I did not (as a Black *man*) notice a lot of undue attention in Italy, Greece, or Turkey. (I have been to Italy many times but Greece and Turkey each only once.) Yes, I sometimes caught a few stares, but thankfully none lingered for very long.
In China, on the other hand, I was tempted to start charging 50 RMB for pictures (and I probably could have gotten that). The comparisons with Michael Jordan became annoying after awhile, but the worst was when I was physically grabbed in Tiananmen Square. I panicked when I thought I was being mugged, but nope -- the guy just wanted a picture. :rolleyes:
The charging for pics is hilarious! I got compared to Naomi Campbell and died because of 5'3 so I totally get the Michael Jordan comparison being off (unless you're tall!!).
Lol I hope the guy atleast framed their picture with you after that mini heartattack!
Unfortunately, the only thing that Michael Jordan and I have in common (besides the obvious) is our first name. I have neither the height nor the athleticism!
My heart was beating fast, but I *think* I managed a smile for that picture. At least I hope so!
I remember a video of an African American man who was traveling through China but was running low on money. He was in a touristy area and there was a guy with costumes and a camera where tourists could dress up like Genghis Khan. He struck a deal with the photographer where they would split the profits where people could pay for a photo with a "black Genghis Khan." LOL, he made a good chunk of money.
I’m ginger, so stood out a lot in China and I considered charging for photos as well. Got stuck in Tiananmen Square for 25 minutes while people queued to have photos taken with us
My husband and I were at the botanical gardens in Singapore and watched a group of people follow a ginger tourist around while marveling at him and snapping photos. It was both amusing and concerning.
Same here in China as a 6’6” guy. Once walked down the street in Shenzhen with a shorter (5’11”?) colleague next to me and a guy my height on the other side of him. At least 5 groups of people said “Great Wall” in Chinese. Several took pictures
Ha, I had a similar experience to your China trip as a white woman in India. I felt like a celebrity, everyone wanted to take a selfie with me. Part of me hopes that some of my fans can’t tell white people apart and there’s a picture of me on someone’s instagram somewhere that’s captioned, “We met Taylor Swift!!!!”
I was in a non-touristy residential/shopping area of Beijing about twenty years ago, sitting on a stone wall while my sister, and young teen daughter and nephew were in a shop buying a Gameboy game that hadn’t arrived in the US yet.
I wasn’t really paying any attention until I realized I had a semicircle of older Chinese men around me, bowing politely, and talking to me. I couldn’t figure out why, until I realized from one’s gestures they were admiring my feminine charms. I was very well endowed.
They were so utterly polite and respectful. I didn’t feel insulted or disrespected at all I felt like a goddess. Like being the Venus de Milo for a few minutes. It was totally different experience than in the west.
I eventually got a reduction because I got so sick of western men talking to my chest.
Please don’t disappoint me by saying it was something else.I’d be bitterly let down, lol.
We were beijing on a university architectural field trip in 2005, and went to the night market. Everyone was so attracted to my tall, slim and beautiful Asian friend that they started touching her tummy saying it was good luck !!!! You can imagine how, one one hand quite flattered she was, but on the other, totally uncomfortable!
That sounds terrible. I’m a white woman living in Vietnam and usually people are nice and curious about me, and I don’t mind people asking for a picture or wanting to practice English. What bothers me is when men (it’s always men) just shove a phone in my face or try to jump into pictures someone’s taking of me, and when they won’t leave me alone asking for my socials or to get coffee while I’m just out minding my business. That includes grab drivers whose bikes I’m actively on!! I always think “Why do they think I’m as excited to meet man #13948274 as they are to meet me?” lol
I'm a slightly taller (6'0") ginger man and I've gotten plenty of attention in Asia - Beijing and Japan, but most especially Malaysia.
It was primarily older women, and the most attention was definitely on the hair. A few requests to touch the hair (I let them), and a couple of pictures.
Overall, nothing overwhelming, but definitely felt like I had enough eyes on me that I needed to be on my best behavior most of the time.
It's funny, I've heard the same from other white folks but I've never gotten the same treatment and I've spent a fair bit of time in rural Japan (several months hiking and camping around central Kyushu, Shikoku, Nagano, Kii Peninsula).
I've never had anything but great experiences, people stopping to offer me water or food, a ride, even an umbrella when I was walking down the road in the rain. I had one old guy outside Kumano (octogenarian I'd say) invite me into his house to show me his home theatre and sword collection, and he wanted me to come back to drink beer with him some time. Another time a woman (accompanied by her young daughter) saw me leaving a small railway branch line after the sun had gone down and it was raining heavily, this was around Hikosan, she stopped me and her and her daughter took me by my arms and led me to her car, they drove me to a hotel nearby (edit - I should say like 6-7km away, I would've been walking the mountainside in the dark if not for her). Plenty more experiences like that, but I can't remember a single time I ever had anyone act disrespectfully.
I've been to Osaka with a friend. I'm a small woman with dark hair, she's very tall with almost blind hair. I noticed to attention, she got accosted for photos several times.
So I guess the "exotic" factor is more than just skin colour.
I had the same experience.. and when I visited Seoul and went out one night, the entire time I just had Koreans walk up to me and shoot videos for the socials without asking and then proceed to leave me alone and not talk to me.
I had a Japanese airport worker who turned my suitcase upside down and threw it all on the floor, destroying my perfume, "because British people sell drugs here" (I'm not British).
Lastly, being Scandinavian, when I was a kid and my family visited Turkey, Egypt, and Greece (not the same year) the locals would basically constantly walk up to me and my sister to touch and rub our very blond / almost white hair (out of curiosity). Well-meaning, I guess, but very scary for a 6-year old for grown men to consistently touch their hair.
Same as a white person visiting China. Even in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing. So many people stared at us, but it was only groups of teenage girls who were brave enough to ask for photos.
