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Our Correspondent tells us all about it! Aquí / Here
Sunday,
March 11, 2001, 12:19 a.m. Pacific Bogota celebrates 'Night
Without Men'
by Will Weissert
The Associated Press
ARIANA
CUBILLOS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Women
dance at a club in Bogota, Colombia,
on Friday during a "Night
Without Men." Men stayed
home and watched their kids.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia
-- Leaving their husbands and boyfriends
at home, Bogotá's women danced on tables
and in the streets, sang their hearts
out at rock concerts and partied into
the wee hours at the city's central park.
And yesterday
morning, happily exhausted after a "Night
Without Men" - in which the city's
offbeat mayor encouraged women to dance
until dawn while the men stayed home watching
the children - hundreds wondered, "Why
can't we do this every night?"
"It was
great. You had a large group of people
dancing and having fun in the streets,
and there was no violence like there would
have been with men around," said
Janeth de Martin, 35.
The sex-specific
curfew had a serious side: cutting down
on street crime and domestic abuse, both
rampant in the mountain-flanked Andean
capital of 7 million, Mayor Antanas Mockus
said.
Triumphant
city officials reported that serious crime
was down 25 percent compared with a typical
Friday evening, with just six felony arrests.
The mayor
said he plans to follow the "Night
Without Men" with an "Evening
of Rediscovery" later this month,
to encourage couples to go out together.
The mayor
- who once declared himself "Super
Citizen" and strolled the city in
red-and-blue tights, and who also posted
mimes at stoplights to taunt reckless
drivers - spent a quiet night at home
reading to his daughter.
Policemen
took the night off while 1,500 female
officers patrolled the streets. Women
also ran the city's firetrucks. Police
Chief Jorge Enrique Lenaris resigned his
position for the night to let Col. Gloria
Cardilla take the reins of Bogotá's police
force.
Dozens of
bars and restaurants offered women free
drinks and discounted food. A strip club
in a swanky north Bogotá neighborhood
hired men to strut their stuff.
"This
is our night to be bad," said Monica
Benavedez, a 19-year-old student at the
National University of Colombia.
Men who were
out on the streets were asked to carry
a "safe conduct" pass listing
their excuse for being out. The passes,
which some men dubbed "passports
for love," could be clipped from
newspapers, printed off the Internet or
picked up at any police station.
But most men
stayed out of sight: Those who ignored
the rules were punished with dirty looks.
Reporte
exclusivo de Chicho, Corresponsal Local de SalsaPower
in Bogotá!
SalsaPower's Local Correspondent, Chicho, files an exclusive
report!
Español
English
Eventos
como el Día sin Hombres, decretados
por el Alcalde Mayor de Bogotá, no
nos toman de sorpresa a las personas
que vivimos en esta urbe de mas de
6 millones de habitantes. Ya habiamos
pasado por jornadas similares, como
el Día sin Carro, sin contar con
la norma de reducir el horario de
los sitios de diversión de las 3
de la mañana a la 1 de la mañana,
como sucede actualmente. Esta última,
conocida como la Ley Zanahoria (zanahoria
se le conoce a la gente "sana",
es decir, aquella que no toma, no
fuma o que no baila....que no disfruta
como lo haríamos nosotros), se volvió
un arma de doble filo en el ambiente
nocturno en la ciudad, pues aparte
de limitar la legalidad de la rumba,
creó miles de espacios subterráneos
e ilegales, donde la gente puede
disfrutar hasta la madrugada. El
objetivo de estos eventos masivos
es el mismo hacer que la gente tome
conciencia de de su comportamiento
y de seguir las normas generales
que habiendo existido siempre, siempre
se han omitido. La Noche Sin Hombres
(porque fue a partir de las 7:30
p.m.) perseguía el objetivo de comprobar
qué tan violentas son ellas a comparación
de ellos. A partir de esa hora, las
mujeres tendrían la ciudad a su disposición.
Los sitios de rumba, por su parte,
se encargarían de atraer a la mayor
cantidad de gente posible, indistintamente
de su género. La norma prohibía,
en teoría, la circulación de hombres.
