I’m new here but reading Forumosa I’ve already laughed my head off.
I need your help, though. When I went to TW last fall a lot of people kept staring at me and my mum (mostly me though). Mum is youngish looking, fit and small (154 cm), I take after my dad, 170 cm, slim and no make-up on. We are blonds, blue or green eyed.
Q1: Did they think we were lesbians by any chance? -we were walking arm-in-arm as we always do in my family.
Q2: Something else?
Thank you in advance for helping the clueless LYT.
The jury is still out on why Taiwanese people stare at foreigners. We have been digging through the same shitty experiential data for the last 10 or more years with no conclusive outcome. We can’t even decide if this behaviour is some twisted form of aggression, but to be sure it divides the community. Some don’t give a crap, others are highly bothered, some fail to even acknowledge it exists whilst others seek to determine what ‘foreigner,’ even means. Why do people stare at other people when they seem incongruent to their expectations? We don’t know. It would help if we had some data from the Taiwanese, but either they don’t know themselves, or nobody has thought to ever ask them. Maybe they thought you lesbians, maybe they thought you incongruous, maybe they thought you were aliens beamed down from somewhere in the ant nebula. Short answer, dunno. Long answer, dunno and probably you will never know.
You just have to ask yourself one question: Does it bother me? Then you can use this platform to consider why it is happening. Your conclusion will be as valued and as worthless as all the rest, because it will be something you make up based on your experiences and feelings. Just like everyone else.
[quote=“superking”]The jury is still out on why Taiwanese people stare at foreigners. We have been digging through the same shitty experiential data for the last 10 or more years with no conclusive outcome. We can’t even decide if this behaviour is some twisted form of aggression, but to be sure it divides the community. Some don’t give a crap, others are highly bothered, some fail to even acknowledge it exists whilst others seek to determine what ‘foreigner,’ even means. Why do people stare at other people when they seem incongruent to their expectations? We don’t know. It would help if we had some data from the Taiwanese, but either they don’t know themselves, or nobody has thought to ever ask them. Maybe they thought you lesbians, maybe they thought you incongruous, maybe they thought you were aliens beamed down from somewhere in the ant nebula. Short answer, dunno. Long answer, dunno and probably you will never know.
You just have to ask yourself one question: Does it bother me? Then you can use this platform to consider why it is happening. Your conclusion will be as valued and as worthless as all the rest, because it will be something you make up based on your experiences and feelings. Just like everyone else. [/quote]
Thank you for your answer. Yes, it bothers me. Probably because it feels quite intimidating. We even been stalked while in 101. New experience. And as you probably heard it before, it’s curiosity that killed the cat. - Ergo I’m asking just in case you guys out there know something I do not.
Over the last decade I’ve probably asked several hundred, or more, this same question. Why do people stare at whitey here? These were the stock answers I’ve always gotten.
People don’t stare, because in Taiwanese culture it’s rude to stare. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
Maybe they weren’t looking at you. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
Any practical help, though?[/quote]
So you mean that LYT12 is your screen name. When you refere to yourself in the third person, it can get confusing. People just stare here. It’a aculturally acceptable practice to stare at things, or people, that you’re currious about.
Well, as Bismark pointed out, they don’t find it acceptable to stare at one another, but we don’t really count. Most of them who stare at us seem to have a difficult time seeing us authentically human. Or at least, that’s the impresion we get from being stared at all the time!
As the Taiwanese love to say, “Don’t think too much.”
I’m a foreigner and I stare at foreigners. I mean, we can sniff each other a mile away…nothing as awkward as waiting to cross the street and a foreigner is on the other side of the road. You will notice that we react even worse…awkward ‘what should I do…’ dig in bags, look at the time, poke at moles…anything to avoid eye contact.
I think it depends on how often those locals you encountered have seen a foreigner. When my mother first saw a black person some 30 years ago in ZhongHe, she not only stared and pointed, she told many of her friends to go “look”.
I just came back from a cruise. We saw a whale swimming by. The captain made a loud announcement and hundreds of vacationers went to take pictures and hollered. The whale must have thought that all I want is to catch some fish for lunch, and here we are many small humans are staring at me.
Decades ago, I was in a small town USA. I got more than my shares being the only Asian in town. Today, there are, what, 5% of us in California? No one treats me any different.
so, give it time. When enough foreigners live in Taiwan, you will blend in and no one will notice you.
You’re more likely to be stared at out in the boonies where they see few foreign faces. In downtown Taipei, the people most likely to stare at you are out-of-towners… especially if they’re tourists from mainland China, where staring is a national sport.
[quote=“ceevee369”]Why should this thread have a separate life if being widely and deeply covered here:
No offense - just trying to provide help as found in my signature [/quote]
Thanks for the suggestion. This is the “why” though while that is the “how” so to speak. Given the amount of discussion such topics generate, it makes sense to me to keep them separate. Maybe by analysis we’ll actually figure out the answer
Maybe they thought you lesbians, maybe they thought you incongruous, maybe they thought you were aliens beamed down from somewhere in the ant nebula. Short answer, dunno. Long answer, dunno and probably you will never know.