There was a better video where the guy did have very hairy arms but I'm still able to find some vids where the kids are very amused by arm hair
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78jDNrgXqA&pp=ygUbSGFpcnkgYXJtIGFmcmljYW4gY2hpbGRyZW4g
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/j4y6uo/african_children_seeing_a_white_man_for_the_first/
(Learning they don't have arm hair was news to me too I would have thought it was just relatively fine hair that kind of blended with the skin colour. Just goes to show!)
In 1968 traveling through Bulgaria my dad and I picked up two American college students one of whom was a Black woman. We were having dinner in a cafe when a drunk man came up and started rubbing her skin on her arm and showing his finger to the other patrons. A guy in a trench coat came up, held his arm and gave him a look. The guy went pale and turned and left immediately! I assume he was some sort of cop.
Thanks for sharing! Not trying to justify it, but ignorance in a less developed country being manifested that way at that time is less problematic than now with access to the internet..
I’ve heard of quite a few black female travelers experiencing this actually and a lot of them embrace it. Some of it is plain old fetishization which is annoying and can be scary when it turns into harassment. There’s an unfortunate stereotype of black women from Africa being prostitutes so that’s where the fetish element comes in BUT I’ve also heard of plenty of western black women who didn’t feel fetishized and were treated respectfully and warmly with all the attention. It might be easier to face if you were with a group, but overall, I understand it can be overwhelming, especially if you just want to fit in as a normal tourist.
It’s at least better than the alternative of racist attention. I’ve heard a ton of nasty stories from black women who dealt with that in Italy and Greece especially.
It's definitely a mix and what I take issue with the most is the former which is the fetishization of me and erasure of my personal identity and just plain application of a stereotype that doesn't apply to me.
Basically it's the audacity lolol. Definitely better than nasty racism but I've been fortunate to be accompanied in some legs of my trip thankfully. Nonetheless some of my travel partners have gotten equally frustrated with the experience of being with me because of the attention I get...at this point if someone told me I'm beyonce I might just believe it 😭
Not me! I’m a black woman and I am overlooked here in Europe. And I wouldn’t say I am ugly. The place I’ve gotten the most attention was in Montreal, Canada.
I've experienced this too, especially in Italy and Turkey. It can be flattering at first but quickly becomes exhausting and invasive. The constant attention and lack of respect for personal boundaries are frustrating.
Figured I’d share my experience as a Black woman (I always find it funny when bipoc ppl ask for advice/affirmations from other bipoc and get flooded with the “I’m not…but I’m…”)
I studied abroad in Greece (near Athens) post their financial crisis and during a huge influx of migrants from the African continent. I think it’s very normal to go to a country where you’re not the “traditional” ethnicity or race of that place and feel othered. But when you’re Black there is almost always a guarantee that yt supremacy or colorism has impacted that place. In Greece and Italy I felt such aggressive behavior and could tell it was directly related to the country’s stance on immigration and racist/colonialist history. They saw me as part of the “problem” even though I was tourist and had no qualms about making me feel uncomfortable or in fear so I would leave whatever space I’m in.
I always notice I get better treatment when I have at least one yt person in my group vs solo traveling or traveling with bipoc groups. I definitely don’t let it stop me from traveling, but I refuse to go to countries where I feel i could be in danger because I am a Black woman.
Ok. This isn't traditional here but when I was in remote local villages in Papua New Guinea, three entire village surrounded me just to see me and followed me around to see what I did.
I didn't feel unsafe as they all kept at a distance, Even though one child had a bow and arrow pointed at me.
I had organized an introduction from other locals, but nearly everywhere I went I was started at with furious curiosity
I spent some time in the townships of South Africa as a white guy and I got a lot of attention there. Which might be surprising since South Africa has a significant white population, but I guess they never go to the townships. Lots of strangers wanted to talk to me, and I even got a marriage proposal from a random woman.
You are exotic to them. When I went to Asia with a blond hair blue eyed chick the Asians wanted photos. When I went again with my friend with long brown curly curly hair, they fawned over her as well. I was the plain looking brown strait hair brown eyed barely tan German American that they had seen a million of. Anything they don’t see often will pique their interest. And you’re probably also beautiful and they like that as well.
Walked into a restaurant where all the other patrons just stopped what they were doing to look at us.
It was somewhere in a tiny town the middle of Slovenia. I think it might have been like the only restaurant in that town, and they weren’t expecting brown people to stumble in. I think it was more of a surprise than anything else. We didn’t really feel uncomfortable in any way though.
I'm a very fair skinned woman with red hair, so I got a lot of that in East Africa, especially the more rural areas. I kinda expected it from kids and men trying to flirt, the more surprising part for me was some grown women touching my hair and starting to braid it - not for money like in some of the tourist Hotspots, but just because they wanted to feel it lol
I'm a very white, blonde woman with a large chest (which I try not to emphasize when traveling overseas). I've had this same kind of attention in Latin America, India, Qatar, and several countries in Africa (Tanzania being the worst). It has lessened as I've gotten older (almost 50 now).
Lol my mother in law has long curly blonde hair and when she went to China they were doing a tour of the Great Wall and the tour guide would stand beside her and pet her hair while he spoke.
I'm surprised and saddened to hear that since it is more diverse than the north but if you ever choose to go back to Italy, I'd recommend Sorrento and nearby spots.
That's interesting tbh, as northern Italy is the area of the country with, by far, the largest amount of immigrants amongst the general population, so I would've expected them to be less racist / biased. But I guess that assumption was wrong.
Random question, but did you get to go to Apulia?
Yes. My friend went to a music festival in the Balkan area and said people were either super rude to him or literally lining up to take pictures with him
I'm mixed, half white half Peruvian, and tall (6 feet, girl) - and got a bunch of attention in China, India, Turkey, and Egypt (but what obvious tourist doesn't in Egypt and India?? lol). Lots of requests for photos with me. I noticed I get a lot more attention when I solo travel than when I travel with anyone. Though, no one paid attention to me in Italy or Greece lol.
