The bedroom boycott WOMEN IN the southern Turkish village of Sirt may have set an important example for their sisters across the globe. According to an AP dispatch they have banished their men from the bedroom for a whole month until they provide running water for the village. The calculation, apparently, is that thirst shouldn't be one-sided. Thus after the government agreed to give the men enough pipes to build a water system one woman declared that the bedroom doors should stay closed "until the water runs through the taps". Here in Jamaica many have long felt that women hold the answer to some of the problems relating to criminal activity among men. If, like the women in that Turkish village, they refuse to lay with the men until they lay down their arms many believe that there may well be some measure of disarmament. We are not of course so naive as to think that this action, or inaction if you will, will put our crime problems to bed. It might however send a powerful message to the men that there would no longer be sheltering arms for guns. There is much academic discussion in modern times of the empowerment of women; now women need to find creative ways to use that power to their advantage, as the women of Sirt did. The cynics among us might regard this as an unachievable goal given the peccadilloes of the Jamaican male. What is important here though is collective action, the recognition that there is strength in presenting a united front. There is historical precedent for this type of action; women have in the past employed a bedroom boycott in protest against frequent wars. It worked then, and it has worked now for these Turkish women. It could be as easy as just saying no. The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
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