Women's Rights vs the Religious Right

Every woman should have the right to regulate the number of children she bears. In some countries, this statement is indubitable, the resolution of a long fought women’s rights movement. Framing discussion about abortion around its perceived immorality is convenient for the pious among us, for Jamaicans are so-called religious people, whose knowledge of scripture will mandate their rejection of laws supporting a woman’s right to abort an embryo. This approach is retarding the women’s rights movement, in a sexist society where the patriarchal oppression of women is commonplace.

We speak superficially of gender equality, but Jamaica is far from the ideal. The high rates of sexual abuse, in the home and workplace, sexual assault and rape perpetuated against women speak volumes to the grave inequalities, which still prevail. Further, the degree to which our women are objectified, commodified, and de-humanized in popular culture, is a good measure of the slight with which many regard women. Concerning abortion, we continue to hear multifarious horror stories about women who regret having one, but few accounts of women who illegally aborted embryos, then went on to lead successful lives with children that have loving and emotionally stable parents.

A recent report published in the Gleaner says that 70 % of Jamaicans believe that women who become pregnant because of rape should not have an abortion. By propagating such impressive statistics, self-serving moralists seek to deny women the right to control their reproductive capacity. Jamaicans like to talk about ideals, so I am not surprised by the poll results, though they are highly suspect; most will speak out against abortion when prompted, and espouse their preference for adoption. In reality, many of these people would abort an embryo if their circumstances necessitated such action, and are unwilling to adopt a child into their family themselves, for adopted children are widely regarded as inferior to biological ones. Also, what percentage of the individuals polled were male? Begetting children is the marker of manhood in Jamaica, so I expect that Jamaican men should overwhelmingly oppose abortions, which detracts from their ersatz masculinity. This despite the reality that many cannot afford to take care of the multitude of children they lend their sperm to create.

Women’s rights must come from the people, but sadly, the momentum is lacking. Jamaican women deserve better, and the right to determine how many children they have is only one of the privileges they must be allowed. The anti-abortion lobbyists are puppets of a patriarchal oppressor, whose antiquated modus operandi should be rejected by the Jamaican government. 7/5/09

Aborting a Baby/ Terminating a Pregnancy

Yesterday, I had a very informative discussion with two female friends about 'abortion'. Let me share some of the things we discussed.

For too long women did not have a chance to determine when they had children, and how many children they had to care for. They got pregnant, and then they were housewives- slaves of a patriarchal system of oppression. Concurrent with this view, I believe that a woman who desires to terminate a pregnancy she should be able to do so.

Now this is the scenario I was given: Mary has already terminated seven pregnancies. How can I give her a right to continue, when she clearly has no regard for the gifts of life she persistently throws away.

Now of the majority of women who terminate pregnancies, how many have already terminated seven? Birth control options are innumerable, and many sexually active people make use of them. Where the condom fails, the famed after-morning pill comes to the rescue. Still these options sometimes fail, and a woman finds herself pregnant with a child-to be that she cannot care adequately for. She decides to terminate the pregnancy, and I support HER decision. 

We must be careful to understand where we stand on such controversial matters. It can't be that we believe some things are wrong because that is what we were taught. 'Abortion' is morally wrong, we say. Yet in Jamaica, adoption isn't exactly romanticized... the hypocrisy kills me.

My friends spoke of the significance of the decision being made, and I asked them, why they felt the decision had a lot of weight. Women are tortured by their decision they say, without acknowledging that our stigmatization of the act is in large part what makes the decision sometimes difficult. Women who terminate pregnancies in Jamaica do not talk about it, and so they are constantly plagued by their decision. For women who regret their decision, I do not believe the main reasons is always their worry that they "destroyed" a form of "life". Child bearing is still such a big qualifier for female adulthood, and this is something than needs to change- it's the same thing for Jamaican men. The more children, the more manly.