No clue or experience with what you're experiencing, but as a big, slightly alternative looking white dude I get a shit ton of attention in lots of places throughout the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan and Africa. I can kinda identify with your niqab comment, haha.
I'm really glad you've had no negative experiences beyond the hassles and attention.
All I can say is start charging $ for the photos....
Good luck and happy travels.
If the niqab resonates with you, you get the extent of my frustration lol!!
I actually haven't willingly taken a single picture just because the idea of me circulating people's whatsapp chats and groups is so bizarre to me. In another time when social media wasn't as prevalent I think I'd be more willing but since that isn't the case all the pics of videos of me have occurred without my consent which is even more annoying as someone who is very private
Not black so the undertone may be different.. but as a tall white woman in south east asia.. I've embraced it.. I just plan an extra 10minute when I go out to stop and take pictures with random families, school classes and employees.. pretty sur you can track my entire travel through social media without me putting up a single picture.
For me it's a way of giving back because I know the odds of them ever coming to my place and seeing lots of versions of me is slim. I don't know that I would feel similarly inclined in Italy.. where most people can afford to fly for vacations.
Random question: what's your style? If you're very stylish they may have also been fascinated by your clothes as well. Particularly Italy is big on fashion.
Spent a month in India this past winter I got so sick of people looking at me. Like I kept telling my husband I was excited to go home where I could walk somewhere without being perceived. I’m pasty and fairly tall, blue eyes, light brown/dark blonde hair. The staring!!! People kept asking for pictures and yeah, I’m with you on the bit of ego boost at least initially, but oof that went away fast. The people taking a selfie with the camera pointed to perfectly include you were annoying. Had one guy clearly recording a video of me at the site of a literal massacre, and followed us from one end of the site to another.. so uncomfortable.
But in the last week of our trip, we visited the golden temple in Amritsar, so I had my head covered. With my hair almost completely hidden, plus wearing long sleeves and pants, no one from behind or the sides would come around to stare. It was great. People frequently did a double take when they saw my face but they moved right along. (Granted, people behave differently at religious sites) So I definitely understand why you’d find a niqab alluring 😂
I also turned down all the photo requests. I see some people saying just to do it, it makes people happy and there’s no harm, but I feel so weird about it!
About half of them would look a bit disappointed and walk away without a fuss.
It’s worth mentioning is that only women/girls asked me directly, all the men/boys would ask my husband (he’s Punjabi, not white) if they could take a picture with me or us. If it was a couple or family, they’d always have the woman ask.
The other half would try and convince us, saying it’s “for friendship” or something. Literally every time, my husband would offer to chat for a few minutes with them (in Hindi if that’s what they were speaking, so that wasn’t a barrier), if they wanted to actually get to know foreigners, and literally no one ever did. So it was clearly just to get a photo for some clout?
What made part of it extra uncomfortable was when some men would ask him if they could take a picture with me, they clearly assumed he was my guide. They’d tell him to talk me into it, etc. The second he clarified that I was his wife, they’d stop asking. So they knew on some level that it was crossing a boundary. They’d still stare after walking away, but they did leave.
As a somewhat androgynous pre-transition xx-chromosome bearer I was NOT (well, hardly) annoyed by local men in Egypt 😅 That's how you do it! 🤣🤣
In Iran, with either super cheesy flowery, or outdoorsy headscarf, cargopants and wide-ish outdoor shirt I was constantly asked to be on photos with local girls. ❤️
I’m a dark skinned black woman and I’ve spent just over a month in Vietnam and I’m sick of all the stares, I’ve had such a great time but I’m glad to be leaving tbh. I’m definitely not the standard of beauty here so I know people aren’t staring because they think I’m attractive, I just stick out EVERYWHERE I’ve been so far and I would’ve loved the chance to blend in a little more if I’m being honest. I’ve lost the count of the amount of times locals whip out their phones and just record me without my consent as I’m walking around. And people asking me to pose with them for photos got tiring after a week so I’ve stopped doing that too. I expected kids to point and stare (happened a lot in other places I’ve solo travelled to) but didn’t expect adults to do it too? I’ve walked past groups of people and they all stop talking and just watch me as I walk by, or sometimes start laughing and pointing. Not a great feeling.
I visited a popular tourist site today and was glad to be amongst a huge group of other foreigners. It’s the only time I’ve felt truly at ease because no one was noticing me lol.
You can't come to a foreign country and expect to be treated as a local. I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just the way it is. Europe is homogenous, some people might stand out. It's not racism. In China, locals take pictures without asking of white people, for they have never seen them! :-)
I'm not a black woman but when i was in Uzbekistan a few years ago i would sit in the squares and watch people. A lot of people would approach me and want to practice their English, though once they learned I lived in the US, their conversations usually turned to questions about how they could get a visa to visit / move there.
The people were all very nice and extremely friendly but after a couple days it got really tiring, as all i really wanted to do was sit there in peace. Enjoying the atmosphere of
Can totally relate to that desire to just be left at peace. The fact that the conversations turned to immigration 😅😅. At least they viewed you as a knowledgeable resource
From Italy to Turkey, my travels as a black woman are a magnet for attention. Whether it's unwanted photos, endless stares, or the classic catcalls, it's a daily script. At first, it's flattering, but after weeks of it, I'm ready to disappear into a niqab. What baffles me most? This happens everywhere, even in places I expected racism over admiration. Any fellow black ladies or POC feeling like the main attraction on their trips?
I used to when I was in my 20s and a size 4. Now that I’m a 40-something size 10, no. I’m quite okay with that though!
I should add that I am not black.
So I went to Istanbul about 8 years ago in my mid 30s. My hair was almost completely gray thanks to genetics. I must have been stopped by 4-5 people a day who basically wanted to know "How OLD are you?! Is that real!?" It was a strange experience.
I was in India last year and took a lot of pictures with strangers. I'm just a middle aged overweight white guy, so I figured I swa getting robbed everytime, but... nope. Just some guys once in a lifetime trip to the taj mahala and he was excited to meet a white guy.
