Photo by The Philosophy Of Travel
Feature photo by Stinkie Pinkie
Hey you, backpacker girl. Yes you, in the halter top and jean shorts, drinking a banana shake by the Mekong.
Would you walk down the street topless in Brisbane or Stockholm or Boston?
Sorry, don’t mean to offend you. It’s just that the way you’re dressed is totally inappropriate for this place. Look around at the local women – do you see any bare shoulders?
No, don’t point to the bar down the street. Those women are prostitutes.
The fact is, wearing skimpy clothes in Southeast Asia makes YOU look like a prostitute. Sure, the locals are used to backpacker fashion by now, and if you stick to the banana pancake trail, you won’t get more than a few uncomfortably long looks.
Not impressed by backpacker fashion.
Photo by Akuppa
But if you venture outside the tourist zones and – gasp – actually attempt to interact with local people on more than the most superficial level, your bare skin will be totally offensive. You can get around the language barrier to make genuine connections, but flouting cultural norms separates you from the locals as effectively as razor wire.
Show A Little Respect
OK, OK. You’re on holiday. You’re here to have fun, try some new food and maybe hook up with that dreamy English guy who you met tubing in Vang Vieng. You’re not in Laos to be some sort of freelance ambassador.
But, just for a moment, imagine what your grandparents would say if rich, rowdy, foreigners – perhaps Russians, or Africans, or Eskimos – started pouring into your hometown wearing nothing but body paint, leather boots and thongs. Poor Grandma would wonder what the world was coming to, wouldn’t she.
So show a little respect. Buy a sarong in the local market, put away your tube-tops and for Buddha’s sake, please cover up if you visit a temple.
Hippie Bombs
Photo by JonRawlinson
Backpacker guys, you’re not off the hook. When was the last time you showered? Did you use soap?
Dreads and stubble might show off how far-out you’ve gone on your travels, but in Southeast Asia personal hygiene is of utmost importance. Be neat. Be clean. Wash your hair.
America might not be dropping cluster bombs on Southeast Asia anymore, but hippie-bombs are also disruptive to local culture. Take care of your appearance, and you’ll get a lot more out of your travels.
What say you, readers? Am I too harsh on tube-tops? Please leave a comment below.
Other Matador articles to check out include Has Travel Chanel Sunk To A New Low With Bridget’s Sexiest Beaches? and the classic Budget Travelers Are Hippie Scum.
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68 Comments... join the discussion!
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I’m going to Luang Prabang tomorrow. I’ll keep my eye out for boys in mini-skirts. I’ve seen one, 2 years ago. A local lady-boy named Noi. We went to a disco.
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Well said Eve. I guess it is all about how you say it. Your pitch TR, is a little …..off.
One should never TELL a woman what to wear let alone venture down that “hooker” road discussion unless you are well armed.
In articles as such as this one, you would have been better to target both genders including the picture you chose, which is predominately of women. That’s if you wanted to stimulate a fair debate. Perhaps you had a hidden agenda in this discussion. Whatever it was you certainly got the debate going possibly for the worse. How about writing an article on how half naked hairy men need to cover up in these countries because SE Asians think they resemble gorillas. I wait with anticipation on a possible article.↵ -
TR – The article may have covered both men and women, but if you actually think the 50+ comment conversation that followed has consistently been about both genders, then I’m not sure why we’re arguing — we’re obviously not existing in the same realm of comprehension at all. This slutty disrespectful gal is signing off…
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I completely disagree.
If a muslim come to another country, would you expect them not to wear headscarfs, or a orthodox jew to shave his beard, or a South Asian not to use their sarong? If shorts are part of your culture, why should you be so ashamed of it? Shouldn’t travelling be about exchanging cultural values?
Sure, to use a bikini to visit a temple would be inadequate, but it would be inadequate to wear a bikini in a church too. So it has less to do with travelling and different cultures than with good sense. The same applies to people who smell. That is awful anywhere.