I always say this- the fact that women can have children does not in itself preclude that they must. Only heaven knows how my life would fare if I decided to populate the earth with my seeds, like I have the capacity to do. This world is not fair, but there are things we can do to make it more so... Women are now able to work amongst men in most professions, but instead of helping them to achieve equality, their employment now serves to maintain their subjugation, as they must still work in the home as well. If we want to respect our women, open more adoption agencies, adopt children, open baby-care centers for newborns so that women can return to work after their pregnancies.

Use condoms. Do a vasectomy. Plan for your family. We wouldn't need to ponder the ethical complications of "abortions" if we were more responsible. 

Misogyny in Jamaican (Dancehall) Culture

Jamaica is famous for its nightlong street dances. Friends tell me they get all the Passa Passa DVD’s in New York. Following the “dagarin” phenomenon, which celebrated the objectification and dehumanization of our women, a more disturbing form of entertainment seems increasingly prominent in Dancehall- that of jumping on open-legged women, without concern for the woman’s physical health, before thrusting violently at the waist, and oftentimes turning acrobatically on the ground, which supposedly increases the perceived entertainment value of the act. I judge this based on the proliferation of You Tube videos displaying this barbarity. Such misogynistic displays of Jamaica’s patriarchal social constructions must end!

Let me take you through the two-minute video that I watched recently. A woman sits in a bucket and has water thrown on her. A young man, about 40 feet away, prepares himself for running down the path that was cleared by eager spectators. He runs up, somersaults, and in an almost slow motion sequence flies through the air, with his rear end landing squarely on the woman’s head. Her back was bent to the ground, her hands were outstretched as she prepared herself for the worst, but the weight of his body was too great. She was knocked unconscious, or worse, dead. The man stood up proudly, cheered by the crowd, and then lies down on the woman, thrusting at the hip, while he tried to wake her up. When he realized she was unconscious, he sought to lift her, while others through water on her face. Her head bobbed from side to side, while the stentorian commentator made jokes about her possible death. The crown was feverish. At least four people carried her off into the darkness. The video continued, as the somersault and the landing were repeated twice, presumably for my viewing pleasure. This is deeply disturbing.

Even more disturbing was the comments made by a few of the viewers. One was, “LMAO wow” (lmao is instant messaging jargon for “laughing my ass off”) while another read, “lol amazing.” These reactions, and those of the spectators horrify me, for they are symptomatic of more serious problems crippling our society. Jamaica hates women. Of this, I am sure. We speak of how much “wi lov wi uman dem”, but our rates of domestic abuse, assault, rape, workplace sexual abuse, and the like against women, tell an entirely different story. The economy is important, as is our escalating crime rates, but so is this. Acts of misogyny are far less quantifiable, but arguably much more destructive to a developing society.

Street dances should not take place without having police officers, or other medically trained personnel, present. If that woman had any broken vertebrae, or a slight chance to live, the immediate response of the ignorant crowd damaged her spinal chord, and otherwise killed her. I am OUTRAGED!

If you have facebook, see video HERE. Be warned though, it is very graphic, and may not be appropriate for the weak-hearted.

Regulating Dancehall Airplay

BAN THEM!!! A desperate cry for a more stringent application of the regulations in the Children’s Code for Programming as outlined by the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica.

Jamaican youth fighting against the sexualization of our children, the objectification and commodification of our women, and the trivialization of violence embodied in the themes of modern Dancehall lyrics