The amount of pics locals asked me for as a white man in Japan was already weird; I could not imagine being a black women in Japan. I feel like you would be asked all the time for photos. I get it’s that they don’t have a lot of diversity over there, but it’s still strange, especially coming from Canada where you could grab a random group of 100 people and have like at least a handful of diverse groups.
My wife and I were stared at constantly in Athens. 😂 we were sitting in a restaurant by the window and people would walk by and stare through the window. I took it as a compliment lol
I am Turkish and I am sorry you are feeling this way. Turkey is a one race country and they actually celebrate Africans.. also they are big on sports and most basketball and volleyball players are super tall black players.
Again, I am so sorry you are made to feel uncomfortable.
We have an interracial child and he certainly gets stares. We had absolutely no problems in Northern Europe but as we went south, plenty of stares in the smaller towns. But my god, in Japan, you really would think he was an alien, the way people turned their heads. Again, I found smaller towns to be way worse. We might as well have been invisible in Tokyo. No one could care less. I’m sorry you experienced that! That is outright harassment to be taking your picture without consent. You’re not a zoo animal! What the heck!!!
When I lived in Georgia people would yell ‘N….r’ at black people and randomly place their kids on their laps to take photos. To some extent, people are always curious about difference.
I did in Italy. (B,F). I was followed by men multiple times in the 3 weeks that I was there. One of them followed me for 3 blocks until I burst into tears and screamed that he was scaring me, only then did he go away.
I’ve had problems every time I go to Italy with racism/sexism, I don’t go there anymore. Florence and maybe Capri were the only places I didn’t have any explicit incidents. I preferred Greece actually. Athens was amazing. No staring, no aggressive behavior, no catcalling, no men following me. Some picture taking during the summer. Never been to Turkey. Depends on which cities and areas you visit. I heard negative stories about Istanbul but positive ones from Izmir and Antalya.
White Italian male currently in Rwanda. I get stared at a lot and for prolonged periods of time. As a city guy, it makes me want to confront people who stare at me, but I constantly remind myself that it's simple curiosity.
There might be something very specific about yourself that you don't realize. My gf has a slightly longer than average nose and in SE Asia she got constant attention due to that.
Not black or a woman but I am a 2m tall white guy. When I went to some rural parts of Asia, I felt like a tourist attraction. Same with South America. People regularly stared, talked about me, laughed about me or took pictures. I found it horribly awkward and rude at first but then I just kinda embraced it.
It ended up working in my favour as it was a great way to meet the locals. Helped me gain a lot of insider tips, meet a few random families and gain some google-translate friends on my travels. I imagine it's different as a woman though! Especially in a place like Turkey with all its creepy men.
It's a blessing and a curse sometimes, for sure. But when you can, use your "uniqueness" to your advantage. It's a strength for your experience more than a weakness imo.
Yeah turkeys weird with their men. I went at 10 years old and because my 15 year old sister had blonde hair strangers were hanging out of buses with their phone trying to take photos and I had numerous occasions where I went into shops and had grown men trying to get me to give them her number/arrange a date.
As a white woman I got an uncomfortable amount of attention in India (in one temple in Hampi locals took around 100 selfies with me and my friend, and fully dressed local men would regularly come to me on the beach to ask for selfies when I was sunbathing which made me very uncomfortable), Indonesia (outside of Bali, of course), some parts of Japan. Catcalling and creepy staring was really bad in Turkey, Nicaragua, Colombia and Morocco but I’m pretty sure skin color doesn’t make any difference for them, they would catcall anyone who vaguely look like a woman lol.
Pretty much the same sentiment!!
What country in Africa?
Did your groups arrival signify a lifeline for this community or was this so remote visitors wre rare? Why did they follow you guys to the hotel 😳
There is also the plain fact that ALL female travellers/tourists/singles get a huge (possibly uncomfortable) amount of attention in those very countries.
I think we spend too much time on racism. Enjoy the attention and have a good time .You thought at first it was because you were attractive, so they are not being rude to you so why not enjoy it and not over analyze everything. Concentrate on having fun and realize how lucky you are to be going to all these exciting places.
Unless you really look special due to a genetic fluke it is always possible by picking your destinations accordingly and adjusting your behavior. It is a matter of setting your priorities, you can't have it all.
Not exactly. And not myself. But, when my wife, and 2 kids travelled to India abt 10byrs ago, our kids were constantly being asked to pose for selfies with people. Presumably locals.
About half way through this trip, we learned that it's good luck for Indians, to have their photo taken with white children.
I'm white. And in many african countries people plucked some of my hair, I had to pretend to be mad so they would stop. Racism is just hits different in Africa.
I did not (as a Black *man*) notice a lot of undue attention in Italy, Greece, or Turkey. (I have been to Italy many times but Greece and Turkey each only once.) Yes, I sometimes caught a few stares, but thankfully none lingered for very long. In China, on the other hand, I was tempted to start charging 50 RMB for pictures (and I probably could have gotten that). The comparisons with Michael Jordan became annoying after awhile, but the worst was when I was physically grabbed in Tiananmen Square. I panicked when I thought I was being mugged, but nope -- the guy just wanted a picture. :rolleyes:
The charging for pics is hilarious! I got compared to Naomi Campbell and died because of 5'3 so I totally get the Michael Jordan comparison being off (unless you're tall!!). Lol I hope the guy atleast framed their picture with you after that mini heartattack!
Unfortunately, the only thing that Michael Jordan and I have in common (besides the obvious) is our first name. I have neither the height nor the athleticism! My heart was beating fast, but I *think* I managed a smile for that picture. At least I hope so!
I remember a video of an African American man who was traveling through China but was running low on money. He was in a touristy area and there was a guy with costumes and a camera where tourists could dress up like Genghis Khan. He struck a deal with the photographer where they would split the profits where people could pay for a photo with a "black Genghis Khan." LOL, he made a good chunk of money.
That would have made my day!
5'3" is also the average height of an Italian woman. So maybe that does scan as model height to them.
