All boy children belong to us

Culture Matters

DARA E HEALY

MORNING TIME on a weekday. A young man walks past, lethargic, shirt off. His right hand brushes along the croton peeping between the fence, as he talks on a mobile phone in his left hand. He walks back, now off the call.

Another young man goes in the opposite direction, just as slowly, also with an air of nothing to do and a great deal of time in which to do it. They greet each other with a cursory nod of the head and go their separate ways.

I watch them and my heart aches, acutely aware that I am a mere observer in their lives and may never have an opportunity to be more.

Certainly, this is not the only image of young men in our nation. Many are in school, pursuing a trade or other profession, starting businesses or excelling on the world stage. They are performers in Best Village community groups, classical arenas, panyards or traditional cultural organisations.

There is a wealth of positive activity amongst our youth. Yet, for me, those young men represent too many who lack the comfort of community and strong parenting. How to reach them?

As we commemorated International Day of the Boy Child this week, the conversation turned to what boys across our nation need. The UN defines a child as any person under the age of 18. Here, boys grow into men and are still referred to as "de chile," "dat boy" or "boy child." “How dem chirren?” as Uncle Ravi often asks.

This practice is one of our norms, rooted in ancient cultural and religious traditions that emphasise community and family.

Through creative and artistic vehicles, we learned certain ideas about manhood and gender. For instance, in the early days, the batonniers or stickfighters were recognised as protectors of the community.

Gordon Rohlehr notes that although female stickfighters did exist, many chants or lavways “were primarily concerned with the courage and skill of men in a situation of physical encounter.”

Calypso and, later, soca sometimes portrayed rather narrow views on the roles of men and women. In the 1930s, women were to be carefully managed, at least according to some calypsonians.

Atilla warned in 1935 against "modern women" – “Even the young girls you cannot trust/ For they’re taking our jobs from us/ And if you men don’t assert control/ Women will rule the world.”

In his 1939 song Mother Love, calypsonian Lion extolled feminine qualities – “The zenith of a woman’s ambition in life/ Should be to be a loving mother and a pleasing wife/ For thus they are by nature intended/ Not as overlords or slaves but to man subjected…”

Today there is greater sensitivity and clarity surrounding maleness and gender. Even soca has fewer songs with instructions like “Girl you gotta wine and bend over.” But progress does not mean that antiquated views do not persist.

To an extent, outdated opinions in music and other areas still inform how society engages with boys and men and affect how they navigate this space. As an example, for every piece of popular music that promotes respect of women by men, there are many that objectify women or the act of sex, constructing relations between men and women as a form of contestation, in intimacy or otherwise.

As part of our organisation’s community outreach, we were privileged to engage with male leaders across our country from several spheres to discuss challenges and solutions for men and boys. Notably, the major deficiency identified was the absence of safe spaces for boys and men to speak out.

One of the participants was youth activist Amilcar Sanatan. This week he urged, “Boys need safe spaces to understand their experiences, desires and interests.”

This is as simple as it is complicated. What would schools as safe spaces look like? How to ensure safety in work environments plagued by macho culture and "boys club" mentality? In the cultural sphere, we also recognise the need to ensure that the performing arts is a space where everyone can be heard and understood.

The alarming gender-based violence statistics are a powerful sign that all is not well with how society continues to engage with the boy child. As a developing nation, I advocate again that we reclaim our ancestral norms and values to foster a safe society for boys, men and us all.

Where are those two young men now? We must keep them all safe. We must.

Dara E Healy is a performance artist and founder of the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN