Peru and speedos

[SungueroPeru]

Living in Peru and being a fan of speedos is sometimes a challenge.

Many times have I read, in different speedo forums, that “in South America speedos are widely accepted“. I think some people would think that we all south americans have the same beach culture of brazilians.

Peru is one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, or at least, in the last decades it has turned this way.
I remember enjoying swimming in speedos with my friends in primary school, at homes or in clubs and it was completely normal. That was around 1994.
In our teenager years we all wore bermudas.
Nowadays I have seen some men wearing speedos in swimming classes, but not many. The rest wear bermudas or boxers. Even speedos and boxers are usually black or dark coloured.

At the beach sometimes you can't see anybody wearing speedos. My friend and I are speedo fans and there were times when we were the only two in speedos at the beach. And we have been to popular and not so popular beaches as well. Some men wear boxers at the beach, but as in the pools, mostly navy blue or black.

We have seen some foreigners wearing speedos.
we have received some bad words from groups of friends, drunk men, couples when we wore colourful speedos at the beach.
Some women also laughed hard at our faces.

Only once a guy approached and asked where we got those great swim suits.

Some lifeguards wear red speedos, but in the last years I have noticed they started wearing red swim boxers.

A few times we have seen peruvian men wearing not black or blue speedos., we called those days our “lucky days“.

Of course some openly gay men in Peru wear speedos. I have also met gay guys telling me they don't like speedos.

We hope this will change soon. I mean, you go to the beach to relax, enjoy the place and have fun. Not to mock other people you don't even know.

Anyway, we still enjoy going to the beach in our sungas or speedos!

Thanks for reading.

[blueflinch]

Thanks for taking the time to post, mate. I guess people say "South America" and mean "Brazil". Interesting that gay men (or course) are the ones keeping the cult of speedos alive. Why is Peru so conservative? Gender roles? Politics? The influence of the Church?

[SungueroPeru]

Thanks for your comment.
Peru being conservative is a very difficult question to answer.

Yes, Peru is indeed a very catholic country (as Brazil is!). The church still plays an important part in government-related decisions, In Peru same-sex marriage is not accepted by law, and poorly accepted by society. So, Catholic Church has direct and indirect inffluence in peoples' opinions and legal matters here. There are some organizations and political parties working to improve this. But the “anti-“ factors are bigger.

The society had struggled through many years of political and social instability during the last century. This means that Peru was a very closed country for many years. A lot of people died in the 80s ,and 90s because of terrorism and political corruption and it marked a huge scar in our society, that in my opinion, lead to form many generations afraid of the “new“ and what the church marks as “sinful“. So, being homosexual is sinful for the church.
By the way, my mother's family belonged to a church group in their youths in the 70s and I saw photos of uncles and their friends wearing boxers swim suits to my surprise!

The media has also played an awful big part in brainwashing people.
Gay men have been always portrayed full of clichés and stereotypes in tv-shows. Of course, it has a lot to do with the speedo culture. People had to accept everything media and the church said.

From the 2nd half of the 90s we have experienced an enormous economic grouth and fought against terrorism. People travel more, study abroad, have intenet access and new generations have changed everything. But sometimes society still struggles to scape from those old-fashioned, conservative ideas.

From my experience, when people make fun of me for wearing speedos, they are always in groups. Never alone. I imagine, they deeply dream of wearing something sexy and liberating like my speedo.

Some men wear speedos because they are sportsmen. It those cases is seen ok.

I have seen some bodybuilders tanning in speedos at the beach and men with wife and kids wearing speedos. I love to see people's minds are slowly changing.

We are such an odd society, aren't we?





Thanks for taking the time to post, mate. I guess people say "South America" and mean "Brazil". Interesting that gay men (or course) are the ones keeping the cult of speedos alive. Why is Peru so conservative? Gender roles? Politics? The influence of the Church?
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[blueflinch]

It sounds like Peru has had a lot of problems, and is still working through them. When societies are free, safe and prosperous, they tend to be more accepting and encouraging of individual freedom. When societies aren't free, safe, and prosperous, religion and oppressive politics have a lot more power, because people are craving security and don't know where else to get it.

I look forward to the day, in all countries, where it won't even be newsworthy to say someone is gay, because the distinction between gay and straight is meaningless. (Unless, of course, you personally want to date the person in question!)