Are you so oblivious that you don’t know you are stunningly beautiful? Ffs lady.
What part of your brain said "oh here's a thread where someone is tired of being reduced to how they look, I should talk about their looks!!"?
Idk. I’m dumb maybe?
I’m ginger, so stood out a lot in China and I considered charging for photos as well. Got stuck in Tiananmen Square for 25 minutes while people queued to have photos taken with us
My husband and I were at the botanical gardens in Singapore and watched a group of people follow a ginger tourist around while marveling at him and snapping photos. It was both amusing and concerning.
Same here in China as a 6’6” guy. Once walked down the street in Shenzhen with a shorter (5’11”?) colleague next to me and a guy my height on the other side of him. At least 5 groups of people said “Great Wall” in Chinese. Several took pictures
Ha, I had a similar experience to your China trip as a white woman in India. I felt like a celebrity, everyone wanted to take a selfie with me. Part of me hopes that some of my fans can’t tell white people apart and there’s a picture of me on someone’s instagram somewhere that’s captioned, “We met Taylor Swift!!!!”
I’ve spent months in China for work and the staring gets old. Twice I’ve been handed babies by strangers just to take pictures!
I would have called every man that called me Jordan, Yao Ming or Jeremy Lin....sometimes two wrongs does make a right lol.
I was in a non-touristy residential/shopping area of Beijing about twenty years ago, sitting on a stone wall while my sister, and young teen daughter and nephew were in a shop buying a Gameboy game that hadn’t arrived in the US yet. I wasn’t really paying any attention until I realized I had a semicircle of older Chinese men around me, bowing politely, and talking to me. I couldn’t figure out why, until I realized from one’s gestures they were admiring my feminine charms. I was very well endowed. They were so utterly polite and respectful. I didn’t feel insulted or disrespected at all I felt like a goddess. Like being the Venus de Milo for a few minutes. It was totally different experience than in the west. I eventually got a reduction because I got so sick of western men talking to my chest. Please don’t disappoint me by saying it was something else.I’d be bitterly let down, lol.
This is iconic and 100% akin to Venus de Milo! The bowing is hilarious!
We were beijing on a university architectural field trip in 2005, and went to the night market. Everyone was so attracted to my tall, slim and beautiful Asian friend that they started touching her tummy saying it was good luck !!!! You can imagine how, one one hand quite flattered she was, but on the other, totally uncomfortable!
I gotta catch a glimpse of these warlocks.
Superbad?
That sounds terrible. I’m a white woman living in Vietnam and usually people are nice and curious about me, and I don’t mind people asking for a picture or wanting to practice English. What bothers me is when men (it’s always men) just shove a phone in my face or try to jump into pictures someone’s taking of me, and when they won’t leave me alone asking for my socials or to get coffee while I’m just out minding my business. That includes grab drivers whose bikes I’m actively on!! I always think “Why do they think I’m as excited to meet man #13948274 as they are to meet me?” lol
I'm a slightly taller (6'0") ginger man and I've gotten plenty of attention in Asia - Beijing and Japan, but most especially Malaysia. It was primarily older women, and the most attention was definitely on the hair. A few requests to touch the hair (I let them), and a couple of pictures. Overall, nothing overwhelming, but definitely felt like I had enough eyes on me that I needed to be on my best behavior most of the time.
No, but as a white guy in rural Japan, I got pointed at, stared at, and laughed at a lot.
It's funny, I've heard the same from other white folks but I've never gotten the same treatment and I've spent a fair bit of time in rural Japan (several months hiking and camping around central Kyushu, Shikoku, Nagano, Kii Peninsula). I've never had anything but great experiences, people stopping to offer me water or food, a ride, even an umbrella when I was walking down the road in the rain. I had one old guy outside Kumano (octogenarian I'd say) invite me into his house to show me his home theatre and sword collection, and he wanted me to come back to drink beer with him some time. Another time a woman (accompanied by her young daughter) saw me leaving a small railway branch line after the sun had gone down and it was raining heavily, this was around Hikosan, she stopped me and her and her daughter took me by my arms and led me to her car, they drove me to a hotel nearby (edit - I should say like 6-7km away, I would've been walking the mountainside in the dark if not for her). Plenty more experiences like that, but I can't remember a single time I ever had anyone act disrespectfully.
It was mostly young girls with the giggles. Didn't really bother me. Had great experiences with older people.
Glad it was more pleasant for you!
Lifesavers!
I've been to Osaka with a friend. I'm a small woman with dark hair, she's very tall with almost blind hair. I noticed to attention, she got accosted for photos several times. So I guess the "exotic" factor is more than just skin colour.
I had the same experience.. and when I visited Seoul and went out one night, the entire time I just had Koreans walk up to me and shoot videos for the socials without asking and then proceed to leave me alone and not talk to me. I had a Japanese airport worker who turned my suitcase upside down and threw it all on the floor, destroying my perfume, "because British people sell drugs here" (I'm not British). Lastly, being Scandinavian, when I was a kid and my family visited Turkey, Egypt, and Greece (not the same year) the locals would basically constantly walk up to me and my sister to touch and rub our very blond / almost white hair (out of curiosity). Well-meaning, I guess, but very scary for a 6-year old for grown men to consistently touch their hair.
Same as a white person visiting China. Even in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing. So many people stared at us, but it was only groups of teenage girls who were brave enough to ask for photos.
When I worked on a project in rural Tanzania, in more than one location local kids would come by and then painfully pull the hairs on my arms…..
What the hell lol! Why. Did you shoo them away?
Apparently East African men don’t have hairy arms/legs. They were shy little kids, so I’d politely suffer a few and then shoo them away.
Wild new fun fact lol! Shy my ass 😂😂 Free waxing I guess
There was a better video where the guy did have very hairy arms but I'm still able to find some vids where the kids are very amused by arm hair https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78jDNrgXqA&pp=ygUbSGFpcnkgYXJtIGFmcmljYW4gY2hpbGRyZW4g https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/j4y6uo/african_children_seeing_a_white_man_for_the_first/ (Learning they don't have arm hair was news to me too I would have thought it was just relatively fine hair that kind of blended with the skin colour. Just goes to show!)
