After Project 5, I tried an intervention that I called “Intervention 0.5” because it was like checking my understanding with my classmates to see if what I thought matched what they thought. As expected, everyone chose the image on the right, which was of a woman dressed modestly with hands clasped in a traditional Thai greeting, symbolizing Thai hospitality. However, what caught my interest and surprised me was that two of my classmates, who are American—one a 27-year-old woman and the other a 25-year-old man—both chose the image on the right. I asked them why they chose that image, and both of them gave similar answers. They said that in America, massages aren’t associated with any specific nationality; it’s just seen as a form of relaxation. The image on the right didn’t make them feel it was suggestive or sexual in any way; it just looked like a typical advertisement they would see in America.
These are the comments I received from the intervention.