If you are a Western bloke going to Thailand for the first time be in for a pleasant surprise. Unless you are really, really, ugly (and I mean f'kin fugly!) you will get at least some attention from the girls there. Now I know you have heard the old cliches - watch out for the Thai woman - they are only after your wallet, blah, blah, blah. And if you are hanging around the girlie bars of Patpong, Nana, or Pattaya, then there is certainly an element of truth to that. But then to suggest all Thai girls are the same - namely 'money-grabbing hookers' is the same as saying all Indians smell of curry, or that all young black guys in London are muggers. In other words - it's highly offensive, not to mention racist. That there is an element of truth in something obviously doesn't mean it is acceptable to apply it to all.
Yet such a viewpoint has been espoused by the enlightened ignorant for years. And why is it OK to say that Thai girl is obviously only with him for the money, when it would be scandalous to say 'hide your wallet - there are a gang of young black guys over there?' The answer is that while the racial stereotyping in the second example is all too obvious, it isn't in the former. Indeed, the former is less about the racism directed towards Thais - and more about the putting down of Western (namely white) men. It seems that some folk become so preoccupied with presuming all Thai-Western relationships must be about money, that they forget how racist such a presumption is in the process.
Like I said before, money will be a factor in some Thai-Western relationships - but it will also be a factor in some Western-Western relationships. Each relationship is different. And don't think there are no examples of skint Western guys going to Thailand and getting shacked up with Thai women with money. I personally have seen a few of those. This post then is to enlighten those who think it's all about the money and to remind you that more often than not it really isn't about the money, money, money - or the bling, bling - it's about the love - jing, jing.