The NY Times has a fascinating piece on the not-so-quietly forming ’sex rebellion’ raging on among Chile’s party-hard youth. Once one of the most sexually conservative of Latin American countries (according to the NYT), Chile is now witnessing a surge in public shows of sexuality (from making out on dancefloors to things much too graphic to be written about here) among its teen population. In an attempt to make sense of the phenomenon, some doctors, academics and other experts are pointing to the rise of the popular website Fotolog as one of the movement’s main drivers/enablers:
Fotolog, a photo-sharing network created in the United States, took off in the last two years in this country. Today Chile, which has a population of 16 million, has 4.8 million Fotolog accounts, more than any other country, the company says. Again, children ages 12 to 17 hold more than 60 percent of the accounts.
Party promoters use Fotolog, as well as MSN Messenger, to organize their weekend gatherings, inviting Fotolog stars — the site’s most popular users, based on the number of comments they get — to help publicize the parties and attend as paid V.I.P.’s. Many of the partygoers use their online nicknames exclusively, and some of the wildest events are dominated by teenagers who call themselves the “Pokemones,” with their multiple piercings, angular and pressed hair, and devil-may-care attitude.
Dr. Arias did a study of the Fotolog phenomenon, scrutinizing the kinds of photos teenagers are posting, even the angles and distances of the pictures — all of which are part of an “identifiable” language, he said. “The kids of today are expressing their sexuality in erotic ways for the whole world to see.”
Of course, the causes and effects of Chile’s sex rebellion go far beyond a photo-sharing site. Whether they know it or not, Chile’s “revolutionaries” are focusing an unforgiving spotlight on the country’s rapidly and unpredictably evolving culture, one in which didacticism, poor sex education and abortion bans will likely prove unsustainable.
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
