Don't let's argie bargie about it …
My boyfriend and I are off travelling two weeks today. We're spending four months in South America - Peru, Bolivia (including a little voluntary work), Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Now, my trust Lonely Planet and Rough Guide both inform me that South American men have a slightly different way of treating women than their UK counterparts*. They won't mean to be offensive, but they'll leer and whistle, etc. etc. (assuming I'd be 'worth' their attentions, obviously). They are also likely to be concerned about my welfare if I'm on my own. In a conversation with my boyfriend and me, even if I speak Spanish more fluently, they are unlikely to address me, and will talk only to him. This last bothers me the most. I am not accustomed to being ignored and I don't intend to become so. Yet for many, it is travel etiquette to observe and absorb a different culture without criticising or trying to change it. One of the arguments is that a culture may have more to it than meets the eye: a mere outsider cannot understand it well enough to comment. I find this incredibly hard. In some ways I agree: the idea of Christian missionaries trying to convert 'heathens' who are perfectly happy with their own religion/s offends me utterly, so should I consider that I have a right to peddle my beliefs? I don't see why I should allow myself to be treated with any less respect or equality than I expect anywhere else, but am I being colonialist (in a modern sense of the word)? Should I make a point of joining in conversations? Help!* I am not claiming that this is true, and no doubt there are exceptions (for instance, I'm sure some South American men are just as obnoxious as some UK men - sorry, couldn't resist that). It is my one source of knowledge until I experience it for myself.
posted by Growlergirl @ 4:07 pm
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