Global IssuesJAMAICA: Women Cheer Ban on Sexually Degrading Song Lyrics
It's the latest dance craze here and many artists have hopped on the bandwagon. But when the latest 'daggering' song hit the airwaves, government, broadcast regulators, civil society and others in Jamaica said enough is enough.
Dr. Donna Hope, a lecturer in reggae studies at the University of the West Indies, told IPS that while 'daggering' is a new slang, its demeaning connotations are all too familiar.
'It is less about sex, and more about aggrandising or uplifting the male identity, so you can take charge of this woman. It is the kind of 'cock-it-up-jack-it-up-dig-out-de-red' discussion,' she said, noting that when female singers mimic the style of 'daggering' songs, 'it's really about rescuing the women, or to stand up for the women in the face of this onslaught of male upliftment and male domination.'
Jamaica's Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA) said in a statement that the songs were 'in no way uplifting or empowering' and would in fact 'subtly encourage aggression and violence, instead of love and healthy relationships' among children.
It is urging the authorities to ban 'all songs which promote violence, indecency, profanity and explicit sexual activities'.
Veteran journalist Kathy Barrett told IPS the songs 'are horrible to say the least'.
'It degrades women, the song is disgusting,' she said, while newspaper columnist Bettie Ann Blaine said that the country was being held hostage 'by a moral free fall that has now contaminated and co-opted the hearts and minds of our children'.
'Every single one of us knows the difference between art and vulgarity; between 'culture' and lewdness; between decency and indecency, and there should be no room for excuses or justifications,' she wrote.
Ironically, the controversy over the latest 'daggering' song, 'Rampin Shop', comes at a time when Jamaica is celebrating 'Reggae Month' in recognition of the music that artists such as the late Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Third World brought to international prominence.
Dub poet Mutabaruka, addressing a Reggae Month activity, said it was important for the government to take immediate action to address the concerns surrounding Jamaica's dancehall music.
He said that the negative lyrics and explicit images being promoted through the music were eroding the values of the society and impacting negatively on the behaviour of some young people, and disagreed with artists who claim 'they have nothing to do with what's going on (and they) only make music and is really the parents who should be blamed'.
Daggering is used mainly by artistes who in the late 1970s started the 'dance hall' craze here that was dubbed 'street side reggae'.
In recent years, a number of those singers, such as Rodney Price (Bounty Killa), have come under international scrutiny and have even been banned from performing at public shows in Europe for their violent ant-gay lyrics.
The Broadcasting Commission, which has placed an immediate ban on the airing of music with sexually explicit lyrics, defines daggering as a 'colloquial term used in dancehall culture as a reference to hardcore sex or what is popularly referred to as 'dry sex' or the activities of persons engaged in the public simulation of various sexual acts and positions'.
The commission has made recommendations to the government to amend the 1946 Television and Sound Broadcasting Regulation to deal with the situation.
'These include requirements around playlists and music sheets; vetting and approval of songs by station managers prior to transmission by DJs; non-transmission of songs that condone or encourage hostility or violence; the encouragement or glamourising of use of illegal drugs or misuse of alcohol,' Broadcasting Commission Chairman Dr. Hopeton Dunn told a news conference on Tuesday.
Executive director of the commission, Cordel Green, said he was convinced that artists do not have to produce explicit lyrics for public consumption.
'This is not about dancehall or any genre. It is about lyrics that are inappropriate for broadcast, whether you want to call it soul music, hip-hop music or dancehall music,' Green said.
The Media Association of Jamaica (MAJ) said the approach by the commission has placed the primary responsibility for addressing the music content on artists and music producers, even as it acknowledged 'there is a thin line between a ban and the stifling of creative expression'.
'The creators and producers of the music are now directly challenged to get that balance right,' the MAJ said.
The Jamaican government, acknowledging the importance of the music industry to the local economy, is establishing a task force to discuss the concerns raised over the explicitly sexual and violent content of the local songs.
'We are going to have to find a way to deal with what is going on out there with the music,' Prime Minister Bruce Golding said. 'If we have to change the law, let us prepare the legislation and go to Parliament and change it.'
'This country does not belong to us - we hold it in trust for the next generation and we must pass it on to them in better shape than we got it,' he said.
But some callers to radio talk shows here have voiced opposition to the commission's decision, with critics labelling it biased and accusing the commission of being hypocritical.
The critics say the ban is an attack on dancehall music and argued that it should have been extended to music from other Caribbean islands, particularly Trinidad and Tobago, since many of those songs are also laced with sexually suggestive lyrics.
Dunn said that the commission was also seeking powers that would rein in material which encourages or glamorises the use of illegal drugs or misuse of alcohol.
'The force of the regulation that we want to be changed urgently is to give children a better chance of becoming part of the public audience and that they ought not to be misused or abused in the course of our broadcast transmission,' Dunn added.
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service