THE EDITOR, Sir:
OUR MEN have been feeling 'put upon' by the flood of movies, talk shows and magazine articles that dissect the male and drag out his deficiencies before national and international audiences. The real cause of male bashing is obvious. Men have generally left it to women to deal with issues of injustice against women and children. Men have rarely sought to take the lead on issues such as child abuse, spousal abuse and paternal abandonment of children.
The question every man disturbed about the contemporary wave of male bashing needs to ask himself is, "What do I do or say when I know my best friend is beating his wife?" or "What is my response when I see males flirting with a minor?" "What do I do when my male friends abandon their families, and spend money on expensive gadgets and gimmicks while their children go without proper financial support?"
I can tell you what many men do in these situations. Blame the woman. "Well, he is beating her, so she should leave him." "Well the reason he flirts with little girls is because of how these mothers dress their little girls...and some of these little girls are bad. They put 'it' in the man's way." "Well he had to leave the home because his wife didn't need him because she had a good job and a lot of money."
Men blaming women for the things men do wrong is what continues to marginalise men. From the pulpit to parliament, men tolerate and excuse male irresponsibility and vice and blame the woman. The irresponsible, child-molesting or wife-beating heterosexual male has very little to fear from his 'bredrin'. He can still be 'one of the boys'.
Men who are serious about the future of the nation, of the church, of the family need to begin to break the brotherhood's code of 'silence' on the issues that affect the lives of their children and their women. Otherwise, men continue to put themselves at risk.
I am, etc.,
NOVA GORDON-BELL
nmgbell@yahoo.com
Via Go-Jamaica