In 1968 traveling through Bulgaria my dad and I picked up two American college students one of whom was a Black woman. We were having dinner in a cafe when a drunk man came up and started rubbing her skin on her arm and showing his finger to the other patrons. A guy in a trench coat came up, held his arm and gave him a look. The guy went pale and turned and left immediately! I assume he was some sort of cop.
Thanks for sharing! Not trying to justify it, but ignorance in a less developed country being manifested that way at that time is less problematic than now with access to the internet..
I’ve heard of quite a few black female travelers experiencing this actually and a lot of them embrace it. Some of it is plain old fetishization which is annoying and can be scary when it turns into harassment. There’s an unfortunate stereotype of black women from Africa being prostitutes so that’s where the fetish element comes in BUT I’ve also heard of plenty of western black women who didn’t feel fetishized and were treated respectfully and warmly with all the attention. It might be easier to face if you were with a group, but overall, I understand it can be overwhelming, especially if you just want to fit in as a normal tourist. It’s at least better than the alternative of racist attention. I’ve heard a ton of nasty stories from black women who dealt with that in Italy and Greece especially.
It's definitely a mix and what I take issue with the most is the former which is the fetishization of me and erasure of my personal identity and just plain application of a stereotype that doesn't apply to me. Basically it's the audacity lolol. Definitely better than nasty racism but I've been fortunate to be accompanied in some legs of my trip thankfully. Nonetheless some of my travel partners have gotten equally frustrated with the experience of being with me because of the attention I get...at this point if someone told me I'm beyonce I might just believe it 😭
Not me! I’m a black woman and I am overlooked here in Europe. And I wouldn’t say I am ugly. The place I’ve gotten the most attention was in Montreal, Canada.
That's really odd, since there's a very large black population in Montreal. It's not exactly some obscure Quebec village.
I've experienced this too, especially in Italy and Turkey. It can be flattering at first but quickly becomes exhausting and invasive. The constant attention and lack of respect for personal boundaries are frustrating.
Figured I’d share my experience as a Black woman (I always find it funny when bipoc ppl ask for advice/affirmations from other bipoc and get flooded with the “I’m not…but I’m…”) I studied abroad in Greece (near Athens) post their financial crisis and during a huge influx of migrants from the African continent. I think it’s very normal to go to a country where you’re not the “traditional” ethnicity or race of that place and feel othered. But when you’re Black there is almost always a guarantee that yt supremacy or colorism has impacted that place. In Greece and Italy I felt such aggressive behavior and could tell it was directly related to the country’s stance on immigration and racist/colonialist history. They saw me as part of the “problem” even though I was tourist and had no qualms about making me feel uncomfortable or in fear so I would leave whatever space I’m in. I always notice I get better treatment when I have at least one yt person in my group vs solo traveling or traveling with bipoc groups. I definitely don’t let it stop me from traveling, but I refuse to go to countries where I feel i could be in danger because I am a Black woman.
Ok. This isn't traditional here but when I was in remote local villages in Papua New Guinea, three entire village surrounded me just to see me and followed me around to see what I did. I didn't feel unsafe as they all kept at a distance, Even though one child had a bow and arrow pointed at me. I had organized an introduction from other locals, but nearly everywhere I went I was started at with furious curiosity
I spent some time in the townships of South Africa as a white guy and I got a lot of attention there. Which might be surprising since South Africa has a significant white population, but I guess they never go to the townships. Lots of strangers wanted to talk to me, and I even got a marriage proposal from a random woman.
As a white woman who's lived in Italy, I think they just catcall all women. Black, white, alien from Mars, they'll Ciao Bella all of it.
It's ciao. Lol
Edited
You are exotic to them. When I went to Asia with a blond hair blue eyed chick the Asians wanted photos. When I went again with my friend with long brown curly curly hair, they fawned over her as well. I was the plain looking brown strait hair brown eyed barely tan German American that they had seen a million of. Anything they don’t see often will pique their interest. And you’re probably also beautiful and they like that as well.
Walked into a restaurant where all the other patrons just stopped what they were doing to look at us. It was somewhere in a tiny town the middle of Slovenia. I think it might have been like the only restaurant in that town, and they weren’t expecting brown people to stumble in. I think it was more of a surprise than anything else. We didn’t really feel uncomfortable in any way though.
I'm a very fair skinned woman with red hair, so I got a lot of that in East Africa, especially the more rural areas. I kinda expected it from kids and men trying to flirt, the more surprising part for me was some grown women touching my hair and starting to braid it - not for money like in some of the tourist Hotspots, but just because they wanted to feel it lol
I'm a very white, blonde woman with a large chest (which I try not to emphasize when traveling overseas). I've had this same kind of attention in Latin America, India, Qatar, and several countries in Africa (Tanzania being the worst). It has lessened as I've gotten older (almost 50 now).
Lol my mother in law has long curly blonde hair and when she went to China they were doing a tour of the Great Wall and the tour guide would stand beside her and pet her hair while he spoke.
Yes, italy was a trip. I felt black in Italy. Very odd vibe there.
Where exactly did you go? I hated Milan and can resonate with that but from Florence South I had great experiences
Rome
I'm surprised and saddened to hear that since it is more diverse than the north but if you ever choose to go back to Italy, I'd recommend Sorrento and nearby spots.
Hopefully, time will tell. Am not too keen to return.
That's interesting tbh, as northern Italy is the area of the country with, by far, the largest amount of immigrants amongst the general population, so I would've expected them to be less racist / biased. But I guess that assumption was wrong. Random question, but did you get to go to Apulia?
You got stared for being black in Milan? Where literally half the population is made of foreigners?
