Fatal Attraction?

I grabbed a volume from the pocket book pile at my friend Di’s place in London just before I left for Thailand. I have never read Houellebecq but was curious. It turned out to be a strange coincidence. “Platform” is a fiction novel about prostitution in general, and the Thai prostitution and matchmaking "industry" in specific. It’s a provocative read.

H. argues (if you can do that in a novel) that to go Thai is the only way for many Western men to find any love and tenderness in their lives, since they no longer meet the demands of a modern Western woman (who will not give them what they want anyway). He quotes a (fictional?) Thai entrepreneur who defends his matchmaking business: “There seems to be a near-perfect match between the Western men, who are unappreciated and get no respect in their own countries, and the Thai women, who would be happy to find someone who simply does his job and hopes to come home to a pleasant family life after work. Most Western women do not want such a boring husband.”

Wherever you travel here, this country is packed with coupled not-very-handsome Western men and (usually younger) Thai women. And maybe surprisingly, they don’t look unequal to me. And even more surprisingly, they usually both look quite comfortable together (more than most Western couples...).

From now on, I will think twice before I glare at European men going to Thailand to find a wife. A lot of people (both women and men) would claim that Houllebeck - and me too, I guess - show evident proof of being an unusually naïve chauvinist pigs. I’m not sure that the truth is so simple. Read for yourself.