Aluba rides again!

In case you missed it, 'aluba' has hit the newspapers. It happened on Sunday...

FEATURE: `Aluba' stirs fond memories for some
taipei times

Interestingly enough, the article has dug even deeper into the sketchy 'aluba' history:

'Although various theories can be found on the Internet about how aluba first got started, former gender studies researcher Kuo Yi-ling (郭怡伶) said she has found no conclusive answer during her research into the ritual for her master's thesis.

"What we can say for sure is, the game itself pre-dates the name aluba," Kuo said. "My oldest interview subject, who recalls playing the same game, was born in 1948. Back then the game had no name or was called something crudely descriptive such as `nailing the knob.'" '

Nailing it indeed! My previous entry about 'aluba' or Happy Corner as a kind of hazing is here:
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2006/12/hazing-aluba-style.html
There are several videos of it on youtube as well. Here is one:
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2007/03/speaking-of-aluba.html

The article has some other great parts:

'Those who are not popular might not get off as easily.

"We aluba'ed our annoying supervisor in the military service for real on the last day of our service," Alex said, "on a tree with spiky bark." '

Ouch! Court-martial anyone?

Also:

' "The person being aluba'ed is male, but forced into a female role by the crowd, using a giant phallic object to make contact with the genitals," she said. "It's hard not to see the homoerotic subtext, coupled with violence." '

Young Taiwanese men and homoerotic. No way!

And finally:

' "[Urologist Hung Chun-tse has] always warned young men that it's a dangerous game with potential for permanent damage," Hung said. "Aluba is rightly banned by the authorities, and they should work to better enforce that ban."

"The penis itself is very, very vulnerable. If the corpus cavernosum in the penis breaks, that could cause massive internal bleeding. The urethra itself could be broken," he said.

He said the testicles are even more fragile and damage could result in testicular atrophy and infertility.'

Excuse me while I take a moment to contemplate my dream of becoming a father one day...