Does Sex fill the coffers of some Caribbean territories during Carnival? Is there a “special Carnival sex tourism” on some Caribbean islands?
In the Caribbean region, Carnival is celebrated throughout the year. Most Caribbean islands organize their carnival events during the traditional pre-Lent period. Currently, more than a dozen territories celebrate this festive moment, the culmination will be on February 13, Mardi Gras, while other islands will continue the festivities until the next day, Ash Wednesday. Note that these ashes are not associated with those of the Catholic religion, but with the ashes of the Carnival King (Vaval) in Guadeloupe, Martinique after burning…
When we look at the costumes worn by our revelers and especially our female revelers, we realize that, very often, it’s a bra and briefs or a bikini or a one-piece swimsuit. A few feathers are hung on these ladies’ backs, along with a few glitter, and now: the costume is ready! Some women add a few strips or strings to their arms and legs, sometimes a hat, and now: ready for the parade!
If, in normal times, women are often complexed by a mosquito bite or a pimple on their face or a few extra pounds, carnival parades make them forget all about their complexes. That’s the magic of Carnival. Walking miles singing, screaming, dancing with open arms and, above all, with legs spread wide and half-naked, it does not seem to discourage these ladies. Often in the Caribbean, people who criticize these “debauched” revelers are the same ones who watch them pass through the streets late at night with their children ; they are the same ones who go to church the next day. If they disapprove of this behavior, why don’t they boycott these parades? As long as there is an audience, there will be nearly naked or naked revelers.
The low-cut swimsuit with feathers and sequins has become the “obligatory costume” in the English-speaking islands. If Carnival is synonymous with freedom, we can consider that it’s a costume in its own right, and respect the choice of women participating in parades and their groups. And then, it’s so much faster and easier to put on a bra and a brief or a swimsuit to parade…and it costs less, so why spend hours cutting and sewing meters of fabric? But there are sophisticated costumes where the breasts are “on the balcony” and sex is almost out (i.e. with very, very little fabric), but they are very expensive…
As for the French-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Dutch-speaking islands, they have timidly adopted bras and briefs. Indeed, most of these islands still prefer to create costumes in which the body is hidden. However, for some time now, we have been observing that groups in Guadeloupe and Martinique (French Caribbean) do not hesitate to parade half-naked on public roads, causing indignation of part of the population.
Fort its part, the “Skin Group” phenomenon has grown in Guadeloupe, we observe a undressing of women but also men by the stylists in this cultural movement, that its “thinkers” explain by a desire to save money and democratize Carnival…
Is it also a desire to mock right-thinking society? Is it also an imitation of what is happening in the English-speaking islands? Some Guadeloupeans and Martinicans who do not feel fully integrated into the Caribbean believe that by copying this type of event, they are affirming their “Caribbeanity”.
In the English-speaking islands, women have been wearing briefs and bras in the streets during Carnival for several years now, and nobody said a word. Designers in Carnival (which is a matter of state), decided to put women naked in the streets, and everyone found this outfit rather…sexy. It’s an adjective that has done a lot of damage in recent years, because many people think that for a woman to be pretty and modern, she must be “sexy”. Men must be dressed and women must be half-naked, but unfortunately, “sexy” often rhymes with “vulgar”.
In recent years, there has been a revival of some people who want to “clean up” Caribbean Carnival.
So, for example, in 2017, the Minister of Festivals in Antigua and Barbuda was asked to put an end to nudity in Carnival ; he wished his Cabinet to be left out of this debate and replied that laws existed to prosecute such people and that the police had legal authority to deal with such cases…
In 2019, during Carnival in Saint Lucia, videos were released showing naked revelers and obscene behavior, and the police were called upon to take a tougher line…
That same year, a senator from Barbados said that nudity has never been a national issue on the island…
In 2020, Grenada banned thongs, and women with breasts above a D cup are not allowed to wear underwire bras. Anyone who goes against this dress code will be removed from the parade and fined. “Understanding that we are living in a Christian society, our morals and values must be upheld”, CEO of SpiceMas stated. Are these restrictions always complied with?
In Trinidad & Tobago, voices are also being raised against nudity of men and especially women, a behavior that would have brought “a good time to unbelievable pornographic levels”, we can read in a letter written last year by a carnival lover…
Words, words, words, this nudity is combated very late, and there is a kind of hypocrisy about this topic.
Going a step further, can we assume that women in their underwear swaying in the streets to the rhythm of soca, calypso or bouyon participate actively in the booming economy in these territories? We don’t have oil in the Caribbean islands, but we do have women, beautiful women, and if they offer us a naked or almost naked show in the streets during Carnival, that can only develop tourism, right?
So, does Sex fill the coffers of these Caribbean territories during Carnival? Is there a “special Carnival sex tourism” on some Caribbean islands?
Can we speak of a “use” or “instrumentalization” of women’s bodies, and do they consent? What do feminist associations think? Obviously, Carnival is a safety valve, so we let women free themselves from all social pressures, including their clothes…
Some claim that female nudity is the cause of rapes and sexual assaults during Carnival. Last year, two women were raped in Martinique during these festivities, are these crimes related to nudity?
That not true, say some carnival women but they ask men to control their impulses, as women know how to control themselves at the sight of naked or almost naked men.
Video shot by Evelyne Chaville, Pointe-à-Pitre, 2018