For far too long we have indiscriminately allowed crude, deleterious lyrics to clog our airwaves and infiltrate the minds of our children. The popularity of Dancehall today speaks volumes to the influence it now wields in Jamaican society, and though it is by no means the cause of any of Jamaica’s problems, it cannot escape all blame. UWI academics and many diehard dancehall fans continue to exoticize the music as a means of cultural expression and a metaphor for life. Furthermore, they assert the lack of empirical evidence to support the claim that Dancehall promotes sexism, belligerence, homophobia and other retrograde persuasions. However, we do not need empirical evidence to know that if you hear something often enough, in the absence of critical thought, it eventually becomes verity. How often do you hear people chanting dancehall mantras in justifying their actions or reproaching other’s? “Man a gyalis” (I am a player), “Man a bad man” (I am a gangster), “Man fi main uman” (Men must financially support their women), or even “Bwai fi get gon shat” (He needs to be shot). We need take our future into our own hands. There is no longer any ‘them’ and ‘us’. We are all witnessing the unraveling of a social fabric that was built through centuries of oppression and struggle. It will take a very long time to rebuild it, but if each of us grabs some thread and a needle now, we may be able to stitch together the pieces. Dancehall is a potent socializing force, which desensitizes our children to the use of violence, sexualizes our young girls and makes them targets for predators, and on the whole glorifies the objectification of our women. Once our greatest pride and showpiece to the world, our music and the influence it has had on the psyche of Jamaicans is now a cancer threatening to envelop Jamaica’s prospects of being a prosperous nation.

The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica has the following policy outlined in its Children’s Code for Programming:
Programming that contains any of the specified content elements that would qualify it for a NFT (Not for Transmission) rating may be edited to either eliminate or obscure the specific references, terms, or depictions before transmission. If the decision is taken by the media house to use an obscuring mechanism e.g. beeping of lyrics or blurring, after editing the elements must not be recognizable to the normal viewer or listener.

Now this approach works well for songs in English, but is completely inadequate for tackling songs sung primarily in Jamaican Creole. Besides the established ‘bad words’ that color our language, which these regulations would omit, all other mature themes go untouched. Whether this arises out of a general disregard for the first language of most Jamaicans, or an inability to censor lyrical expression is unknown to me, but something needs to change. The mere obscuration of a few objectionable terms does little to dilute the excessive sexual and violent references and the crude language. Further, the programming code is inappropriate for songs in Jamaican Creole, because regulators are far more tolerant of the views expressed in the language for the reason that “a jos so Jamiekan piipl stie” (That is just the way Jamaicans are). This is the only reason I can come up with for justifying why more songs are not banned don Jamaican radio. Is this a good enough reason? Hardly.

Besides objectifying women, many Dancehall songs glorify sexual aggression towards and the abuse of women. Many argue that people are able to distinguish literal from metaphorical, and do not actually act on the teachings of Dancehall artistes. Yet, Jamaica has in recent months been plagued by the manifestations of this demeaning tolerance. The current spate of abductions, rapes and murders, terms now synonymous, cannot be separated from the tolerant attitudes towards sexual aggression that our music embodies. music. Jamaican women, heads of many households, the stalwarts of the informal economy, and the nurturers of the values that define us as Jamaicans are no longer accorded much respect. We preach equality of the sexes; yet speak of our women as if they are commodities- objects of men’s debauched sexual fantasies. Many will tell you that Dancehall music reveres women, ‘kaaz a bie uman wi sing bout,’ but let us consider the song ‘Squeeze Breast’ by Mavado- an established ‘lyrical genius’ in Dancehall, and make that decision for ourselves:

Original Version
Kuoros
Shi se shi waahn mi skwiiz ar bres dem laik di triga af ma gon,
Ton ar bak wie ahn fok ar aad ahn mek shi kom,
Outa di bedruum shi ron, mi no nuo a we shi ton,
Di pusi kech a faiya an di pusi staat bon

Vors 1
Dem gyal ya waahn stif kak,
So mi fok ar out aad wen shi pozishan fram bak
Worse di gyal skin kliin, yes an di pum pum fat
…
Mi fok ar tu di maks

Vors 2
Its a fokin afier…
Gyal sidong pon mi kaki laik chier,
Gyal no yuu did a se dat de no fier,
Nou yu a baal se di pusi jaa tier,
Waahn mek a ron bot mi grab ina di ier,
Fling ar pan i grong ahn put I fut ina di ier
Kaki ina beli plos I buuts don pripier
pier naiz a mek aal di nieba a ier
Gyangsta no kier.

