Monday, October 17, 2011

Sex in the city

I was talking to my husband about the possibility of a Hooters opening in Cartagena. To me, such a place seems redundant. Many women here have large breasts thanks to implants and are not shy about showing off their cleavage. He agreed with me that he didn't think such a place is necessary, in fact, he pointed out that there aren't any strip clubs here. Prostitution is legal, there are brothels all over the country. The plus side of that is that the women are tested regularly and are taken care of.
I realized that there is little to no sexual repression here. Women are very open about their sexuality. Sex is accepted in a way that is surprising. There are condoms available everywhere. When we arrived in Bogota a few months ago, the hotel had condoms next to the sewing kit and little bottles of shampoo. At the checkout line in the supermarket, condoms are sold next to the chewing gum and snack chips, I have also seen them in bathrooms here.
I have not observed any cat calling here, men don't yell out rude things to women, which is not the case in other places I have lived, especially Egypt, where the catcalling has gotten so bad that there is an app that Egyptian women can use to find out which corners and areas have are the worst for groups of men standing around harassing women. But, I digress.
While it is refreshing that Colombians are open about sexuality, the dark side seems to be the underage prostitution here that is rampant. The major hotels in Cartagena have agreed not to support underage prostitution in any way and would support efforts to combat the crime.
Another downside is that some women here are encouraged to get breast and ass implants (those are another phenomena here) to try and attract a man to marry (or the man they already have pays for the plastic surgery). The emphasis for these women is less on education of the mind and more on the superficiality of plastic surgery to achieve the look of a model. That seems to be true in most of Latin America. Yes, I know there is plenty of superficiality in the US. However, that is balanced a bit by the desire to teach women and girls that it is just as important to get a good education.
Sexuality is part of who we are as human beings and it is interesting to see how different cultures express it.




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