefore less affluent), who work outside and get tanned by the sun. If you are light-skinned, you have an office job and are of a "higher class."

Just exactly the opposite of the West -- tanned people are considered more affluent because they have time to laze about in the sun on holiday instead of working an office job. But still the same thing.

And of course, some folks are just naturally lighter or darker, and are therefore advantaged/disadvantaged by this populist metric. That's why I say populist, as opposed to scientific.

Cheers,

SD

gobbledonk · May 8, 2009

Japan is much the same - the guys are tanned and the women are 'China white'. SD is right - to be tanned in an affluent (or would-be affluent society) is often seen as a mark of peasant origins. Its only crazed Westerners who go out in the midday sun to 'get a tan' : pretty much everyone else is bright enough to stay out of the sun.

Flashermac · May 8, 2009

Ummm ... "tua dam" is old slang for a gay guy, especially a paedophile. Comes from a notorious individual whose nickname was Tua Dam.

kamui · May 8, 2009

It is actually a scoio-economic statement. The darker skinned people are usually labourers/farmers (and are therefore less affluent), who work outside and get tanned by the sun. If you are light-skinned, you have an office job and are of a "higher class."

Agreed. It's that simple. And the media/cosmetic industry is amplifying it. In Japan (and I am sure in other Asian countries as well) you'll barely see tanned girls as pop/media stars, in adverts e.g.

It's not uncommon to see women walking around with umbrellas in summer...

Also Japan has it's 'Isaan' people as well, the inhabitants from Okinawa who have considerably darker skin and at the whom the other Japanese look down at.

.. · May 8, 2009

Interesting...hadn't heard that one before. But Google is your friend:

Link

Cheers,

SD

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Thai people and skin pigmentation

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