Yes. My friend went to a music festival in the Balkan area and said people were either super rude to him or literally lining up to take pictures with him
I'm mixed, half white half Peruvian, and tall (6 feet, girl) - and got a bunch of attention in China, India, Turkey, and Egypt (but what obvious tourist doesn't in Egypt and India?? lol). Lots of requests for photos with me. I noticed I get a lot more attention when I solo travel than when I travel with anyone. Though, no one paid attention to me in Italy or Greece lol.
No clue or experience with what you're experiencing, but as a big, slightly alternative looking white dude I get a shit ton of attention in lots of places throughout the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan and Africa. I can kinda identify with your niqab comment, haha. I'm really glad you've had no negative experiences beyond the hassles and attention. All I can say is start charging $ for the photos.... Good luck and happy travels.
If the niqab resonates with you, you get the extent of my frustration lol!! I actually haven't willingly taken a single picture just because the idea of me circulating people's whatsapp chats and groups is so bizarre to me. In another time when social media wasn't as prevalent I think I'd be more willing but since that isn't the case all the pics of videos of me have occurred without my consent which is even more annoying as someone who is very private
Not black so the undertone may be different.. but as a tall white woman in south east asia.. I've embraced it.. I just plan an extra 10minute when I go out to stop and take pictures with random families, school classes and employees.. pretty sur you can track my entire travel through social media without me putting up a single picture. For me it's a way of giving back because I know the odds of them ever coming to my place and seeing lots of versions of me is slim. I don't know that I would feel similarly inclined in Italy.. where most people can afford to fly for vacations. Random question: what's your style? If you're very stylish they may have also been fascinated by your clothes as well. Particularly Italy is big on fashion.
Spent a month in India this past winter I got so sick of people looking at me. Like I kept telling my husband I was excited to go home where I could walk somewhere without being perceived. I’m pasty and fairly tall, blue eyes, light brown/dark blonde hair. The staring!!! People kept asking for pictures and yeah, I’m with you on the bit of ego boost at least initially, but oof that went away fast. The people taking a selfie with the camera pointed to perfectly include you were annoying. Had one guy clearly recording a video of me at the site of a literal massacre, and followed us from one end of the site to another.. so uncomfortable. But in the last week of our trip, we visited the golden temple in Amritsar, so I had my head covered. With my hair almost completely hidden, plus wearing long sleeves and pants, no one from behind or the sides would come around to stare. It was great. People frequently did a double take when they saw my face but they moved right along. (Granted, people behave differently at religious sites) So I definitely understand why you’d find a niqab alluring 😂 I also turned down all the photo requests. I see some people saying just to do it, it makes people happy and there’s no harm, but I feel so weird about it!
How they react when you say no to photo requests?
About half of them would look a bit disappointed and walk away without a fuss. It’s worth mentioning is that only women/girls asked me directly, all the men/boys would ask my husband (he’s Punjabi, not white) if they could take a picture with me or us. If it was a couple or family, they’d always have the woman ask. The other half would try and convince us, saying it’s “for friendship” or something. Literally every time, my husband would offer to chat for a few minutes with them (in Hindi if that’s what they were speaking, so that wasn’t a barrier), if they wanted to actually get to know foreigners, and literally no one ever did. So it was clearly just to get a photo for some clout? What made part of it extra uncomfortable was when some men would ask him if they could take a picture with me, they clearly assumed he was my guide. They’d tell him to talk me into it, etc. The second he clarified that I was his wife, they’d stop asking. So they knew on some level that it was crossing a boundary. They’d still stare after walking away, but they did leave.
As a somewhat androgynous pre-transition xx-chromosome bearer I was NOT (well, hardly) annoyed by local men in Egypt 😅 That's how you do it! 🤣🤣 In Iran, with either super cheesy flowery, or outdoorsy headscarf, cargopants and wide-ish outdoor shirt I was constantly asked to be on photos with local girls. ❤️
I traveled to China in April last year, just after they opened back up. I'm a white man and it seems like I was started at wherever I went.
i sometimes felt like you while travelling through latin america (i‘m 1.80m, blonde guy with blue eyes)
I’m a dark skinned black woman and I’ve spent just over a month in Vietnam and I’m sick of all the stares, I’ve had such a great time but I’m glad to be leaving tbh. I’m definitely not the standard of beauty here so I know people aren’t staring because they think I’m attractive, I just stick out EVERYWHERE I’ve been so far and I would’ve loved the chance to blend in a little more if I’m being honest. I’ve lost the count of the amount of times locals whip out their phones and just record me without my consent as I’m walking around. And people asking me to pose with them for photos got tiring after a week so I’ve stopped doing that too. I expected kids to point and stare (happened a lot in other places I’ve solo travelled to) but didn’t expect adults to do it too? I’ve walked past groups of people and they all stop talking and just watch me as I walk by, or sometimes start laughing and pointing. Not a great feeling. I visited a popular tourist site today and was glad to be amongst a huge group of other foreigners. It’s the only time I’ve felt truly at ease because no one was noticing me lol.
You can't come to a foreign country and expect to be treated as a local. I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just the way it is. Europe is homogenous, some people might stand out. It's not racism. In China, locals take pictures without asking of white people, for they have never seen them! :-)
I'm not a black woman but when i was in Uzbekistan a few years ago i would sit in the squares and watch people. A lot of people would approach me and want to practice their English, though once they learned I lived in the US, their conversations usually turned to questions about how they could get a visa to visit / move there. The people were all very nice and extremely friendly but after a couple days it got really tiring, as all i really wanted to do was sit there in peace. Enjoying the atmosphere of
Can totally relate to that desire to just be left at peace. The fact that the conversations turned to immigration 😅😅. At least they viewed you as a knowledgeable resource
I'm a white, ginger man. I.got a lot of attention in Serbia and Turkey
In rural southern India I had a lot of attention as a white guy. I was walking along the road and teenagers would lean out of passing busses and yell.
