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8 AWEMainta
Tijd Voor de Billeshake
Disclaimer: If you are closed-minded, see things only in black and white, and lack critical thinking,
this article is probably not for you. But if you disagree, please share your thoughts with me.
ON AN EARLY THURSDAY, I put on the radio on my way to my moth-
er’s house. Well, actually on my way to buy ice because we were
about to visit Aruba’s National Park: Arikok. On the radio, I heard
this guy mention that “vulgar dances” and “twerking” will be strictly
prohibited this year at the “Zomercarnaval in Rotterdam.”
Too calm to be true
I didn’t think much of it at first. I thought it was just paraphrased
news. My first reaction was, “Oh, wow, big deal, there are other more
important things to worry about.” Keep in mind that I’ve been on
vacation for about three weeks already, so I’m not my feisty self
these days. I’m as calm and peaceful as possible, which is strange
because that is a version of myself that I don’t get to see often. I’m
always the one who has something to say and constantly aims to
challenge the status quo, even though I might not appear so. Often
I’m the “annoying” chick that most people would want to eye-roll in
meetings but don’t and just simply grin or nicely disagree (but in a
fake way, because we got to stay politically correct).
Then in the car with my mom and younger cousin, I heard the
same news again, but at another station. “Could this be actually
true?” When I got home, and since I followed a few pages, mainly
of Rotterdam news, I got bombarded with articles. I read a few, and
then it hit me. My first thought, and maybe you will think I’m joking,
is, “Who came up with this law? Wie komt met die ley? Because their
audacity is unmeasurable.”
Pluma, stenchi, rum
I’m not a big “Carnavalista” myself, and I’ve only been to
“Zomercarnaval” once in 2013. It’s not like our big, colorful, shiny
Carnaval in Aruba, but who am I kidding? When you’re kilometers
away, your heart will dance with pride, and you will feel connected
to thousands of fellow Caribbeans. Yes, even the ones you might
give a sour face to when you’re on the tram or on your way home.
Because if there is one thing that connects the Caribbean, it’s: food,
drinks (not only talking about Tropical or Fria), and parties with lots
of dance.
Dialuna, 7 Augustus 2023
I may not like the drinking part, but I know it’s inculcated in the
Caribbean culture. You can’t just take away things you disagree
with from people just because you don’t like them. That’s not how
the world works; you’ll just end up making people angry. I always
thought of people drinking every weekend (or daily) as individ-
uals coping with stress or trauma. Still, you don’t see me around
scolding people around Hamaka for the way they chose to deal with
their issues (and yes, I’m well aware that some people just drink for
recreational purposes, I just think alcohol tastes bad most times, so
my coping strategy is procrastination (avoidant coping)?).
Vulgar?
Now, what the hell is “vulgar dancing?” Did I ever mention that I lived
in Curaçao for four months? I went to uni but didn’t like it. I lived
on campus, which I did like. The students, greasy food, the ambi-
ance, culture, etc. There were local students, regional (Caribbean),
and international (primarily Dutch) students. It wasn’t unusual that
on Friday nights, music was booming in the halls of the boys’ wing
(where most parties took place). One night I decided to join when a
friend insisted. I wasn’t (and am still not) into parties.
Once we were on the second floor, we could see people dancing. At
one point, it looked like they were having sex with their clothes on
(they were dry-humping). To me, this was a culture shock. I’ve never
seen anybody dance like that, not even in those sexy Reggeaton
video clips that I used to watch on HTV’s Hurbano. They were all
against each other, and they went all the way to the floor. Even back
then, even though it shocked me, I was like, “I guess this is how
they danced in other islands of the Caribbean.”
When you Google the word “vulgar,” you’ll find that it’s something
or someone that lacks sophistication or good taste. It also means
making explicit or offensive references to sex or bodily functions.
When you search for “vulgar dance,” you’ll find that it signifies a
morally unclean indecent or sexually provocative style of dancing.
I’ve always had an issue with the word provocative. And if you ask
me, I think those definitions are one of the hundreds of ways people
search to put blame and accountability on people who’ve experi-
enced (sexual) abuse and harassment.
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