Meanwhile, as children grow older, the contradictions become increasingly stark. Thus, while girls are told to abstain from sex until their wedding night, boys are encouraged to have as many relationships as possible. Whereas both boys and girls are taught to view marriage as the only form of union acceptable in the eyes of God, they look around their community and see many types of relationship co-existing side by side.
Moreover, soap operas and fashion magazines are continuously emphasizing the importance of romantic love, making girls and young women feel that they must provide their boy-friends with
'proof' of their affection, for example by consenting to sex. However, this in turn is countered by their mothers, who tell them to distrust men, and by the experiences of friends and family-members who have been abandoned by their boy-friends as soon as they become pregnant.
In this way, even as young people assimilate contradictory norms such as those described above, they are cannot help but compare them to their own realities, in the process realizing that those who demand high standards of behaviour from them are often those who are most hypocritical in their own sexual lives and practices.
Villa del Mar
As one might imagine, widespread socio-economic marginalization in Villa del Mar ensures that the gap between what is demanded of young people in the realm of sex, and what is actually possible in light of the circumstances in which they find themselves is particularly wide. Thus, at the same time that community members place great stock upon the supernatural and the spiritual as means of compensating for their lack of material prosperity, their bodies remain the principal tool through which they seek to obtain recognition and pleasure.
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
152
This is an important point, serving to highlight the disjuncture between what is desirable and what is possible within a given social context. In other words, young people in Villa del Mar champion marriage and other Christian values precisely because they offer hope for the future, even if the best they can expect right now is bodily pleasure through whatever means possible.
As way of example, consider the life-histories of Raquel and Wendy. Aged 14 and 17
respectively, both have grown up in poverty-stricken, single-parent households. Moreover, both are what might described as 'conservative' in matters of sex, with Wendy in particular emphasizing the importance of pre-marital virginity and a relationship model based upon a male breadwinner and female nurturer who is willing to make sacrifices for the sake of her husband and family. However, in spite of her strong support for Christian mores, she admitted to having sex with sex several young men during the course of recent years, though she went on to argue that her actions did not matter 'because [she] didn't feel a thing.'
As for Raquel, she was even more forceful in defending the Christian position on sex and sexuality. As she put it, 'for a woman to be respected, she has to dress in white when she walks down the aisle. Otherwise, she's nothing but a whore.' However, as she was questioned further on her views and background, contradictions began to emerge. In the first instance, she revealed that her mother currently co-habitates with a man who is not her husband, and has done on two occasions in the past. Then, after stating in the first interview session that she had never had sex before, she subsequently conceded that this was untrue. In short, not only did she admit that she had had her first sexual encounter at age 11, but she indicated as well that she has slept with a number of boys since that time.
Gender differences
In the personal interviews and focus group sessions, young people's responsiveness to particular sexual discourses differed considerably according to whether they were men or women. Thus, whereas almost all of the participants in Villa del Mar - of both sexes - voiced strong support for Christian mores and values, men were far more likely to interpret the latter THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
153
through the lens of 'eroticism' and prevailing gender discourses. How so? In short, even as they are told that it is important to avoid sex outside the bounds of marriage, male youth are also aware that their reputation will be enhanced if they have many partners and appear knowledgeable in the area of love-making strategies and techniques.
By contrast, female participants placed considerably more stock on the tenets of romanticism, using it as a counterweight to that which is demanded of them under the terms of dominant gender and religious discourses. In particular, young women draw upon the concept of romantic love as a basis upon which to imagine something other than the drudgery, violence and inequity that characterize most of the relationships around them. Moreover, it also offers them a means of escaping religious prohibitions on extra-marital sex, to the degree that it is possible to claim that one was blinded by love, and thus driven to do something that one would never have done under 'normal' circumstances.