In fact, this article sounds very annoying to me. I am a Brazilian man, so I am not exactly “Anglo-Saxon white”, I am more of a mix of white, black and who knows what else mix. Despite of that, I admire the American (and European) culture and its values: respect for life, woman, democracy, freedom, individual rights, human rights. It may seem natural for people of our generation, but these things are not granted by nature to us, this culture was slowly conscructed along hundreds of years. However, now it came to a point where it seems that to show respect for other cultures, Americans should apologize for everything and I have to say that it is a shame because I think those values are the best the world has to offer.
So, every one who visits the US has the right to maintain their culture and wear their typical clothes and complain about it would be racism, however, Americans should adapt to local costumes?
Another aspect the writer failed to mention is that in a number of these countries where women have to cover themselves it is a sign of male dominance over them, while the “barely nude” women of America (or Europe) are so because they have the right to it. In fact, the only reason I would generally support women to try to match local clothes is that otherwise they would be in danger of rape, what would be considered ok in some cultures. After all, the women deserved it, as they were dressed like prostitutes, right?
Again, I am not American. However, living in a country where American-bashing is so popular, I am personaly afraid of the values these people are trying to impose on others. My government, for instance, stays silent regarding Darfur in order to “not interfire in other countries’ policies”, but it is quick to frown on Israel for fighting terrorism. Gosh, I am afraid of them. I would stick to American values any day.
PS:
I just read the comments and I am glad that a number of people noticed this too. Curiously, I think that the quote that best proves my point comes from someone supporting the article.
TR said “me wearing shorts and I am instantly labeled as either low-class, a dumb American tourist, or a prostitute.”
Why is he labeled “dumb American tourist” instead of simply “American tourist”? Yeah, exactly. I dispise that.↵ -
I mostly agree with what Eva and Sarah and some others have said.
Yes, when traveling you should be respectful of any other culture in the land you’re visiting. BUT it shouldn’t override your personal moral beliefs and what you are comfortable with. I am often frustrated, living in a patriarchal society, by how many offenses (such as physical abuse of women, torturing of animals) are excused by it being part of the culture. I think that Americans especially have gotten such a bad reputation for being insensitive travelers that there has become an annoying backlash, where Americans are afraid of being themselves or somehow showing they are American when traveling. I will say I do not agree with the American traveler who expects everything to be like America and if it’s not wants it to change. I think those people should just stay home if they love everything about America so much. BUT I also don’t think that social ills should not be ignored and dismissed away and even accepted just because they exist in a culture different from ours.
Now, do I believe that covering up in a culture where that is expected is a social ill? Not at all. But some people clearly do feel that being able to dress how they want is more of a statement about freedom than it is about sex appeal, and that is something obviously difficult for a lot of men to understand. I live in a culture where everyone is expected to cover their thighs. I always have because I would honestly feel uncomfortable wearing anything shorter here. I also live in a culture where women go topless. I would not feel comfortable going topless and I don’t think any of the locals would consider me being respectful of their culture if I did go topless. The locals understand that I am from a different culture and feel differently about walking around topless than they do. They don’t expect me to conform to this because they understand it would make me uncomfortable and they respect my culture as much as I respect theirs.↵ -
In the matter of dressing “appropriately” when one visits another country, what do you guys think of the “scandal” that ensued a couple of years ago when Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, visited Spain and wore an alpaca sweater when he met with the king? and a leather jacket when he met with the French president?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6061781
great article btw… i love BNT!
Mario in Cairo
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Good article Tim.
I’ve shaken my head hundreds of times when observing inappropriate dress in SE Asia among backpackers. It is so hard to cover up, just a little? Have a bit of respect, that’s all.
The other commenters in my camp have hit the nail on the head. I don’t think this is some huge ethical conudrum here. When you travel to a culture with very set ideas of modesty, to your best to adhere to them.
End of.
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Ha ha. You said hippie-bombs.
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I always put the dress code down to this: how you dress is how you represent yourself, not necessarily your culture. Do you really want to be seen as the bikini/speedo clad “ugly (insert nationality)”? None of us do, but arriving from different cultures and different modes of dress, every one is going to perform a social gaffe at some point. It’s natural, it happens all the time, and there is not a traveller it hasn’t happened to at some point, no matter how much they might deny it.