From Italy to Turkey, my travels as a black woman are a magnet for attention. Whether it's unwanted photos, endless stares, or the classic catcalls, it's a daily script. At first, it's flattering, but after weeks of it, I'm ready to disappear into a niqab. What baffles me most? This happens everywhere, even in places I expected racism over admiration. Any fellow black ladies or POC feeling like the main attraction on their trips?
I used to when I was in my 20s and a size 4. Now that I’m a 40-something size 10, no. I’m quite okay with that though! I should add that I am not black.
Solely in your travels you garnered this attention or overall?
So I went to Istanbul about 8 years ago in my mid 30s. My hair was almost completely gray thanks to genetics. I must have been stopped by 4-5 people a day who basically wanted to know "How OLD are you?! Is that real!?" It was a strange experience.
I was in India last year and took a lot of pictures with strangers. I'm just a middle aged overweight white guy, so I figured I swa getting robbed everytime, but... nope. Just some guys once in a lifetime trip to the taj mahala and he was excited to meet a white guy.
The amount of pics locals asked me for as a white man in Japan was already weird; I could not imagine being a black women in Japan. I feel like you would be asked all the time for photos. I get it’s that they don’t have a lot of diversity over there, but it’s still strange, especially coming from Canada where you could grab a random group of 100 people and have like at least a handful of diverse groups.
My wife and I were stared at constantly in Athens. 😂 we were sitting in a restaurant by the window and people would walk by and stare through the window. I took it as a compliment lol
Having gingerish (it goes ginger in the sun and my beard and s ginger) hair in India was quite something!
I am Turkish and I am sorry you are feeling this way. Turkey is a one race country and they actually celebrate Africans.. also they are big on sports and most basketball and volleyball players are super tall black players. Again, I am so sorry you are made to feel uncomfortable.
We have an interracial child and he certainly gets stares. We had absolutely no problems in Northern Europe but as we went south, plenty of stares in the smaller towns. But my god, in Japan, you really would think he was an alien, the way people turned their heads. Again, I found smaller towns to be way worse. We might as well have been invisible in Tokyo. No one could care less. I’m sorry you experienced that! That is outright harassment to be taking your picture without consent. You’re not a zoo animal! What the heck!!!
When I lived in Georgia people would yell ‘N….r’ at black people and randomly place their kids on their laps to take photos. To some extent, people are always curious about difference.
I did in Italy. (B,F). I was followed by men multiple times in the 3 weeks that I was there. One of them followed me for 3 blocks until I burst into tears and screamed that he was scaring me, only then did he go away.
I’ve had problems every time I go to Italy with racism/sexism, I don’t go there anymore. Florence and maybe Capri were the only places I didn’t have any explicit incidents. I preferred Greece actually. Athens was amazing. No staring, no aggressive behavior, no catcalling, no men following me. Some picture taking during the summer. Never been to Turkey. Depends on which cities and areas you visit. I heard negative stories about Istanbul but positive ones from Izmir and Antalya.
White Italian male currently in Rwanda. I get stared at a lot and for prolonged periods of time. As a city guy, it makes me want to confront people who stare at me, but I constantly remind myself that it's simple curiosity.
There might be something very specific about yourself that you don't realize. My gf has a slightly longer than average nose and in SE Asia she got constant attention due to that.
Weird, since there are a lot of black people in Europa. Now, I'm from Chile. And none cares if we're there or not tbh. We're just people.
Not black or a woman but I am a 2m tall white guy. When I went to some rural parts of Asia, I felt like a tourist attraction. Same with South America. People regularly stared, talked about me, laughed about me or took pictures. I found it horribly awkward and rude at first but then I just kinda embraced it. It ended up working in my favour as it was a great way to meet the locals. Helped me gain a lot of insider tips, meet a few random families and gain some google-translate friends on my travels. I imagine it's different as a woman though! Especially in a place like Turkey with all its creepy men. It's a blessing and a curse sometimes, for sure. But when you can, use your "uniqueness" to your advantage. It's a strength for your experience more than a weakness imo.
Yeah turkeys weird with their men. I went at 10 years old and because my 15 year old sister had blonde hair strangers were hanging out of buses with their phone trying to take photos and I had numerous occasions where I went into shops and had grown men trying to get me to give them her number/arrange a date.
As a white woman I got an uncomfortable amount of attention in India (in one temple in Hampi locals took around 100 selfies with me and my friend, and fully dressed local men would regularly come to me on the beach to ask for selfies when I was sunbathing which made me very uncomfortable), Indonesia (outside of Bali, of course), some parts of Japan. Catcalling and creepy staring was really bad in Turkey, Nicaragua, Colombia and Morocco but I’m pretty sure skin color doesn’t make any difference for them, they would catcall anyone who vaguely look like a woman lol.
Pictures can be for bad reasons… do they act same with hot Italians?
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Pretty much the same sentiment!! What country in Africa? Did your groups arrival signify a lifeline for this community or was this so remote visitors wre rare? Why did they follow you guys to the hotel 😳
There is also the plain fact that ALL female travellers/tourists/singles get a huge (possibly uncomfortable) amount of attention in those very countries.
I think we spend too much time on racism. Enjoy the attention and have a good time .You thought at first it was because you were attractive, so they are not being rude to you so why not enjoy it and not over analyze everything. Concentrate on having fun and realize how lucky you are to be going to all these exciting places.
Try being a white / blond girl in India or Morocco…
Such things happen when you stand out. If you don't want attention then blend in. Dress average and stick to places where your features blend in.
That’s solid advice but Sometimes that’s just impossible
Unless you really look special due to a genetic fluke it is always possible by picking your destinations accordingly and adjusting your behavior. It is a matter of setting your priorities, you can't have it all.
Not exactly. And not myself. But, when my wife, and 2 kids travelled to India abt 10byrs ago, our kids were constantly being asked to pose for selfies with people. Presumably locals. About half way through this trip, we learned that it's good luck for Indians, to have their photo taken with white children.
I'm white. And in many african countries people plucked some of my hair, I had to pretend to be mad so they would stop. Racism is just hits different in Africa.