I’ve been asked, here and there usually by derailing clueless ninnies, why I care so much about racism and sexism in western media; why aren’t I directing it at local works from my own country? Or somewhere from Asia? Anything that’s not from the west, because RAR GARBL RAGYLR ANTI-WEST AGENDA!
Well, this is why.
A bookstore in Bangkok
For those not willing to squint, these are localized editions of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s goatfuckingly awful Dark Hunters softcore porn as well as one of the books from Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series. I’m not sure what The Hollow is, but I’d guess it’s also some variant of paranormal romance YA. Out of these, I spot only two books that are remotely good about feminism and gender and things. The rest are, kindly put, trash. Full variously of racial exoticization, internalized misogyny, and brooding bad boys who give you a dose of “forced seduction.” Most of these covers feature white people.*
*Although, it must be said: some of the women don’t register as Caucasoid to me, partly because it’s a borderline manga style–but many of them look like female Thai celebrities, especially the redhead on Dark Fire. The blond girl on the cover of Frostbite is, however, undeniably white seeing as she’s a slightly photoshopped version of the girl on the English edition of the same title.
This is only a small selection–the Stephenie Meyer dreck isn’t too far away, I am sure. Because guess what crosses the ocean, and gets localized here? Guess what we watch in the theaters? Popular mainstream fiction out of the US and the UK, much of which is racist, sexist, and homophobic as all get-out. Hollywood blockbusters, which tend toward the same. And it does harm us, part and parcel of the rampaging cultural imperialism that slowly but surely makes sure everywhere in the world becomes just like the west.
And, I’m sorry children, I think the west–in many aspects–is kind of a shithole. Thai people treat visiting whites with deference and automatic respect; a foreign person of color visiting will not be treated half as well as the white one, and often much worse. White backpackers easily get teaching jobs over qualified Thai, even if the backpacker is no more than a spoiled, middle-class, sheltered student going around for their gap year to experience the exotique of Asia. And we aren’t even formally colonized yet!
Simultaneous to the plague of white expats settling here like a host of invading bacteria, we at the same time consume media that’s not merely sexist and homophobic, but which posits us as other through cheap exoticism. It enters our circuit; it pervades our media consumption, sometimes overriding and drowning out our own artists and writers. Creepy, racist, obnoxious white people write books about Thailand that objectify women and reduce us–our culture–to nothing more than cheap hookers. Their words are taken as objective truth, their skeevy sensationalizing distortion as solid facts. White men come here to exploit and abuse women whom they treat as little more than mail-order brides. What you produce shapes us, and affects our behavior. Whether or not we like it. Whether or not we want it. An invasion by another name, if you will.
And what does my country get in geeky media? Why, these:
No, these aren’t panels from the same issue. They aren’t even panels from the same comic. Nor are they from the same writer. The one above is from Warren Ellis’ Planetary; the one below is from Mark Millar’s run of The Authority. It is, in other words, a completely random sampling–the only thing these two authors have in common, apart from being white and male and British, is that they write comic scripts. The comics they write otherwise share very little in themes; indeed Ellis on aggregate writes better women whereas Mark Millar is obsessed with rape. Not enough yet?
Gross to you? Maybe not. But I don’t have the privilege of not finding this gross; unlike you I don’t have the privilege of dismissing it as trivial and walking away. I don’t even have to look for it: this is just a random mobile game from Hexage. Again, there’s nothing in common with the comics, and even less than Ellis and Millar have with one another–apart from the fact that Hexage is either a British or American studio. This is how prevalent this perception of my country as reduced to “exotic food, forbidden pleasures and elephants” is, a perception developed and perpetuated and spread by westerners.
Because it’s such a random sampling, it tells me that you, first-worlders, see “Thai” and immediately associate it with “hookers” and “lady boys” and “forbidden pleasures.” You see nothing else: no culture, no landscape, and certainly no such thing as real human beings. It’s one of the things that most people, even social justice warriors, don’t really think of as racist and ignorant–but it’s an idea they will have absorbed regardless, unconsciously. This is how prevalent and thoughtless you are.
