Excerpts From The Pdf Entitled "Historical Culture of Gender and Hetero/Sexual Violence in Calypso in Trinidad: Treat ‘Em Rough"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt of pdf by Maude Dikobe entitled "Historical Culture of Gender and Hetero/Sexual Violence in Calypso in Trinidad: Treat ‘Em Rough".

[I don't see a date for this pdf which may be from a chapter in a published book.]

With one exception, this excerpt is given without its accompanying notes.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and folkloric purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owner.

Thanks to Maude Dikobe for writing this book and pdf. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this article, and thanks to http://genderlinks.org.za for publishing this pdf online.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/01/bajan-calypsonian-singing-francine.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "(Bajan Calypsonian) Singing Francine- "Runaway" (a Calypso song about spousal abuse)"

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
As a reminder, I feature excerpts of articles, pdf files, and books as a means of highlighting those writings and as a means of encouraging people to read the entire work, if possible.

****
EXCERPT from http://genderlinks.org.za/wp-content/uploads/imported/articles/attachments/historical_culture_of_gender_hetersexual_violence_maude_dikobe.pdf "Historical Culture of Gender and Hetero/Sexual Violence in Calypso in Trinidad: Treat ‘Em Rough" By Maude Dikobe [in] GENDER & MEDIA DIVERSITY JOURNAL [page 117-125] (2007?)
"Abstract
Gender based violence is pervasive staple of Trinidad’s calypso music, presented and encouraged in some male calypsonians’ lyrics for a long time. A new breed of female caplyso singers are now turning the tide, using the lyrics to speak out against gender violence in the country. This paper explores a female point of view on gender-related violence such as rape, incest, sexual harassment, and shaming. Calypso lyrics sung by men will be read against calypsos sung by women (particularly Singing Sonia and Singing Sandra), many of which are eloquent responses to the verbal and physical abuses to which women are subjected in Trinidad.

You got to love me or leave me
Or live with Miss Dorothy
This time is too hard
For me to mind a man that is bad
--“Love Me or Leave Me,” Lady Iere

Calypso and gender
Calypso is an icon of Trinidadian identity and culture. Yet, this often ignores how it simultaneously
obscures and perpetuates the acceptance of sexual violence.

[...]

PAGE 117

[...]

Calypso’s overwhelming endorsement of violence against women cannot be overstated. Stereotypical representation in calypso of women as sexually forward, cheats, unhygienic, and so on, helps to control them. One has only to recall “Dorothy” a sexual archetype about whom countless calypsos have been written:2 Dorothy personifies many of the worst stereotypes about women in Trinidad: She is “a stuckup slut whose only positive aspect is her seductive availability.” Given her immodesty and deceitfulness, she deserves to be “controlled.” The lyrics below, from Roaring Lion’s My Darling Dorothy (c. 1944) are emblematic of countless examples that can serve to summarise the character of women as portrayed in male lyrics:

Good Lord since I marry Dorothy she had me going crazy
(x2)
When is good I can’t stand the pressure
She want me to commit murder
She has a sailor man
She has a Chinee man
Then she left a Chinee man
To come with a police man
Then she left the yankee man
And go pick up the steel band man….
-- “My Darling Dorothy,” Roaring Lion

[...]


While various forces in society mediate calypso lyrics, it is important to understand how lyrics contribute to sexual violence. Calypsos often reflect social reality; the attitudes towards women they express serve as evidence of dominant gender ideology at different historical points. The violent nature of so many calypso lyrics helps one to understand scenarios where the imagined violence in calypso lyrics would be translated into real physical torment of women...

The question of whether violent art causes or reflects real violence in society is still being widely debated. Many Trinidadian women believe that misogynistic calypso lyrics do nurture certain attitudes, especially widespread violence against them: “We believe that the many ills, such as wife battering, rape and assault, incest and other effects in our society today, can be attributed to the lack of respect to our women.”3

[...]

Love Me or Leave Me: Feminine Accents In Calypso
It would be wrong to treat the misogynistic lyrics sung by male calypsonians as if they were unmediated. The overtly feminist lyrics of two calypsonians, Singing Sonia and Singing Sandra, building on lyrics of earlier female calypsonians, such as Lady Iere’s “Love Me or Leave Me,” and Singing Francine’s “Run Away” thwart conventional representations of women in calypso as they focus on women’s interests and concerns – woman as subjects, not objects.

If she bring she friends to visit the house
You insulting she you calling them louse
If she talk to Greg you say she with he
Like she is a slot puppy
Morning noon and night you blowing she mind
You binging she old, old before she time
Seven years you living in misery
Woman runaway, woman, runaway, woman run away
from he
--“Runaway,” Singing Francine

The existence of such articulate feminist commentaries forces the audience to reexamine some stereotypes traditionally associated with women in calypso, as they finally hear the story from the woman’s point of view. Where do these songs stand in relation to traditional calypsos? They stand firmly grounded in women’s lived experiences, and force the listeners to scrutinise everyday events in feminist terms.

For instance, when Singing Francine wrote a calypso about women in abusive relationships, her simple,
authoritative advice was far different from Atilla’s male-bonding urge toward violence. Francine told her listeners to resist such violence by any means necessary, and take defensive action. Her song title says it all: “Run Away” (1979).

