Cool teenagers
Newsweek magazine has an article about the supposedly scandalous behaviour of young people in Santiago, Chile. They gather in the parks and do all sorts of things while wearing outrageous fashion. Will this come to Lumpini Park, I wonder?
Same-gender interactions are commonplace, as the lines between hetero- and homosexuality are blurred, partly by the alcohol and drugs consumed, but also by shifting social mores held by Chilean youth, in contrast to their conservative parents. “Ponceo is about having fun,” says Natalia Fernandez, a 15-year-old with pink hair and a pierced chin. “This time I had seven partners.”
Fernandez, like many others in the park, is wearing an anime T-shirt. Drawing inspiration from Japanese anime culture, the teens refer to themselves as “Pokemones.” Their behavior, though, doesn’t quite resemble that of the cartoon characters that once obsessed young TV watchers around the world. “It’s shameless,” says Gina Mazzini Aliste, a middle-aged woman in the park that day. “They act like ponceo is a competitive sport.”
Tags: Chile, pokemones, Santiago
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Hey… I’m moving to Chile!
Long live Pinochet’s free-market reforms!!!
I just LOVE that boy on the screen! Does it get any more perfect?
“Anonymous rounds of oral sex” in the public park with teenagers!
Viva “ponceo”!
Viva “Los Pokemones”!
Thanks for the tip SF!
I”m booking the next flight out of Suvarnabhumi to Santiago!
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
For your information SF, it IS already in Lumpini Park. It might not be as extravagant, but it is there. Go walk after dark around the bushes, one sees many things alive after dark there…and it ain’t just the monitor lizards.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hmm, perhaps I might try introducing this sport at my local youth club…
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Pokemones videos on YouTube got LOTS of cuties…V Hot, young Chileans…but I think you gotta be one to get one…
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
KOboy, the article says “the lines between hetero- and homosexuality are blurred, partly by the alcohol and drugs consumed”. I bet the lines between all other categories are equally blurred.
Gotta run! My flight to Santiago is boarding!
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:49 pm
So Chilean boys are not gay when sober? Sounds like an excuse.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:52 pm
KOboy: so the young and beautiful only want other young and beautiful? Not fair. But who pays for their constant shopping of clothes, accessories, new hairdos and mobile phones? I see an opening for a sugardaddy.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Hmmm…You are very fortunate to be living in Thailand…Here in Aussie, the young and the beautiful don’t really need sugardaddies to get those things (casual job or Mum will cover it), so unless you can afford to buy him a Porsche, or rent him that harbour-view appartment, Mr. Cute is for looking only when U R my age…
March 26th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Uhh… It’s a hot idea, but I think Newsweek just goofed again and extrapolated the Chilean ponceo-emo-kissing trend wrong.
c.f. youtube ponceo video posts
See also http://kotaku.com/369988/pokemones-are-not-oral-sexy-obsessed-just-kissing-crazy