Of course, this is not to suggest that men are completely immune from the precepts of romantic love themselves. Among those whom we interviewed, several young men indicated that they had fallen in love, and it was clear that this had prompted them to change some of their views regarding women and personal relationships. Quite simply, not only did they now draw a distinction between women in general and their beloved, but they also resisted the urge to look upon their girl-friend as though she were merely a trophy-piece or sexual object, while defending her from the gossip and jokes of their male peer group.
Villa del Sol
As one might imagine, the emphasis which young people living in Villa del Mar place upon bodily pleasure is not nearly as strongly marked in this community. Material success and academic excellence are within the grasp of the bulk of the town's adolescent population, and thus most have little incentive to engage in physical violence, break the law or experiment sexually with animals (all of which are common pastimes for Villa del Mar youth).
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
154
Moreover, it should also be noted that young men in Villa del Sol are far less likely to adopt a strongly misogynist perspective. In short, not only are they familiar with the basic tenets of liberal feminism, but they are aware of the potential benefits to be derived from a partner who is educated and in a position to enhance household earning power through a career of her own.
Of course, in this regard it is no coincidence that steady employment is far easier to come by in Villa del Sol than it is in Villa del Mar, ensuring that men need not feel threatened by a woman who is the family's principal breadwinner.
Meanwhile, among Villa del Sol's young women, interviews and focus groups served to highlight the fact that they generally had little respect for religious and romantic discourses, which they saw as perpetuating female passivity and exploitation. Instead, they tended to adopt a broadly feminist perspective, in which happiness was associated with a career on the one hand and, on the other, a stable marriage founded upon principles of equality and fairness. Needless to say, it was precisely this latter objective that made most female participants shy away from feminism in its more radical incarnations.
Discursive contradictions and tolerance of homosexuality
Christian doctrine is unequivocal in its condemnation of homosexuality, which it lambasts as a repugnant sin, and an affront before the eyes of God. After all, were not Adam and Eve given explicit instructions to be fruitful and multiply? While members of the religious hierarchy may be quick to mobilize such arguments as they attempt to convince all who will listen of the evils of homosexuality, a substantial proportion of study participants reported having friendships or regular social contact with openly gay individuals. However, as surprised as some may be by this finding, it should be noted that not all young people were equally tolerant, with Villa del Mar youth generally being far more open-minded in this regard than their counterparts in Villa del Sol.
While we must ask ourselves why this is the case, it is first necessary to address a more fundamental question: has modernity brought in its wake greater or lesser acceptance of gay THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
155
practice and lifestyles? Certainly, there are some writers who contend that scientific advances, urbanization and mass education have provided the basis for a more enlightened attitude in this area (Weeks 1985). However, evidence presented by other scholars, Michel Foucault most notable among them, challenges this view. In short, this latter group would argue that modernity has, to a significant degree, created homosexuality, with the emergent discipline of psychiatry taking it upon itself to identify - and stamp out - such 'abnormality' in the population (Foucault 1978). While this is not to suggest that homosexuals were looked upon in a favourable light in the pre-modern era, as attested to by the zeal with which most European regimes executed men accused of sodomy, persecution remained at a minimum because it was a particular set of practices that were proscribed, rather than a sexual identity per se.
Thus, psychiatry's 'contribution' was to transform homosexuality into a mental illness in need of medical investigation and intervention, thereby justifying any number of highly questionable forms of therapy (ranging from lobotomies to induced vomiting) in the pursuit of a 'cure'. As one might imagine, it is precisely for this reason that homosexuality has come to be associated with perversion and sickness in modern industrial societies, Villa del Sol included. However, as we will endeavour to make clear in the discussion below, young people in Villa del Mar have been raised in a rather different cultural context, one that makes use of a classification system based upon criteria other than 'homosexual' and 'heterosexual'.
