[Suzie]

I have a question about an incident that I witnessed while in the DR recently, and I was wondering if any Dominicans, or those who have lived there long enough to understand the culture, can give me some insight.

A cousin of my friend was joking around with his mother, with whom he is close ( a self proclaimed total mama's boy), and in jest, to get a rise out of her, he reached out to grab her crotch and she smacked his hands away as it was about an inch away. I was completely shocked as I think this is one of the rudest and most disrespectful move a man can make on a woman...and his mother especially!! But she reacted like it was a normal thing for her 19 year old son to do, akin to reaching for a cookie jar. I expressed my shock to my friend and he said that his cousin does it all the time, and he does it to his sister (17) too. No big deal, it's just all jokes. I didn't venture to ask if my friend does this as well because frankly, I'm afraid of the answer. I am wondering if this is acceptable behavior among certain classes in the DR, because I find it really disturbing.

Also, it was noted in some threads that Dominicans are less sexually conservative than North Americans ... is this just inside the bedroom, or does it extend to other areas so as to normalize other behaviors that North Americans might disagree with?