# Belly-rubbing Mexicans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906 "2008-01-01T18:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/21 "2008-01-02T14:52:44Z")
As I sit here reading this thread, I find myself leaning back on my chair with my shirt pulled up rubbing my belly. I guess I’m following my roots, I’m half-Mexican. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/22 "2008-01-02T22:01:50Z")
“My dog loves it when I rub his belly; I wonder what it feels like? Aii, that’s muy bueno!” ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/23 "2008-01-03T00:52:20Z")
Florida is usually about as hot and humid as it gets; I’ve never noticed anyone of any ethnic persuasion pulling up their shirt and rubbing their belly. But I’m not particularly observant. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/24 "2008-01-03T14:58:37Z")
I’m usually pretty observant, but I’ve never seen Mexicans or other races doing such. I just got back from a week in Mexico, at that. Hot humid place, and moderate place, and somewhat chilly place. No idle belly rubbing I could detect. Something as odd as that certainly would have hailed my attention. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/25 "2008-01-03T19:28:50Z")
FTR, I’ve seen plenty of Mexicans (though mostly young) doing this up here in Wenatchee, WA during the hot summer months. ---
**Author:** ![smil3ygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@smil3ygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smil3ygirl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/26 "2012-07-21T00:40:36Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > FTR, I’ve seen plenty of Mexicans (though mostly young) doing this up here in Wenatchee, WA during the hot summer months. That is so funny! I live in Wenatchee, too, and my husband and I have been perplexed by this. I did a Google search for “Mexican Rub Belly” and it led me to this thread. Maybe it is a California thing since many of the hispanic people in Wenatchee are from Cali. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/27 "2012-07-21T00:46:56Z")
Anecdote: I work with a Texan national of Mexican ancestry who does this. We’re not an ‘expose your belly’ type of workplace and he’s the only one that partakes but I’ve seen it at least ten times. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/28 "2012-07-21T00:50:32Z")
Not Mexican and not male, but sometimes it just feels good to hike my shirt and give my belly a rub. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/29 "2012-07-21T01:56:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > :dubious: > > I really want to know. If one person does it, maybe he’s scratching an itch. But when you see the sight often enough, and the rubbing is more of an idle instead of purposeful motion, and if it’s observed only among a particular demographic (in this case, Hispanic males approaching middle age and dressed in a more-or-less rural fashion), then there’s probably a reason for it. You know, if one Mexican, just one Mexican does it they may think he’s really sick and they won’t take him. And if two Mexicans, two Mexicans do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them. And three Mexicans do it, three, can you imagine, three Mexicans walking in pulling up their tee-shirts and rubbing their bellies and walking out. They may think it’s an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty Mexicans a day, I said fifty Mexicans a day walking in pulling up their tee-shirts and rubbing their bellies and walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/30 "2012-07-21T02:08:15Z")
In Taiwan among the betel nut chomping crowd you might see some pudgy middle aged guy trudging down the street in his flip flops, hiking up his wife beater undershirt and _fanning_ his belly with a hand fan. But not rubbing it. That would be undignified. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/31 "2012-07-21T16:16:37Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > And if two Mexicans, two Mexicans do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them. [Moderator Note] **Senegoid** , I realize that this is a parody of _Alice’s Restaurant_, but many people may not recognize it. In any case, let’s avoid the gratuitous use of offensive terms like “faggot” in this forum. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/32 "2012-07-22T07:20:59Z")
It really does help cool you down. I see laborers doing it everywhere in Southeast Asia. You could go one better by taking your shirt completely off, but then you’d have to hold on to it or hang it somewhere. Keeping it half-on is a good compromise. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/33 "2012-07-22T11:42:40Z")
I see it all the time around here, but it’s not restricted to young men of any specific background. Just young men, period. On hot days, I’ll see guys running, and they’ve got one hand up their shirt, exposing their abs to the breeze. Or just standing around talking to friends - hand up the shirt. Hell, I’ve seen guys doing that while they’re wandering around Target. I understand the cooling properties of exposing more skin while exercising, but then why run in a shirt at all? And you’re not working up a sweat at Target, pal, your girlfriend is the one pushing the cart! It’s usually younger men, in decent shape, so I just assumed it was a look-at-my-sexy-body move, whether conscious or not. ---
**Author:** ![SosaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@SosaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SosaB)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/34 "2013-04-09T13:05:49Z")
I know this is a old post, but this is really common among black people too (im black no RACIAL!) I tend to rub my chest, but I guess its just a subconscious movement a lot of guys do. Like yesterday I was talking to some dude at the bus stop and he just started to randomly put one hand under his shirt and rub his stomach. Its weird lol. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/35 "2013-04-09T13:33:15Z")
This was mentioned in an episode of _30 Rock_ - Tracy Jordan referred to it as “a ghetto mating call”. Beyond that, I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/36 "2013-04-09T13:59:26Z")
I have nothing useful to add, and I know I shouldn’t do this but… Belly Rubbing Mexican Zombies: BAND NAME! ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/37 "2013-04-09T15:36:58Z")
I’m white, and I find myself rubbing my belly sometimes when I am relaxing on my easy chair. I’m not sure if I do it in public, though. Maybe I do it without realizing it… ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906/38 "2013-04-09T16:30:14Z")
Downtown they do it to openly demonstrate their waistband does not have a gun tucked in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-rubbing-mexicans/431906.md?page=1)