Melville CookeWe stan' up beside de lyrics pon we papa
Jamaican dancehall performers
THE SUNDAY Gleaner informed us that the UK-based gay advocacy grouping OutRage has targeted Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Capleton and Elephant Man for their lyrics against homosexuals. They did not say it, but I can clarify male homosexuals.
For while the normal sentence for male homosexuals by a dancehall jury is 'bunning', beating and death, the usual recommendation for lesbians is a penis. Do I hear someone chanting in Full Metal Jacket "this is my rifle/this is my gun/this is for shooting/this is for fun"?
Frankly, I find the vast majority of dancehall songs lashing out against homosexuals and recommending various punishments for them to be rather boring. There is nothing mind-boggling about saying "kill a b--tyman" and, most of the times, it is not even said in a creative way.
It is not the sentiment, gentlemen, it is the turn of phrase.
In addition, I find that it is often a fallback for deejays; when in doubt or about to flop out (that means flounder, for you no-Jamaican speakers), resort to one of three topics God, homosexuality or 'Mama'.
Homosexuals have been a Godsend to the musical pursuits of many a deejay. And it is especially amusing when said deejay is decked out in the outfit of a gay designer, tearing him down with his mouth but supporting him with his wallet.
That said, I wonder just how many deejays, whether on the OutRage list or not, would stand up to serious pressure from the gay communities in the UK and the USA. I wonder how many deejays would stick to their bottom lines if their bottom line was being really affected.
I doubt if we will ever find out, but I daresay that in the dancehall culture of materialism, while those who have already made a pile may hold out, the upcoming deejays would be inclined to toe the bottom line very carefully.
What I do question, though, is if the gay rights groups will infringe on our language and target the use of the word 'b--man', saying that it is inherently against homosexuals. Now that would be an attack on our language.
Y'see, while to be called the coarser name for the vagina is considered an insult, in our language a man who has sexual relationships with many women is called a 'c--..ksman' (or maybe that used to be the case in my distant youth). And I seriously doubt that the men so dubbed are discomfited by their title.
And I, for one, do not mind being called-- shall we say, a vagina man.
FLESHY NATURE
The problem, therefore, would not be the fleshy nature of the title but the part of the body it refers to. And there is no getting around that part of the body now, with the nature of the matter at hand.
I also find that deejays take the extremely lazy approach to resisting encroaching homosexuality. Any seven-year-old can say 'fia pon a men', but even a cursory examination of THE STAR will give sufficient information that can stand on its own without any threats.
And they are from the legal system.
On June 21, 2004, under the headline 'Forced to take oral sex', THE STAR reported a matter before the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court, of a 19-year-old youth being threatened with a knife, and the accused is said to have performed oral sex on him and buggered him.
To add to the matter, there is also the accusation of wounding, as the accused is alleged to have stabbed the man after buggering him. Now that, if true, would make two savage stabs in a very short time.
On the female side, just yesterday THE STAR reported that a cosmetologist from St. Catherine is also before the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court, accused of aiding and abetting assault, by facilitating the sexual attack of two other women on a 14-year-old girl. It is alleged that the child was penetrated by a dildo.
Now, if a deejay was to present these incidents as allegations in a lyrical form, could he or she be accused of being against homosexuals?
I don't think so.
THE STAR has reported enough cases before the courts for me to believe that there is an aggressive side to homosexuality which is far from the victim image that is normally portrayed.
Dem have dem rude bway face an' b--man heart.
Panhead
Mel Cooke is a freelance writer.
