Rebels Without Cause

The hippies and their successors stood firmly in opposition to the status quo, but there is only one dimension of the Pokemones that seems to advance an agenda, if unintentionally. The movement has changed the rules that govern the way teenage girls interact with their male counterparts. Girls count up their partners just as boys do, and the bisexual activity, along with the Pokemon aesthetic, suggests that gender roles are not clearly defined. "I'm just having fun. I'm only 16, and I won't get hurt through ponceo because I don't go hoping to find a boyfriend," says Isidora Fernandez, who insisted on being called Frambuesa (Spanish for raspberry).

Still, though the scene may appear egalitarian, community psychologist Juan Bastian, advocacy director at the Chilean Family Planning Association, suggests that it does not represent any significant progress for women. Women here have made considerable advances; more are in the workforce than ever before, having children later in life as access to contraceptives improves. But, Bastian says, "the question still remains whether this is just a different form of the same inequality as before," this time with boys taking advantage of girls in a situation where a premium is placed on looking cool.

Bastian also worries that the teens' newfound sexual liberation has not been accompanied by an increase in information about sexual responsibility and health. Surveys reveal that while many of the teens say they refrain from actual intercourse to avoid pregnancy, they know very little about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. "Sex education in Chile is limited and stigmatized," says Bastian. "These adolescents are rejecting the conservatism of their parents but are also endangering their health."

Strangely, their parents' conservatism may be what holds the movement together. The Pokemones, having inherited the economy bestowed by Pinochet's free-market reforms, are part of a burgeoning middle class with imprudent spending habits. The introduction of the credit card into the economy has translated into staggering personal debt for many Chileans, but the quest continues to own the newest televisions, computers, and cars. Pokemones take their cue from their parents. "'To be' is now interchangeable with 'to have,' so teens measure their self-worth according to how much they've got—in this case, how many partners they can rack up or how many friends they have on MSN," says Bastian. "Sexuality becomes another iteration of the same model their parents follow: identity expressed through quantity."

The group's consumerist tendencies have not been lost on the retail goods industry, which ferociously markets its products to the Pokemon demographic. Commercials for hair straighteners, MP3 players and cell phones run during talk shows that feature Pokemones complaining about their overprotective parents or catty best friends. "This week I bought two T-shirts and a webcam," says Pablo Gutierrez, 18. Sticking out his tongue to reveal a piercing, he adds, "And a new tongue ring. I was sick of my old one."

In fact, one of the Pokemones' main meeting spots is outside the television studio where their favorite program, "Diario de Eva," is filmed. The channel is owned by right-wing presidential candidate Sebastian Piñera, a billionaire businessman who, incidentally, made much of his fortune by helping bring credit cards to Chile. The irony is lost on the Pokemones, however, as they gather on the lawn near the studio's entrance.