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The Unseen Rules of Portuguese Body Privacy: What’s Hidden Beneath?
On the little-known aspects of Portuguese body privacy and what they reveal about the culture (and how you may be doing it all wrong)
Portuguese people are frequently labeled as shy and reserved — a stereotype recently echoed in a Portuguese magazine.
In an interview with one of these lesser-known celebrities, we were characterized as “sober, elegant, and restrained,” with the added observation that we “are not very inclined to promote ourselves.”
The interview concluded with a negative implication: that those who refrain from self-promotion are essentially invisible.
While this perspective on Portuguese culture may be somewhat narrow, it does carry a kernel of truth.
Many cultural clashes have emerged between us and “the others.” The clichés become more pronounced. Nordic people seem excessively comfortable with their bodies, but this ease is not limited to the cold of Northern Europe. Even people from the so-called global south, whether in Brazil or Africa, tend to view the body as something that can be exposed without controversy.
But I — like perhaps many others — am not like that. I may embody that typical Portuguese “modesty.”
Let me break this for you:
As a child in the Algarve, surrounded by foreign tourists, women would parade freely naked through the women’s changing rooms. There was no sense of restraint or discomfort in showing either their pubic hair or their breasts, whether they were large, small, pointed, or saggy.
My mom and I used the bath towel as a cover, but they only used it to dry off or tie up their hair.
Some of them remained naked, talking among themselves while their bodies were exposed face-to-face, almost touching each other. It all sounded natural, too natural.
My mother quickly passed by all of them with her eyes down while I, naturally curious, widened mine in astonishment at everything I saw: their white or pink skin — so different from ours — their long, fine, blonde hair that reminded me of Claudia Schiffer — so trendy at the time — and…
