Being in Portugal for this month has been a memorable
experience and I want to share it with
you all as well. During the last weeks in Portugal I often had been confronted with
peculiar attention from opposite sex.
Whistles and shouts from passing cars, intrusive eye gaze
and naughty smiles. (Admittedly, younger
men in this case is more withheld and polite, which could not be said about the
mature age men.)
I assume that the locals have become accustomed to such... I would say system, while
for newcomers, this kind of attention can lead to discomfort and culture shock.
Speaking for myself, I have to admit that at first it seemed
a bit strange and amusing and sometimes even funny, but after a few weeks it
became tedious and frustrating.
While no one has yet tried to drag me in the bus with tinted windows, I'm happy to be in Portugal. :)
Eu ajo que aqui em Faro sim deu pra notar como os minimos fican falando mais cousas ou asubiando para as mininas. Na Espanha tambem acontece isto, para nos e algo ja comun, mais sim que e verdade que nao deberiamos permitir ja que e uma actitude irrespetuosa de cara a mulher.
ReplyDeleteYou must go to Brazil! There you will see what is a real "attention given". I'm very surprise here in Portugal, because I can walk in streets using a small shorts and nobody say nothing, or just a fell persons. In Brasil I can't walk in streets with the shorts that I'm using here.
ReplyDeleteThis does happen here in Portugal and it is quite disturbing some times. What I do when this happens to me is just ignore and pretend nothing happened, because I really don't know what else to do or say and that is what my dad told me to do. I believe this is a subject to be talked about, give each other ideas of what we could do in these situations, help each other out.
ReplyDeleteIt`s strange for me to read this Daira, I have not met such situation since I am here or not in such a huge amount (I mean the whistling etc.). Yes, men give me here more attention than I`m used to in the Czech Republic, but they are being rather nice, gentlemen and gallant than lewd/obscene like you describe, so I really enjoy it. Yes, sometimes someone whistles but I think the number of whistling men here is the same as in my home country so I don`t feel the difference in this issue. :)
ReplyDeleteI believe that somewhere it's even worse, but as I'm not used to in Latvia I find it quite strange and unusual. Yeah, and the best reaction of course is ignoring or respond with nothing more then a smile. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is sooo true. In Latvia we are quite reserved, even in relationships, and here is totally different, men are watching, saying comments and trying to get acquainted and it is normal in here. In the first moment I was shocked, but right now I used to it. But in first month it was totally annoying, screams and comments from cars, even sellersin the shops were saying some phrases "oh, blonde girl ulalalaa" etc. I heard that blonde girls are rarity in Portugal and Spain, but I did not know that men can be so shamelessly. :) But after 4 months I realized that it is not soo bad, we have just ignore that and that's all :)
ReplyDelete