The Courtship among Young People of Comas (Lima, Peru)

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to recognize the courtship among a group of young men and women living in Comas, a working-class neighborhood in the northern area of Lima. The specific study area is called La Balanza. It”™s a poor neighborhood located among the “upper area” of the hills, with the lowest socioeconomic status and level.

This research is based in a field work made between the years 2010 and 2012. To carry out this research, observation and detailed interviews to 26 young people (13 women and 13 men) among 18 and 30 years old, and to 6 adults (2 women and 4 men) among 36 and 51 years old, were really important. Those adults were selected as complementary informants.

Among the young people in Comas prevails a courtship called “usual” or “classic”. It is defined by the pursuit of couple training and men having the more active role in the relationship. Young men desire this courtship to live on during the whole relationship because they offer elements as surprise, expectation, details or care. Courtship needs a previous process of selection, a first meeting. Young men prefer a slow courtship in order to have a partner; it may have a lot of steps to follow: the most commonly noted is the declaration of love or the request to be a couple. The length of courtship is associated with the length of the couple. At the same time, a “new courtship” arises faster, with sexual intercourse without considering a moderate period of time. In this time, woman may have the active role. Most of the informants prefer common courtship, even a more traditional and lined. Other kind of courtship are differentiated as “groups of affiliation” similar among the members of each group (theater, church) or the purely sexual courtship, which is normally assumed but is muted.