Let us consider this claim in further detail. Quite simply, findings derived from ethnographic observation, interviews and focus groups show that individuals living in Villa del Mar tend to look upon homosexuality as a form of gender inversion, in which men adopt feminine characteristics while women adopt masculine ones. Moreover, since sexual orientation is deemed to be grounded in one's genes, there is little attempt to ascribe blame. Instead, individuals who engage in same-sex relationships are categorized in a manner identical to everyone else: according to their relative 'activity' or 'passivity'. In effect, this means that men who are domineering and aggressive - stereotypically masculine characteristics - can engage in sexual contact with other men without being thought of as gay. Indeed, in this regard one might argue that same-sex relationships are seen in the same light as adulterous affairs and bestiality; while all are forbidden by the Church, they are attractive to men because they provide the latter with an opportunity to assert their manliness through the domination of others.
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
156
By contrast, Villa del Sol youth are less tolerant of homosexuality precisely because it is associated with an abhorrent and frightening Other. That is to say, it is understood to derive from 'abnormalities' in a child's psychological development, resulting in deviant adults whose sexual habits are not only perverse, but capable of entrapping 'normal' individuals as well. It is for this reason that young people in Villa del Sol are reticent to admit that they know someone who is gay, let alone that they are friends with this individual. Of course, also pertinent in this regard is the fact that homosexuality is seen as a challenge to the established social order, calling into question all that heterosexual society holds dear.
Discourses and compartmentalization
Even as one acknowledges the willingness of some individuals to mount a frontal assault upon the tenets of dominant discourses, for most young people acceptance is preferable to confrontation. Indeed, among those whom we interviewed, very few could conceive of alternative means of organizing gender relations or the sexual division of labour. Instead, most of these individuals have attempted to structure their lives in such a way that they are able to reconcile discursive contradictions, with compartmentalization proving to be one the principal strategies used in this regard. How so? Quite simply, the adoption of such an approach allows individuals to resolve differences among the various discourses by adjusting their behaviour to match the surroundings or circumstances in which they find themselves at any given moment in time.
As way of example, let us consider the case of Maria. Born and raised in Villa del Mar, she lives with her mother, step-father and step-sister. Her mother works at a restaurant, while her step-father, who drinks heavily, finds sporadic employment as a fisherman and seller of lottery tickets. Moreover, her parents' relationship is highly dysfunctional, characterized by binge drinking, extra-marital affairs, and extreme violence on the part of the step-father towards Maria's mother.
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
157
As for Maria herself, while she is constantly admonished by her mother to be careful around boys and to 'save' herself for marriage, male class-mates never miss an opportunity to make lewd comments and fondle her breasts. If this were not traumatizing enough, Maria's step-father began to abuse her sexually while her mother was away at work, and raped her when she was only 12 years old. Left bleeding in her bedroom, she was too afraid to seek help because he had threatened to kill her mother should she tell anyone about this incident.
Over the course of subsequent years, the fear she felt towards her step-father made her spend more and more time away from home, either visiting with friends or in the company of a young man who would soon become her boy-friend. They had not been dating long when she consented to have sex with him, despite her strong support for Christian mores and pre-marital abstinence. When asked about this seeming paradox, she replied, I don't really know why I did it. I guess when you fall in love you lose your head and do things to prove your affection. I had such a terrible experience with my step-father that I wanted to do it on my own with someone I love.
Needless to say, „losing one‟s head‟ is central to the compartmentalization process, providing young people with an opportunity to justify acts that run counter to stated beliefs and principles, while preserving the illusion of behavioural consistency. To return once again to the words of Maria in face of further probing by the interviewer, „I‟ve never stopped believing in virginity and fidelity. When I had sex with him, I wasn‟t myself, it wasn‟t the normal Maria.‟ Though there are some uncharitable observers who might argue that Maria was simply using love-induced madness as a convenient cover for hypocrisy, in fact there is every reason to believe that she was sincere in her explanation. After all, one of the defining features of compartmentalization is the fact that it is grounded in the subconscious, from which repressed urges and desires are only allowed to escape in response to a particular set of triggering mechanisms, of which unbridled passion and alcohol-induced intoxication are two examples.
