Well, now you can ask my lady neighbors, as they have all
officially studied my boobs (well, if we’re going to get technical, it was just
my left one). True story.
Thai people are affectionate with other people of the same
sex – their affection towards each other is typically not done in a sexual way
or with sexual intentions. They are not
affectionate with the opposite sex, someone they are interested in or even
their mate/life partner. Yet, men are known
to hold hands, put their arms around each other, place their hand on their
chum’s upper thigh, sometimes even go in for a crotch grab. Women do the same thing with each other: hand-holding,
walking arm and arm and on a good day, a love tap on the ass by grandma (I once
got a crotch grab when I was told to make babies with a Thai man – yes, another
true story). I’m an affectionate person (I’m
a huge hugger, but Thai’s unfortunately do not hug…unless you want the most
awkward moment of your life) so I've always welcomed this friendly affection as the
closest thing to human touch I often long for (you never realize how much you
could miss it until it’s gone). Tonight,
however, my comfort levels were beyond tested and let’s just say, this little
lady did not pass.
I was hanging with the ladies on my block this evening. Discussion turned to bra’s and P’Leet lifted
up her shirt to show us her bra, grabbed her breasts and stated how big they
were. P’Mondri shared that she never
wears a bra and I stated how envious I was.
I continued to engage myself by telling the crew I was in need of some
new bra’s and asked where I could buy them.
This was my crucial mistake: turning the discussion towards me. Questions began to be fired at me at lightning
speed: "Oh, you wear a bra? Does yours have a snap in the back? What kind do you
wear when you go running? How much did
that one cost?" Before I could even attempt answers (drumroll please) P’Leet lifted up my shirt and my sports bra to get a good full-on-shot of my left
breast. She proceeds to pinch my nipple
while commenting on how white my breasts are and demanding to know why there’s
no milk coming out of my nipple when she squeezes it. All the ladies chime in by saying it’s
because I’ve never had children.
Uncomfortable as I am with all of this, I’m trying to pretend that I’m
ok, but thankfully get myself back to an appropriate state (i.e. boobs under
the shirt) fairly quickly.
I was then told that I’m not shy because I’m a farang. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the
conversation with Thai’s trying to explain that Americans are different than
Europeans: although Europeans prefer to
be topless at the beach, Americans,
yes although many of us are also white, do not.
So, rather than going down that path, I simply stated that I normally
don’t show my breasts like that. There was an uproar with P’Leet stating that
we’re all women, no need to be concerned or shy. While P’Mondri, in efforts to make me feel
better, showed me her breasts. I can’t
lie, but the fact that P’Mondri also shared her breasts did, in fact, make me feel
better. I was then asked if I show my
breasts to boys. It was at this point
that I took the simple path of “I’m sorry, I don’t understand”. Conversation, as always, eventually made its
way back to food. Just another night in the hood.