Loud debates in parliament on the need to end sexual violence often complement female calypsonians’ social commentaries.18 The small but deter-mined feminist movement in Trinidad should have increased awareness of the need to address these social problems; this, in turn, led to more feminist themes in calypso (Mohammed, 1991, Reddock, 1998, Massiah, 1988)

PAGE 123
The increasing presence of women on the calypso music scene, the impact of the kinds of topics they cover, and the unique ways in which they cover them, all force us to acknowledge the fact that the personal concerns they bring to the table are profoundly political. This is ironic, considering that traditionally the only way a woman’s calypso might be credited as political would be if it had a patriotic thrust, i.e., if it were a “nation building” calypso.

Equalising Acts: Death to Raperman
Among contemporary female calypsonians, no one has been more consistent in her focus on sexual violence than Singing Sandra (Sandra Des Vignes). Her ongoing interest is visible in the titles of her songs: “Raperman” (1984), “Sexy Employers” (or “Die With My Dignity”) (1987), and “Equaliser” (1994). In “Equaliser” (written by Christopher Grant) Sandra makes no attempt to hide her anger at, and hatred for, the brutal purveyors of sexual violence. On the contrary, she describes herself as the “Equaliser,” the only one capable of punishing the perpetrators. Impatient with rhetoric, she demands a real commitment on the part of the legal system in Trinidad to ensure equal rights for both women and men:

We tired beg, we tired plead
Still man wouldn’t hear.
Everyday they making we bleed,
Stick break in de ear.
And the authorities; is nothing dey doing,
The law needs reviewing.
Is time to get tough,
I know exactly what to do
Send them to me,
Enough is enough.
--“Equaliser,” Singing Sandra

Sandra had sung on rape before, notably in her 1984 calypso “Raperman” – but this time she appeared on stage with a pair of rusty garden shears, ready to punish sex offenders by chopping off their testicles. Delivered with powerful conviction and an almostterrifying fury, her merciless song some male calypsonians strongly criticised her as being unnecessarily graphic and violent. However, woman’s columnist Donna Pierre described it as “[T]he voice of abused and battered women everywhere, sending a strong message to both the men who inflict such pain, and the powers that be who cannot yet decide upon a penalty appropriate for such crimes.”19 Like “Die With
My Dignity” (1987), this calypso has come to be considered one of Sandra’s trademark songs.

Feminist singers like these give advice to women on how to deal with sexual violence: Whether it is Francine telling battered women to run away, Singing Sonia drawing our attention to shameful sexual abuses in the home, or Singing Sandra threatening to castrate rapists, these songs spoke directly woman to woman. Although most female calypsonians resist the “feminist” label, that doesn’t stop them from addressing female issues in their calypso.

In “Die With My Dignity” (also known as “Sexy Employers”) Singing Sandra might be talking about every woman applying for a job when she observes:
You looking out to find something to do
You meet a boss man who promise to help you
But when the man lay down the condition
Is nothing else but humiliation
They want to see your whole anatomy
They want to see whey yuh doctor never see
They want you to do whey yuh husband never do…
To get a job these days as a woman!
Brother they go keep their money
I go keep my honey
And die with my dignity
--“Die With My Dignity,” Singing Sandra

Moreover, in a calypso entitled “Professional Advice” (1992) Singing Sonia (and her songwriter, Shadow) capture the situation in which female calypsonians struggle to gain recognition and respect in the highly competitive and manipulative world of calypso:

PAGE 124
They are some sharks looking for bait
They want to bite then kill you still
Don’t let them use you like a tool
Or you will become a fool
Stand up for all your rights
And fight them with all your might.
--“Professional Advice,” Singing Sonia

Overall, many female calypsonians’ lyrics urge their listeners to recognise the sexism still operating in
Trinidad society, and its attendant sexual violence.
By persistently foregrounding female experience, both Sonia, Sandra, and their sisters usher in gender dissent that is not even on the radar for most male calypsonians. They counsel women to express themselves with dignity, and foster awareness of their rights. Female calypsonians continue to “do their thing” as per Calypso Rose’s song title – joined by women from all walks of life as they demand that their voices not only be heard, but be respected.

While there is no single response to the challenges presented by gender violence (not even Sandra’s “Equaliser”) broadening our understanding of sexual violence can help foster a culture that has zero tolerance for such barbaric acts.

Thanks to the female calyponians, women in Trinidad are being heard at last – through calypso lyrics, parliamentary speeches, focus groups, rallies, television commentary, talk-show call-ins, the presence of female programme hosts and steelband critics on the radio, and much more. The fact that some of the songs about sexual violence performed by these women are, in fact, collaborations between the singers and the men who write for them, demonstrates that sexual violence is not only a woman’s problem, but a national problem as well. To borrow the words of two African diasporic sisters, Singing Sandra and Aretha Franklin, as women fight gender discrimination they demand R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Notes
2. Calypsos on Dorothy include “Don’t Hide Behind the Door, Dorothy” (Growler),
“Don’t Tickle Me, Dorothy” (Beginner), “Dorothy Went to Bathe” (Lion), “Leave
Me Alone, Dorothy” (Destroyer), “My Troubles With Dorothy” (Executer), and
perhaps the most cleverly political “Dorothy” song, “Wait, Dorothy, Wait” (Black
Stalin).

writer's bio

Maude M. Dikobe is a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Botswana, where
she teaches literature and the expressive arts of the African Diaspora. Her dissertation research focused
on contested expressions of gender and sexuality by women performers in Trinidadian [sic]"

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.