However, they are not the only ones; time and space are also highly relevant in this regard, as is attested to by Luis‟ experience. In our interview with him, he reported having had regular THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
158
sexual contact with a male study partner while the two are alone in his parents‟ house: „I‟ve told him we shouldn‟t do it, that it‟s wrong, but when he starts to touch me I get so hot I can‟t stop.
He takes advantage of how horny I am.‟ When asked why he continues to schedule the study sessions at a time when his parents are away, he said simply that „this is when the house is least noisy.‟ Obviously, it has not occurred to him that he is himself implicated in the decision to continue having a relationship with his friend, by virtue of the fact that he is choosing the time and place to meet, „forgetting‟ that it is precisely because his parents are not home that sexual contact is possible.
In this way, Luis‟ actions are reflective both of a polarized mental state ( ie. between rationality and irrationality) and, at a more general level, of the bifurcation of physical space (and time) into zones of pleasure and abstinence, law and chaos, godliness and licentiousness. Thus, ethnographic observation undertaken in both communities highlighted a stark contrast between locales associated with „official‟ discourses ( eg. schools, churches, and department stores), and those where forbidden pleasures and pursuits are allowed to manifest themselves openly ( eg.
bars, discotheques, beaches, brothels and pool halls).
Moreover, one might argue that each of these spaces embodies a particular set of taboos and prohibitions, grounded in the compartmentalizaiton process described above. Most obvious among these are restrictions associated with gender. Whereas men enjoy unlimited access to spaces of pleasure thanks to the continuing dominance of patriarchal discourses, women may only gain ingress in special circumstances ( ie. within the context of holidays or rites of passage), or at the cost of becoming known as promiscuous and „easy‟. In a similar vein, the movement of sexual minorities (be they gay men, lesbians, transvestites or sex trade workers) is also restricted, though in opposite fashion. That is to say, strict limitations are placed upon their access to sites, such as churches and schools, where „normal‟ standards and mores apply; if they wish to visit these locales, they must either disguise their identity, or be willing to face ridicule and abuse.
As one might imagine, several consequences arise from this state of affairs. In the first instance, it affords hegemonic forces the opportunity to discipline and dominate marginalized groups, such as gay men and women, by „keeping them in their place‟, whether at home under THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
159
the watchful eyes of their fathers and brothers, or out of sight in neighbourhoods where „decent‟
( ie. heterosexual) members of society would not dare venture.
Secondly, it promotes a lack of reflexivity among young people in their handling of issues pertaining to sex. Among many of the study participants, there was a strongly marked tendency to engage in abrupt behavioural changes depending upon the circumstances and locale in which they found themselves. Thus, as one of the project ethnographers was surprised to discover, young women who were usually shy and demure at home would become sexually aggressive and gregarious while on an outing to the beach. Of course, it need hardly be added that such sudden shifts in attitude and demeanor do not encourage the adoption of safe sex practices, since to do so would imply that one had not „lost one‟s head‟ after al .
Finally, one might argue that the bifurcation of physical space into zones of pleasure and self -
denial is reflective of a similar distinction made between legitimate and illegitimate sexuality.
Quite simply, whereas most young people tend to associate the former with matrimony, procreation and the home ( ie. private space), the latter is generally seen in far more alluring terms, embodying such qualities as danger, eroticism and passion. In turn, this means that young people (particularly men), upon marrying and starting families of their own, will continue to believe that sex can only be truly exciting if it is forbidden, prompting them to seek it out regardless of the risk to themselves and their relationships.
