Caribbean BELLE Magazine - SEXY in the Caribbean

SEXY in the Caribbean

I was engaging in one of my favorite activities – people watching. From the balcony at Excellent City Mall in Port of Spain, from a seat at Grantley Adams International, from a discreet vantage point at the Blue Coral building in Castries, I was watching the eyes of men track women. I was stealthily following those wondering, wandering eyes; the Bond girls had nothing on me (well except maybe that trademark belted bikini, but let’s not get sidetracked). Some eyes evaded me behind sunglasses and under the down-curved visors of caps. But many eyes were blatantly shaded with desire, admiration, curiosity, more desire, and obviously other things which I lacked the instrument to interpret. As I surveilled, I imagined a constellation of red laser dots where these trained gazes targeted the female anatomy and I was indeed grateful for protective gear.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, they say. And who are these elusive beholders that I’d been covertly observing? In this case – our Caribbean men. After playing maco (which by the way is a valid ethnographic method), I questioned three hundred men hailing from Jamaica, at the crest of the archipelago, all the way down to mainland Guyana. Call it zafè moun, but I wanted to know! I needed to know what Caribbean men found sexy in their women, barring the North American ideals which are presented in the media daily. Of the men I spoke to, many were eager to share, some wanted guaranteed anonymity, but all had some great things to say about us Caribbean belles. Here’s the Sexy Scoop…

Physically feat

That junk in the trunk appears to be nothing short of booty – a treasure!

Over one quarter of the men identified it as the sexiest body part. The heavy T-bumper, apple bottoms, the bam bam – by any name it still refers to a proud Caribbean derriere. Curves, breasts, and face follow.

Damn those genes!

The information I’m about to disclose does not warrant you emptying your closets and dashing wildly to the mall. Be a smart recessionista, and work with what you’ve got.

I declare that Caribbean women should wear the pants in their relationships! And this is in no way about emasculation; it’s just that our guys really seem to love their women in pants. The most popular forms mentioned were jeans and shorts, and they were preferably tight and white. And despite the ‘leave a little to the imagination’ notion, more guys chose skimpies above skirts and dresses. Skimpies include carnival costumes, swimsuits, short skirts and wrap skirts.

Kiss n Makeup

58% ‘I Prefer no Makeup’
38 % ‘I Don’t Mind a Little’
4% ‘I Like Makeup on a woman’

No surprise there. Most of the men preferred a natural girl. Makeup wreaks havoc on their clothes (providing evidence of sneakiness), and men worry about who lurks under that mask if you’re always made up. The most disliked cosmetics seem to be face powder and colorful/ over the top eye makeup and lipstick. Lip gloss, eyeliner and nail polish were generally considered fine.

Slim = Sexy ?

In the US, size 0 is in and women there are struggling to attain or maintain this weight to be relevant. Most of the guys I questioned (80%) did not believe that a woman had to be slim to be sexy. This further proves that they really love those curves. Besides, how exactly do you fit a Caribbean derriere into a size double zero?

However, many guys did wish to comment on obesity as a growing problem. They advised women to pay attention to their diets, exercise routines and general health.

Importance of Looks

The magic number is 6.6, a little passed the halfway mark in the looks department. In choosing a soul mate most of the guys would prefer an above average looking woman. Most men made sure to mention that other characteristics were more important though. In the words of a particular gentleman, “After beauty fades, what keeps us men going is the intelligence, sense of humor, support and just the natural flavor of a Caribbean woman.”

Too much Pressure!

Most men felt that the women were being pressured by the North American media to be a version of the “blonde, blue eyed, stick figures.” 35% of those questioned, however, felt that there was no media pressure and some went on to comment that Caribbean women should aspire to the ideals presented on television and magazines.

Keep It Real

There was great consistency in the comments or pieces of advice to Caribbean women. The majority said‘Be yourselves’ ‘Keep it real’ ‘Stay natural’ and ‘Love yourself ’. This may be an indication that our men like women who are comfortable in their own skins.

So the espionage is done (for now), the mission is completed and these are my findings. Simply put, we are sexy to our Caribbean men without any drastic overhauls and with a dash of confidence.

While we continue to find flaws and pick at imperfections, they’re picking us up on their radars and are loving the view.