This is why I care. This is why I hate you. Stay away from my country; stay away from me.
“And, I’m sorry children, I think the west–in many aspects–is kind of a shithole. Thai people treat visiting whites with deference and automatic respect; a foreign person of color visiting will not be treated half as well as the white one, and often much worse. White backpackers easily get teaching jobs over qualified Thai, even if the backpacker is no more than a spoiled, middle-class, sheltered student going around for their gap year to experience the exotique of Asia. And we aren’t even formally colonized yet!”
That true in all the sense, because some foreign people sees a white person they’ll kiss thier butts. If a black/hispanic person comes, they treat them like crap because of the racial stereotype that white people show them. My friend who served in the Korean War, told me that the white soldiers was telling the Japanese that the black soldiers dropped the bomb on them and the white soldiers was innocent.
Yes. You would think this wouldn’t happen, seeing as in Asia we’ve had no history with those of African descent–but racism toward black people occurs anyway, with western media/attitudes/propaganda as the vector.
the white soldiers was telling the Japanese that the black soldiers dropped the bomb on them and the white soldiers was innocent.
Vile. Happily, though, I think most Japanese people are quite resentful of–say–US army bases.
“Vile. Happily, though, I think most Japanese people are quite resentful of–say–US army bases.”
I’ll be mad too if an Empire (US) blew up two cities that my family and friends was at. Then you almost wipe away our culture twice (first being the Meiji Era). Then you put bases in the country and you people rape our women (an boys).
So yeah, I’ll be mad too…it’s the same crap they pulled in Puerto Rico, which I do believe it should become it’s own nation.
AMEN!!!!!
Do you have any recs for media that portrays Thailand and her culture in a positive and honest light?
It might be a good reference point so westerners can know where to go to get their facts straight.
I have a guess! Not “The Hangover” part 2!
Haha oh god that piece of shit.
/rage
Books by Thai people that are translated into English is a fair start, I think. Or even ones that aren’t translated–Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap is pretty lovely (that I’ve read so far, not yet finished). Movies are… tough. Uncle Boonmee is a good one, though!
I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but I didn’t know that this was how Thailand was portrayed. I like and have watched some Thailand movies so this was far from my impression of it. I only wanted to clarify one thing, Asia has a very rich and intense history with Africans and it occured way before the Europeans came around. Also in African American history class, I learned that the whites lied and said that the blacks dropped the bombs on them. This is a tactic used differently but similarly as well.
I was thinking of the kind of history that’d explain racism–like, say, how racism works in the west in general and particularly in the US owing to slavery.
I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but I didn’t know that this was how Thailand was portrayed. I like and have watched some Thailand movies so this was far from my impression of it.
Books like Private Dancer and Bangkok Tattoo. Movies like… well, The Hangover 2. Or even that piece of shit Anna and the King.
Sometimes I just look at some of these portrayals and tropes and stereotypes and I just wonder now how they can not see how offensive it is (because it’s amazing how blinkered people are) but how impossible it is for people to learn if they can’t see it themselves
I had heard of Thailand as a popular resort destination, but I had no idea how bad the imported racism was. Thanks for this post.
Yeah. Again, when not at all looking specifically for it, I came across this post on–of all places–a fantasy books discussion forum. The view that Thailand is nothing but gross shithole of sexual slavery (and that the blame falls not on western tourists but on the locals) is absolutely pervasive.
Being Canadian, I know what it’s like to be bombarded with American media, as that is their biggest export ever, however I don’t think my country faces the same fear of imported racism that yours does.
One thing that does come to mind is that the racism you’ve talked about has come up here as well, with the idea of just how sweet and submissive and perfect housewives Asian women in general make, let alone those from Thailand. I’ve been annoyed with friends and family telling me how the ladies of South Korea were going to throw themselves all over me because I was white.