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
160
XI
Formal Resistance to Discourses
Background
Given that power exercised through discourses necessarily benefits some groups more than others, acts of resistance are inevitable. For the purposes of this study, we take the latter to refer to any expression, conscious or unconscious, of rejection of one or more principles of a dominant discourse. Moreover, it should also be noted that resistance can either be formal or informal. Informal resistance, an issue that will be addressed in detail in the following chapter, is by definition inchoate and unfocused, and may involve anything from refusing to go to mass on a Sunday, to girls who choose to have sexual intercourse prior to marriage. In both cases, the tenets of dominant discourses are being called into question, yet there is no underlying agenda, nor are individuals necessarily even aware that they are engaging in an act of resistance; in many cases, their purpose is merely to assert a measure of independence from their parents.
Meanwhile, formal acts of resistance are more focused, and are often characterized by the mobilization of counter-hegemonic discourses as means of confronting and resisting the status quo. Among the research participants, feminism, romanticism and eroticism featured particularly prominently in this regard, though it should be emphasized that their capacity to affect change is undermined by the contexts from which they emerge. That is to say, not only do romanticism and eroticism trace their origins to a distant past in which the prevailing discourses were quite different from those today, but none is broad-based enough to mount an effective challenge against present-day sexual culture in general. However, this is not to suggest that such discourses are entirely without subversive effect, as we will endeavour to show in the discussion that follows.
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
161
Erotic discourses
As Foucault makes clear, eroticism's roots lie in pre-Christian pagan societies, particularly Classical Greece. For the most part, these cultures did not seek to circumscribe the sexual practices of their citizens in a manner that would be familiar to us today. Rather, in Greece if not elsewhere, concern was focused instead upon means of ensuring that free men did not become overly caught up in a life of hedonism (Foucault 1987).
It is in this context that self-control (enkateia) was championed. That is to say, even as Greek thinkers recognized (and celebrated) the joys to be derived from such pursuits as eating, drinking and sex, they called upon individuals to restrict their pleasure-seeking activities to those times and places when 'need, moment and function' were in harmony (Foucault 1988:51). In effect, this meant that one should control one's urges in public (need), only engage in sexual activity when one was suitably prepared to do so (moment); and always endeavour to make sure that partners behaved in a manner appropriate to their social status (function). So long as these guidelines were adhered to, no particular act was forbidden; body and pleasure were as one (Dover 1989;Cantarella 1992).
However, if the views described above were representative of mainstream opinion in Ancient Greece, by no means is this to suggest that dissent was non-existent, as attested to by the numerous schools of oppositional thought which arose in the latter centuries of the Classical era. Without wishing to overstate their effect upon dominant mores and values within Greek society itself, they clearly provided much inspiration for early Christian ascetics, whose views on sex remain influential within Christianity to this day (Bullough 1979).
Male erotic discourses
THE SEXUAL CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
162
Focused upon the body and its pleasures, modern-day eroticism provides a potent counterweight to the deadening impact of dominant sexual mores and values. Although it is essentially a male discourse, typified by such sub-cultures as those associated with bars, sports clubs, street gangs and brothels, its does not necessarily exclude women, so long as they are willing to abide by its principles and share in its outlook. Needless to say, its subversiveness lies in its opposition to 'respectable' forms of sexual oppression, which it challenges through the celebration of 'deviant' sexualities embodied by the street and those who might be found there, whether prostitutes, adulterers, gay men, lesbians or transgressors of categories.
Among those whom we interviewed, it is clear that „street‟ sexuality holds a strong appeal. Not only did Aaron recount an incident in which his friend lost his virginity to a prostitute, but Mainor described in vivid detail a recent visit to a brothel:
It was some experience. I went with a group of friends and we were all up on the dance-floor with the whores. I began to act provocatively and then one of them grabbed my dick. I got so hot that I came right there in her hand, and the best thing was that I didn‟t have to pay a cent.
Meanwhile, others derive pleasure from simply harassing sex-trade workers and others whom they consider deviant. As Jorge made clear, young men from Villa del Sol would frequently travel to downtown San José in order to „tease‟ any transvestite they might find there: „they say real y dirty stuff to us and we‟l answer right back with even filthier things.‟ Although the potential for violence is omnipresent in these exchanges, o