Why a lot of Thai women date foreign men

Is it money? Do Thai women just like foreign men better than Thai men? Like everything else in the world, it’s a lot more complicated than that. The following are reasons that a woman might give, sometimes truthfully, sometimes in a lie, and often somewhere in between. This is based on my own observations and conversations with friends over 5 years living in Thailand.

• Financial security. Like it or not, this is often a consideration for Thai women in finding a partner, whether Thai or foreigner. For many women in Thailand, marrying into money can mean the difference between an upper or middle class life, and a life of long working hours, few days off, little chance to travel, and having a lot of things that many people consider necessities, out of reach.
• Just as important as money, is class. Thailand has a fairly rigid class structure. A university education can give people a boost up, but that is beyond the reach of many people. A Thai woman from a rural area and without any higher education would have almost zero chance of marrying a rich Thai man (although being his mistress would certainly be a possibility). The loophole to this setup is dating a foreigner who likely doesn’t have the same lens on class as Thai society does.
• Some women genuinely believe that foreign men make better or more faithful husbands than Thai men. Of course many believe the opposite too. Observing how badly foreign and Thai men often act, both sides seem to have solid evidence on their side. Complicating matters more, while many do actually believe the first claim, many more simply say they believe this, usually to help convince a man that she really does love him for who he is, even if he might be older than her father.
• Sometimes, women are just, well… horny. Thai society puts a lot of emphasis on outdated notions of a woman’s “virtue”. Unsurprisingly, many women just aren’t that interested in this, though they probably do care what other people think about them. They may be too shy to act on their desire with a Thai man, especially if it involves anything kinky. Foreigners can be, let’s just say, a useful outlet for these women.
• Going hand in hand with the previous reason is curiosity. A woman may just want to know what it’s like. People everywhere are often attracted to what’s different; if you’re reading this, chances are that you understand this ;-)
• A lot of Caucasian foreigners are considered very handsome by Thai women who like white skin, broad shoulders, a straight nose, big eyes and a strong jaw line.
• Many modern Thai women prefer the comparative freedom of a more western style relationship. This is particularly true of women who have studied or lived abroad and become accustomed to a more lenient code of conduct for women. This is not to say that all Thai men want their women to be Victorian-era ladies, or that all foreign men will be happy to do half the cooking and cleaning, but there’s certainly some truth to it.
• Believe it or not, a fairly common reason is that “the kids will be cute”. Thailand has many actors, singers, models and other celebrities who are mixed Thai and Caucasian, or Thai and East Asian. The mixed race look is very appealing to Thais.
• And finally, sometimes a Thai woman is dating or married to a foreigner for the sole reason that he’s just who she happened to fall in love with. Sometimes life just works that way.

With all those reasons out there now, it should also be noted that most Thai women don’t actually prefer a foreign man, and many would never even consider it as an option. Still, I think this covers many of the main reasons that lots of Thai women do want to date a foreigner. My apologies for the generalizations. I hope you found they were used to useful ends. Do you agree or disagree with any of these, or have any reasons of your own to add? Leave them in a comment below.

I wrote this a few years ago as a blog post for an online dating site, it's been modified slightly for Steemit