Esto posteriormente se volvió algo
voluntario el que los hombres salieramos,
por lo que voluntariamente salí con
un amigo y una amiga, sin violar
la norma, para poder ver cómo era
la ciudad sin hombres. Lo único que
se debía portar era un "salvoconducto"
en el cual, aparte del nombre, número
de identificación, y firma, se debía
escribir cuál era la razón por la
cual uno como hombre estaba en la
calle en una noche de mujeres. Con
salvoconducto en mano recorrimos
varios sitios de la ciudad. A primera
vista, una ciudad con bastante congestión
de tránsito, miles de mujeres en
la calle con cara de soprendidas,
dueñas del espacio y de los sitios.
Incluso, gritos a nosotros, los hombres,
diciéndonos "Vayánse para la
casa" o "A lavar los platos",
con única respuesta nuestra que el
de mostrar nuestro salvoconducto.
Como se dice coloquialmente en mi
país, las mujeres se subieron la
falda (es decir, hicieron lo que
pocas veces suelen hacer). En la
ciudad, la policía era solo femenina.
En algunos sitios, pocos hombres
con o sin salvoconducto, rodeados
de muchas mujeres (un sueño que muchos
quisieran). Hubo sectores que progresaron
clubes de strip-tease para mujeres
tuvieron una afluencia impresionante.
Hubo sectores que se afectaron grupos
de gays tambien tuvieron que acogerse
a la medida, pues no hombres es sencillamente
NO hombres. Y hubo sectores en los
cuales solo hubo la oportunidad de
omitir esta norma los miles de establecimientos
de rumba, donde es comun que vayan
parejas, vieron afectadas sus ventas
a pesar de las promociones especiales
para aquellas parejas (hombre y mujer,
se entiende) que asistieran a los
sitios. Solo queda esperar la siguiente
jornada La noche sin mujeres, que
sin duda va a ser un poco diferente.
Las encuestas hablarán y ya veremos.
Desde
Bogotá, a 2600 metros mas cerca
de la paranoia, reportó Chicho."
Events
like the Day Without Men, decreed
by the Mayor of Bogotá, no longer
take us by surprise for those of
us who live in this urban community
of 6 million inhabitants. We'd
already been through similar things,
like the Day Without a Car, and not
to mention the reduction of the hours
for clubs from 3 to 1 a.m., which
happened recently. This last one
is called the Law of the Carrot ("Zanahoria,"
which in Colombian slang is a nickname
for those people who are "healthy"...
the ones who neither drink, nor smoke
nor dance... the ones who don't enjoy
life the way we would, and do!) This
turned into a double-edged sword
for those who enjoy nightlife in
this city. Besides limiting
the legal time limit on the partying,
it created thousands of underground
places to go (illegal) for people
to enjoy themselves until the dawn.
The objective of these mass events
is to make people more aware of their
behavior and to make them follow
the general norms which have always
existed and which have always been
ignored. The Night Without Men (which
began at 7:30 p.m.) was meant to
prove how violent the women were
in comparison to the men. Starting
at the appointed time, the women
would have the city to themselves.
The nightclubs would try to attract
the most people possible, independent
of their sex. In theory, the
norm prevented men from circulating
freely. This later became something
voluntary, which is why I voluntarily
went out with a female friend of
mine and another male, without violating
the rule, to see what a city without
men was all about. All that was necessary
to be able to circulate freely was
a "salvoconducto" - a "safe-conduct"
pass, upon which appeared the man's
name, his National ID number and
signature, and wherein he must have
written his reason for being in the
street on women's night. With
our Safe Conduct Pass in hand, we
checked out several places in the
city. At first sight we saw
a city with lots of traffic, thousands
of women with a surprised look on
their faces, taking over the city.
Some shouted at us men, saying, "Go
home!" or "Go wash the
dishes!" Our only response was
to show our Safe Conduct Pass. As
we say in local vernacular, the women
lifted their skirts (that is to say:
they did something they don't do
very often). Throughout the city,
only female police officers were
on duty. In some places one
could see a few men, with or without
the Safe Conduct Pass, surrounded
by many women (a dream for many of
us!). Those establishments
which put on a male striptease show
were incredibly crowded. There
were gay establishments which were
affected by the rule since they,
too, had to follow the rules: "No
Men" simply means "NO MEN".
There were those establishments which
cater to couples, such as discothèques,
whose sales were down, in spite of
the special promotions for (heterosexual)
couples which they ran.
Now we can only wait and see what
happens next time when we have the
Night Without Women, which undoubtedly
will be a bit different. The
polls will show the truth and then
we will see!
From
Bogotá, 2,600 meters closer
to paranoia, Chicho
reported.