I think the argument of “putting your clothes on” applies to men and women both, and the article seemed to represent that view to me. We all know that there are many parts of the world where clothing itself is used as an agent of oppression, which from most people’s perspective is criminal. The author was not talking about those areas of the world in this particular article, but places that are freer in dress codes visited by people who are inconsiderate of those local mores/norms…and even worse, defensive about it.
The author did not say “Women suck! Cover yourself head to toe!” No, he said that in some places, wandering around semi-nude is considered rude and people should be more considerate of the local populations.
On a side note: T-shirt vs. tank-top…well, if it’s only a little shoulder, the locals could lighten up a little too; all it might require is a quick conversation and an apology if they are offended. Most people over the world are kind and understanding, you just need to relax and talk, not “reach for the guns”.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you. Great article. Scantily clad (and dirty) travelers have got to be among my biggest pet peeves. I’ve met so many women traveling in Central America who wear flimsy tank tops and short shorts, and then complain all the time about all the stares, comments, etc. Give me a break! I wear fairly conservative clothes when I travel in that part of the world, and I have hardly had any of the same problems (and no, I’m not ugly or anything.)
I wish travelers would show some more respect. It’s amazing how dressing neat, clean and relatively conservative will make locals in many countries so much more receptive and friendly.
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Thanks Caitlin! I think the feminist counter-argument has some merit, but respect and consideration are paramount in my mind.
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I completely AGREE, every single word…
He’s not making any sexist comments against women and our freedom to wear whatever we want, actually what he’s saying is really important to our own safety.As much as it shouldn’t be that way, the fact is that in those countries where men are not accustomed to see that much skin, with our mini skirts and halters we are teasing and tempting them. Why risk ourselves?
Plus I think the example of foreign people wearing only body painting in your city explains the situation perfectly! Remember you are the one visiting their territory!!! just like when people visit your house you expect them not to put their feet on your table or anything that you may find disrespectful… the locals of the place you are visiting expect the same from you!
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I believe a lot of those who respond to this article in anger do not have the cultural bandwidth required to understand how other cultures think.
Let me explain. I am male, Christian (catholic) from South India. I speak English, read and write in English and watch English and local movies. My friends are both Indian and from other lands.
All cultures do not have the same level of live-and-let-live. Forget what the brochures tell you. Some places are ultra conservative, and some others are not.
Unlike most of the West, large parts of the world are not exposed to the sight of female skin. It is understandable. A swimsuit is what a little boy grows up seeing on the beaches in the West. Here, swimsuits are worn by vamps, or sultra sexy actresses who are sex objects above all.
It does not end there. In the more feudal parts of the country, the idea that a woman is a man’s property persists. Something to be capured and enjoyed. Not respected.
This means that even in India’s metros, our girls watch what they wear. When they go to a pub, they travel in cars and will probably wear a sexy mini. No problems at all. While walking on the streets, they would prefer local attire or jeans.
Its about playing it safe in cultural quicksand, and balancing what you are with what is appropriate. There are times when taking a stand is appropriate, and times when it is prudent to stay with acceptable norms.
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Can I get an AMEN, Brother?! Put some clothes on!!
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When will people stop using the word “eskimo”?
Please get with the times.↵ -
here! here to matt from india’s comment above.
and i quite agree with the point of your article (if not always the delivery
i’m a 29 year old american woman who has been traveling whenever i could for the past 10 years from mali to ecuador to greece. im hitting india in two weeks and
i firmly believe in showing a little respect and a clean presentation no matter how cheaply you are traveling.
it does always depend on where you are.
but.
the point is to be -mindful- of it.and please. wherever you are.
EVERYONE use a little soap
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I experienced culture shock when I visited Bangkok. Not from the Thais, but from how the foreigners dressed. I saw white girls wearing bikinis in the mall…in the mall! I honestly couldn’t stop staring cause I hadn’t seen so much skin in public in a long time (no beaches or bikinis in Lahore). I just hoped those tourists would have the sense not to visit an even more conservative country.
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