I'm trying not to be judgmental, I really am.
First, who can truly know the workings of a relationship between two people other than the two involved? Second, we've all experienced those moments when we've realized that age doesn't necessarily correlate with maturity. Finally, differing cultural assumptions/expectations and financial imbalances (read: power imbalance) are never insurmountable when two poeple are willing to compromise, be open, work together, blah blah.
All that said, it still feels a bit icky to me. I've seen dozens (at least) of older white men walking around w/ young Thai girls, so many that it doesn't even surprise me anymore. I'm not sure who is taking advantage of who, but it seems to me that the chances of some sort of exploitation happening are much higher in this situation than at times where the two individuals are of similar cultural backgrounds, financial positions, life stages, etc.
But then again, since I don't actually have any real information, nor have I spoken to any of these couples, maybe I should say that I don't know that I'm talking about, and then shut up. After all, who's to say that other, "normal" relationships are really that successful after all? (50% of U.S. marriages end in divorce.) Don't exploitation and power imbalances happen to some degree in any relationship? Who's to say what works and doesn't? (The answer: not me.)
Finally, what business is it of mine who others choose to love, or what others do in their private lives, as long as nobody's getting (seriously?) hurt? (The answer: none?)
(How complex human relationships are!)
btj
Personally I cast aside the idea of going out with a women whose age is a lot under mine, but in the case of young Thai women you can see that they like to hang out with much older men whose sexual desire in not even functioning well only by ingesting a tablet of Generic Viagra.
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