English Translation
Chorus
She said she wanted me to, squeeze her breasts like the trigger of my gun,
Turn her backwards and f*ck her hard until she cums,
Out of the bedroom she runs, I do not know where she turned,
The vagina caught on fire and started to burn.

Verse 1
These girls want stiff cocks,
So I f*cked her our hard, when she positioned from that back,
Even better her skin is smooth, and her vagina is fat
…
I fucked her to the max

Verse 2
This is a f*cking affair,
Chick, sit down on my cock as though it is a chair,
Chick, aren’t you the one who claimed that it wasn’t fair,
Now you are crying that your pussy wall tore,
Wanted to make a run, but I grabbed her in the hair
Violently threw her on the floor and tossed her feet in the air,
C*ck in her belly, and the condom is in place,
She’s making lots of noise, even the neighbors can hear,
Gagsters don’t care.


Lyrical masterpiece or literary non-fiction? I think the latter, because the song graphically describes a horrific scene in which a girl is raped at the hands of a most callous man. We have a society where women are abducted, raped, and murdered like nowhere else. We cry, we try to understand why, but the answer is never forthcoming... we never realize that it is through our own negligence, that such abuses are allowed to happen in the first place. Jamaicans are too passive when it comes to rejecting influences- we should stop pretending as if we didn't have all this crime /barbarism / disregard for our women and children coming- A manifestation of the blind eye we turned to the media to which we exposed our children

Adults have- or should have, the intelligence to separate ‘metaphor’ from reality, but children cannot. For this reason, our tolerance of dancehall is helping to create a new generation of heartless, ignoramuses who will only perpetuate the negative themes in Dancehall. The glorification of violence in Dancehall music now goes unnoticed, because the retaliative stance taken against ‘offenders’ is now entrenched in our value systems. We are so desensitized to savagery that shooting, stabbing and the like are considered just action by many Jamaicans- so long as the situation warrants such action. We show descent by actively through violence, because reaching a common understanding and working through one’s problems is not a valid course to take anymore. How often we hear about delinquent students, with aggression problems wreaking havoc in our schools. Surely many socio-economic factors contribute to this kind of deviant behavior; but the fact that such attitudes are tolerated and even glorified in popular culture cannot help.

Your company/organization has vowed to protect the interests of our children, and the Broadcasting Commission has created the Children’s Code for Programming to regulate material for television and radio productions. It is very disheartening however, that you have taken a seemingly lax approach to censoring objectionable lyrics. Criteria that qualify songs for NFT (Not for Transmission) as defined in the Programming Code, are omnipresent in Jamaican Dancehall music. Here is a reminder of some of them:

Excessive Violence – V4

B) There may be express or implied encouragement of violent activity against persons according to demographic characteristics e.g. gender, or race. D) Violence is portrayed as the primary means of resolving all problems. It is also portrayed or described as a heroic, glamorous activity, and the real, negative consequences of resort to violence are not included.

Excessive sexual content S3

A) Sexual portrayals or discussion are highly pervasive and an integral part of the programming.

B) There is explicit sexual content including characters simulating sexual activity frontal nudity, and description or portrayal of male and /or female genitals.

C) The programming includes frank sexual dialogue or discussion.

D) The portrayals, discussion, or descriptions are not meant for scientific, educational or journalistic purposes but meant to titillate the viewer or listener.

Excessive language L3

A) Obscene, sexually explicit or profane language is pervasive throughout the programming.

B) Obscene gestures are depicted, described or discussed.

C) Graphic verbal expletives in either English or Jamaican Creole are included e.g. “fuck”, “battyhole”.

D) Language is used to abuse and denigrate.

