‘The White Lotus’ Is Reigniting The Conversation Around ‘Passport Bros’

ALTHOUGH YOU MIGHT not have heard of the “passport bro” before, the term has gained traction on social media in recent years, and now, crossed over into TV’s most popular show, The White Lotus.

This season, many of the American male guests staying at the fictional Thailand resort are accompanied by their younger, beautiful, and foreign girlfriends/wives, earning them the nickname “losers back home (LBH)”—a spin on the “passport bro” term. The difference: While many men self-identify as passport bros in real life, on The White Lotus, LBH is used by the locals to label the many “bald, white men” in Thailand, according to Chloe (the girlfriend of Gary/Greg, whose bare head fits the description).

It’s clear from episode one that LBHs abound at the luxury resort, but perhaps no character epitomizes the “passport bro” as much as Rick’s (Walton Goggins) old friend Frank, played by Sam Rockwell, who openly admits that he moved to Thailand “because I always had a thing for Asian girls.”

While Frank’s expat journey took a few unexpected turns, the rest of the passport bros seem to have found ideal romantic partners abroad. On The White Lotus, these women always appear eager to please and more than happy to cater to their partner’s whims, likely because they are rewarded with a lavish lifestyle filled with yachts and extravagant parties. Of course, this dynamic doesn’t go unquestioned. As Parker Posey’s character, Victoria Ratliff, asks a young, beautiful Asian woman at one such soirée: “Why are you with this middle-aged weirdo? Does he have a lot of money?”

Okay, so these relationships might be exaggerated for entertainment purposes (and to great meme-able effect), but passport bros are a real and growing presence in the world of travel and dating. Here’s everything to know about the men seeking out a different kind of connection.

What is a “passport bro”?

The term “passport bro” refers to a Western man who heads to another country with the purpose of dating—and often marrying—a woman who is of that culture. The Official Passport Bros website describes the practice as “a specific mindset and lifestyle choice adopted by men who have decided to pursue relationships with foreign women from different cultural backgrounds, often in countries outside their own.” While the label can be applied to plenty of men who don’t identify as a passport bro, self-identification is picking up steam. More on that later.

The website’s description leaves out a crucial component of the idea of a passport bro. Typically, these men “are dissatisfied [with] the women they find here, or who are in their social circles, whether it’s because they don’t fit this traditional woman mold or they’re too feminist,” says Dr. Sally Chung, PsyD, a Seattle-based relationship therapist with a specialty in cultural identity.

“It’s either there’s something they don’t like about these women or something they’re not getting out of women in their own home countries, where they go to other countries, generally where they have a lower cost of living,” she adds. “[Passport bros travel to] countries where women are poorer, have fewer options, and they find women there who they believe to be more traditional. They will cook, and they will clean, and maybe they’re more subservient.”

Along with Thailand, the most popular destinations for many Western men to visit, per the Passport Bros website, are Croatia, Cambodia, Colombia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Is being a “passport bro” controversial?

The “passport bro” dynamic can be “extremely exploitative” of women in other cultures, says Chung, mainly due to unequal power dynamics regarding finances and cultural influence.

“America is known to be a very wealthy country. When you have someone coming in from America, you expect them to have all this money. [If] they want to be in a relationship with you, and you don’t have money, maybe this is your ticket out. If they want to stay, maybe they’re going to improve your standard of living,” she explains. “Money inherently sets up a power dynamic in a relationship.”

While plenty of couples have one partner who is the “breadwinner,” in a certain light, the financial inequity between a passport bro and his partner can seen as a way to exert control over the relationship because the stakes are higher. Not only do these women tend to lack financial independence, but they also have more to lose than their men. Inevitably, this puts them in a position where it’s in their best interest to do whatever is required to keep the passport bro happy because they think they owe it to him.

This power dynamic further reinforces the “inherent belief that Western culture is superior,” says Chung, which can also enable exploitation. Men who travel to these other countries also tend to project their traditional view of women on those living there, says Chung, even if the reality doesn’t match their expectations. Passport bros say they are looking for a partner who “embodies femininity,” per the organization’s website, but it’s unclear how they define that quality and why they are unable to find that among the 170 million women living in America. “There are plenty of women here who are stay-at-home mothers,” Chung says. “There are women who are successful in their high-powered careers and are very feminine. What do you mean when you say ‘femininity’? You mean ‘submissive.’”

“[In] certain cultures, women present in a different way that they may appear to be more agreeable. They may be more soft-spoken [or] have a way of speaking that may make them seem more appealing,” adds Jean Fitzpatrick, a New York-based psychotherapist and marriage counselor who has worked with many couples who met in another country. “After it becomes a relationship, the partner will usually discover that this is a woman who has thoughts and feelings like any other human, and that can be a surprise.”

But the Passport Bros website rejects the “narrative” that they are exploiting people and women of other cultures, and describes its members as “honest, hard-working, respectable, good men who are traveling abroad to see the world in an effort to experience a better quality of life.”

Is it becoming more popular to identify as a “passport bro”?

On TikTok, there are 25.5 million videos about passport bros—many are critical of the lifestyle, while some glorify it. It’s a similar mixed bag on Instagram, with 26.7 thousand #passportbros posts.

Two different Facebook groups, one public ‘Passports Bros’ group and one private ‘PASSPORT BROS’ group, have 18 thousand and 25 thousand members respectively. The private group is especially active, with 10+ posts a day, according to the social media platform. This community has become a global phenomenon (in every sense of the word), but what’s fueling the rise of the passport bro online and in real life?

While Chung hasn’t personally seen a rise in passport bros, she does feel the movement might overlap partially with incel culture and be fueled by a mindset of I’m owed this, and I’m not getting it from American women.

The Passport Bros website says that they feel villainized by Western women and the media, and that has played a significant role in their self identification. “To shame, insult, guilt, and name-call men simply for being Men has unfortunately become normalized,” the website says on the ‘About Us’ page. (Men’s Health reached out to the Passport Bros for comment, but the interview was postponed past deadline.)

The appeal of passport bro-ing may also be tied to the fact that men enjoy embodying traditionally masculine values and interacting with partners of another culture might unlock something internally for them, says Fitzpatrick. “At the same time, it’s important for the woman involved to have their eyes open and ask questions about the relationship.”

Ultimately, for a healthy partnership to develop, any passport bro visiting another country should consider the women there as people “who have something to teach him about the world they’re living in,” says Fitzpatrick, allowing for the potential of mutual understanding and respect.