Posted on 10/25/2005 11:31:17 AM PDT by pissant
My gaydar is off. It's not just the European man capris, tight jeans and Spanish lisp.
This weekend, I went out with an American friend, her Spanish boyfriend and a bunch of his Spanish guy friends. I've been out with them before, but I left the discoteca (club) "Boom!" on Thursday as confused as ever.
The guys grind with each other, touch each other, flirt, everything. Yet, my American friend swears up and down that they're not really gay, just European.
I'm not sure where this line is drawn, but if you ask me, they act pretty gay (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I don't get it. They dance with girls for a few songs, and then they're magnetically drawn to dance with another guy's butt. And it's not just dirty dancing; they spin each other and twirl and dance like they've been ballroom partners all their lives. I'm not quite sure how they figure out which one leads.
In America, it's perfectly common and fun for girls to go to a party or a club with their best girl friends and dance with each other. But I can't imagine any of my straight American guy friends grinding up against each other and enjoying it. And girls wouldn't particularly enjoy watching a couple of guys grind either.
Yes, it's a double standard, but it's something about homophobic American guys that would prevent them from dirty dancing with each other.
Every time I go out with these guys, I'm not sure how far the gayness will go, but I swear, at any moment they're gonna start making out.
Actually, one of these "gay" Spaniards did lick my American friend Dan's ear this weekend. Although Dan isn't uptight about the European man dancing, the ear licking went a little too far for him. I suppose contact with another guy's tongue is where an American boy draws the line.
I'm still not sure if this is normal behavior in Barcelona or just a custom among this group of "gay" European friends.
After four nights in a row of discotecas this weekend, I have decided that it's generally hard to tell if the chicos are gay or not. The most attractive, well-dressed ones are, of course, usually gay, as is the rule in America. But seeing a guapo (hot guy) dancing with other chicos does not provide conclusive evidence that they are gay.
And then, of course, there are the American guys in our group who are most obviously gay but in denial, which is a confusing situation on the other side of the spectrum.
If a guy dresses gay, talks gay and hangs out with a bunch of girlfriends he isn't attracted to, he is gay. If he were Spanish, he'd be out of the closet, or he could still claim to be straight and grind with any other chico in the discoteca.
Yvette Scorse is a staff columnist. She is studying abroad in Spain.
I should think there is a difference
I think Europeans have lost all their cultural identity. This is just an extension of that.
"The whole country is built on a kind of fagdom."
-Archie Bunker re: England
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.