How to ward off the Tiguere

Tiguere’s are Dominican men, basically. As a woman in the Dominican Republic, you cannot walk down the road, the unpaved dirt path, or the trashed covered gutter without someone hitting on you. It likely will start with a hiss to get your attention. If the hissing doesn’t work, if you are a white female, perhaps a “gringa” or “rubia” will be thrown your way. If you stray on the adventurous side of life and look in the direction of these advances, you might get a compliment on how beautiful your eyes, face, lips, or butt are. If the man is a person of little words he might use five fingers and throw a kiss at you. He might wink. He might whistle. Even though this might sound lovely to some, men objectifying you wherever you go can be the most annoying thing of your day, trust me! Not only do Dominican woman constantly get compliments thrown their way, but also as a white, female you stand out and can catch a lot of attention. Damela- give me her; ay mami; I loves yo. (attempt at I love you)

If you want to ward off these advances, there are many different techniques. You can be the passive woman, look down at your feet, careful not to step in any rotting platanos or chicken guts as you hurry down the street. You can be the sarcastic. Try to brush off the compliments and laugh with your friends about how ridiculous the men are. “Oh little ol me” while flipping your hair. Often you have giant pit and back splotches of sweat, your hair is greasy, and your clothes are stained and filled with holes from the barbed wire, so this option isn’t always how you really feel. You can be the aggressive. Walk straight up to the guy/group of guys and tell them off. What did you say to me? You don’t even know me? How do you love me when you have never talked to me? I am a woman; I am not an object! Woman do not like when you yell things like this at them. I am a serious woman who is working and I do not have time for this. Give me respect; I am a professional that was not respectful. Or you can be the woman who is so outrageously over guys yelling things at you and objectifying you and just can’t control your reaction anymore. In this case, you can yell back at them out of rage (often comes out in English) “leave me alone”, “Stop it pleaseeeeeee”, Putrite- GO ROAUGT?? Yourself; don’t tell me that I am not interested in you and will never be interested in you; you are ugly and old.

When I was at the beach the other day with a couple of my volunteer friends I witnessed an amazing example of warding off the tiguere. My friend, Emily, and I were sitting on the beach while three of my other friends were hanging out in the water close by. As Emily and I were relaxing and having a great conversation, a Dominican man, about our age came passed us for the second time that day. He walked in front of our towels and squatted down right next to Emily. He started to try to throw compliments her way, hello beautiful, you are so pretty, your eyes are gorgeous, and do you have a boyfriend. Not in mood, we started to tell him off, get lost dude, not interested. When he didn’t take a hint of our near yelling at him to leave us alone, my friends from the ocean started throwing rocks at him- not hitting him of course, just as more a warning, with incredible aim they were landing right next to his feet. Startled, he finally took the hint and ran off trying to catch up with his friends. If worst comes to worst, always employ a friend to ward of the tiguere. Friends are never underrated.