Dancehall artistes now belch out the very same mature themes that the regulations in the Children’s Code for Programming were meant to protect our children from. When are we going to take a stand? The inhumanity of our lyrical declarations is an embarrassment to the foundations of the reggae movement in Jamaica. This is not what our music used to be, and it does not have to remain this way. How much longer will we sit by and create a society of immoral savages who perpetuate such a degrading worldview? These songs preach that the sexual exploitation of our women is okay. I cannot be convinced that these songs do not fuel the sadistic intentions of rapists! The rapists must surely be empowered by the fact that they live in a society it is entrenched that men are superior to women and have the authority to do as they please, by whatever means. Our feeble attempts at regulating the content of the music on our airwaves must improve. Albeit a small change in the grand scheme of things, and only one of many wrongs in Jamaica that need to be corrected, we can do something now to effect change in Jamaica- ahn wi kyaahn tari no langga.

If Vybz Kartel or any of the popular artistes was to sing, 'mek mi baks ar, a we shi tek dis fa,’ it would not be out of context, because our women are treated much worse in vile illustrations of the sex act they often describe. Singing about sexual intercourse is fine, but describing intercourse in the manner that is typical (as in Vybz Kartel and Spice’s new song Rampin Shap), is illegal or it should be. Unfortunately, objectifying and commodifying our women is allowable, as is inciting violence against others whether homosexuals or rival gang members ‘pan di goli said’. There is no self-respecting woman who would gyrate to these lyrics. The fact that so many enjoy these lecherous excuses for music speaks volumes to the tolerance of sexism in our society. Worst of all, our young females hear these songs and soon accept this debased view of them in society. They are not equals, they are inanimate, and without feeling, ready to be exploited by perverted neighbors, fathers, and strangers. As Mavado reminds us in his song, “shi se shi wahn mi skwiiz ar bres dem laik di triga af ma gon.” Dancehall’s portrayal of the woman is fully embraced, so now the women ask to be treated like objects. What has our country come to?

I am not naïve enough to think that banning these songs in their entirety will lessen the demand for such crude lyrics, or adversely affect the careers of the DJ’s- surely not in the short term. Regardless though, those who know better need to do better. If you were to unanimously refuse to play the music of artistes notorious for promoting these depraved behaviours, you could put enormous pressure on them and their producers to clean up their act. We need to send a very strong message that Jamaican ears and brains are being eaten out by maggots which fester in the lyrics they spew, and that we will no longer support it. These men and women are lyrical geniuses; they can do better. This positive feedback loop wherein popular demand for such degrading lyrics increases the production of it, which then increases our love and demand for the music needs to be intercepted. I lack the benefit of proof that this system is as destructive as I claim it to be, but my concern should warrant a full psycho-sociological evaluation of Dancehall culture’s contribution to the moral degradation of Jamaican society and its effect on our children. Regulations that are more inflexible need to be put in place; or the Broadcasting commission must be given increased authority to patrol our airwaves and ban certain songs permanently. I love Dancehall music. The beats are intoxicating, and they stir within me a desire to express myself through movement. I hope for the music to evolve and regain its crown as one of Jamaica’s signature cultural forms. As is now though, whose best interests is the music serving- the consumers? The beats can remain, but the lyrics must go!

I am an avid supporter of our native language, Jamaican Creole, and have taken it upon myself to translate into English our literature, and our music, so that I can share them with the greater world. Shock and disgust are the two reactions I get most frequently, after sharing the interpretation of today’s popular dancehall songs. Many cannot believe that the main themes explored in Dancehall music could ever be played over loud speakers in one’s home, much less on national radio. Our immune response to detest filth has apparently been suppressed as we have become desensitized to issues that others easily identify as pressing in other nations. I am a concerned Jamaica looking out for the interest of our children. Your company/ organization has mandated to do the same, and it is time you step fully to the plate. The acquiescence with which we approach the unraveling elements of Jamaican’s moribund social fabric must be done away with. Let us act now to reclaim the Jamaica we love and miss- if only for future generations.

Sincerely,