Here is an interesting poster that you see all over the place. I am sure I don't need to explain what this little pill supposedly does. The ubiquity of it is what surprises me, and they sponsor one of the major baseball teams - all those muscly sportsmen with the name of a "male help" pill on their backs.
I am a bit confused over this in a number of ways. Firstly the pill is called "La Pela", and my understanding of the word pela is that it is a slang term for a beating - "I am going to give you a 'pela'" means I am going to thump you. Quite why this is has become a name for a small blue pill is beyond me, though I am sure some feminist discourse analyst could spend many a happy year analysing it.
The link with baseball is also amuses me. There is a rival brand that makes a great deal about how it is endorsed by none other than David "Big Pappi" Ortiz, a major league batsman. Unfortunately, the nickname is not my invention, but on the poster is actually in a larger font than his first or last name. Their publicity has an interesting picture of "Big Pappi"; a huge, grinning, muscly baseballer gripping a baseball bat in a way that clearly shows he is compensating for something. I don't think the concept of male compensation is present in Dominican culture if all the blue pill manufacturers endorse big muscly sportsmen who swing bats. Either that or they have highly developed sense of irony, which I doubt.
Apparently these endorsements are worthwhile, as these pills are incrediably popular. You have young men popping these pills like crazy (surely young men are the people in least need of such artificial stimulants, or maybe I should ask their girlfriends. Though this sort of person probably doesn't have one). It has become a bit of a health risk as it is tampering with blood pressure.
The most surprising bit is that people here will openly talk about how they use them. The DR is an incrediably macho society, and no bloke ever wants to show their weakness here, least of all in the trouser department, yet that is not how it seen here. Rather it is seen as a point of pride that you have so many girlfriends that you need help in keeping them happy. Though I don't see why you couldn't just try helping them go shoe shopping......
Anyway, I think the DR is a long way from metrosexuality. I'll put my plans for a male moisturiser import business on hold.
3 comments:
La Pela
Usually pelas in the Dominican Republic would be given to children by their parents using a belt when for one reason or another their parents felt the kids needed one before they grew up and it was already too late for giving them 'a pela'.
When guys grew up to around 15 years of age, their friends' male parents -mostly them, yes- would ask them if they had already 'moistened the tip' or 'got the tip wet', meaning if they had already had their first sexual experience.
Some of those older guys would often brag about having a better belt than others, not always longer, just a better belt.
Others would call another good friend as 'Hey, what's up with the best belt in town!' and stuff.
The 'La Pela' nickname has a lot to do with ideas of having moaning, crying or other loud noises by the female during sexual intercourse.
My take about why people openly talk about its use, be it regular, premature or abusive, has two sides.
One is the male that wants the word to spread about him being back in the market for sexual relationships (namely if for some reason the word got out that he was no longer in the market).
The other one could be a thing of younger guys making believe or actually letting women who are up for grabs getting to know that they are willing to compete with others already doing the same. Who knows... ironically, it is much harder to explain.
Not metrosexuals, or are they? DR men are fastidious about personal grooming in a way that most Europeans and North Americans are not. Lots of them have manicures, for example.
Haha Are you kidding me? Everytime I see groomed Dominican men I have to ask myself "Are they gay or just metro?" Their hair, shoes and nails must always be perfect. They take better care of themselves than any ladies I know. Sometimes I think it's the Euro influence.
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