And then there are the skin creams that promise to ‘lighten’ one’s features. Talk about selling White Values!
You know regarding Asian females, in the West they are always regarded as a sex toy. This comes from The American Occupation of Japan after WW2. When the Japanese women flew themselves to the American Soldiers (More like the pimps did) they was seen as exotic and every white boy wanted a Japanese woman. Later on media propaganda showed that Asian girls wants a white guy and they’ll treat them right better than creepy Asian guy. Like the movie Joy Luck Club.
I know a lot of Asians in the U.S. who consume quite a bit of Asian media. Several of my coworkers have admitted to staying up late to watch downloads of Korean dramas. I went through a phase where I watched nothing but E. Asian cinema. I’ve expanded to films from other regions, but I never really went back to U.S. movies.
Unlike me, my friends and coworkers aren’t actively boycotting American films. But the thing that everyone knows but doesn’t see the point in talking about is the fact that there’s an unconscious acknowledgement that you just won’t see Asians in American movies, so you have to get it from Asia itself if you want to see anything from any of the Asian cultures.
The funny thing though about being an Asian in America with an interest in Asian media is that there’s a high chance that you’ll run into a lot of Japanophiles/otakus/weeaboos. Then it gets dicey. It might give you an identity crisis.
What’s sadder still is that I sometimes see the anti-Thai sentiments you mention here coming out of other Asians. I mean specifically the jokes about the Thai sex industry. Most of the time, the offensive comment comes from someone in my generation, that is, someone born in the U.S., which makes me think that American media is affecting how Asians view each other. You’ll have guys who practice Muay Thai in an American gym, and they’ll be respectful to their Thai instructor. But then they’ll watch a movie like Hangover 2 and start making jokes about what happens when you wake up in a hotel Bangkok. I get the impression that they don’t really mean it, but they’ll still say it because they think it’s funny. They just don’t know why it’s funny, or why they should find it funny other than the fact that it’s something they see in all the trashy American action/comedy movies. Think about it long enough, and it starts to feel like we’re all being mentally colonized, in a way.
I get the impression that they don’t really mean it, but they’ll still say it because they think it’s funny. They just don’t know why it’s funny, or why they should find it funny other than the fact that it’s something they see in all the trashy American action/comedy movies. Think about it long enough, and it starts to feel like we’re all being mentally colonized, in a way.
:/
I wonder about that, too. There’s nothing inherently funny about the sex industry, nor anything funny about ridiculing a developing nation… or, for that matter, in trans people–and that seems to be one of the things foreigners fixate on the most, associating kathoey instantly with sleaze (though, of course, they also associate all Thai women with sleaze period).
“I know a lot of Asians in the U.S. who consume quite a bit of Asian media. Several of my coworkers have admitted to staying up late to watch downloads of Korean dramas. I went through a phase where I watched nothing but E. Asian cinema. I’ve expanded to films from other regions, but I never really went back to U.S. movies.
Unlike me, my friends and coworkers aren’t actively boycotting American films. But the thing that everyone knows but doesn’t see the point in talking about is the fact that there’s an unconscious acknowledgement that you just won’t see Asians in American movies, so you have to get it from Asia itself if you want to see anything from any of the Asian cultures”
You know it was J-Drama and other drama’s that broke that stereotype that America media have on Asians. But when i saw the Asian drama it was like looking at our dramas. The real culture shock was looking at the movie by Akira Kurosawa, it was called High and Low, it was at the same time when he filmed Yojimbo. Seeing Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai in modern clothes instead of kimono and a sword was something awe inspiring. It’s sad that here in America that the only thing they show is stereotypes.
First off, I am writing this comment with the express desire not to derail the conversation. I do not want this to fall in the white-woman’s “This is all about me” trope.
That said, thank you very much for posting this. I found it challenging and insightful. I came across this piece cross posted on Womanist Musings. I can’t wait to read other articles posted on this blog.
You’re welcome, and thank you for your feedback!