Eve Mann: »Chi Chi Badman« Pt. 2
posted on December 27th, 2010 by Eve in Article, Mann´s World
Clearly, Jamaica has a growing culture of latent homosexuals of both male and female. They outwardly seek the company of the same sex, however, due to fear of societal rejection and or the promise of violence they never fully embark in an out of the closet gay relationship. Instead they opt for a more socially accepted version. Therefore, women embark in relationships with men who act and dress in a more female manner. Outwardly the »men« are very in-tuned with their femininity (in the wrong way), they display very »delicate« mannerisms and do everything from bleaching, eyebrow arching and even forgoing male scents opting instead for a flowery perfume instead of a woody male cologne. To fill the void women tend to take a more dominant role and while they may still dress like females their roles have now become that of protector and provider in the relationship. Financially, emotionally and at times physically they do everything in the relationship that the quintessential male figure should do, including but not limited to providing money, directly or indirectly to buy bleaching cream and Clarks and/or walking on the outside during their strolls a position usually only occupied by a true gentleman. Essentially perpetuating a »Mine mi fe wine mi« culture. Something once only a certain class of females would have the audacity to admit to. But instead now in songs like Clarks II Vybz Kartel proudly states
Gal a mine mi fi wine me she love me off,
She say she a go a town she mi say bring mi Clarks,
She say wah kinda style yu wah,
Me say bring it inna suede, leather every material fi de Boss.
No doubt women play a destructively encouraging roll in the Chi Chi Bad man phenomena. When before the effeminate boy especially in inner-city communities would be ridiculed and at times ostracized for acting/talking like a sissy now he now has a place in the company of older women who enjoy the company of a young Shebada. They cajole and encourage these boys to act more outrageously, they discuss in the presence of these children their adult/sexual relationships and instead of a functioning adult-child relationship the boys are treated as girlfriends and provide comic relief for these older women, providing the punch line for very explicit situations. Eventually they learn to beg, either implicitly by imitating actions of the elder female or explicitly being told to do so. Thus, begins the erosion as without a real male figure to instill such values as real men work, they protect and provide for their families, these boys eventually learn the hard way there is no such thing as a free ride when they beg the wrong men.
For the uninitiated the Dancehall video light is more than just an avenue to »big up« oneself and friends, it is more than just a catalog of a hype party. A video light especially one from a very well known party is a market of the flesh. Long before e-harmony and match.com the video light acted as a community notice board advertising the best and »baddest« a particular subculture had to offer. Dressed in the finest and dancing in very sexually suggestive ways is a means for one not only to cement one’s place in this subculture but also acts as a means for a »big man« to see a hot girl and say »a who da girl deh she bad eeh.« This may eventually lead to him knowing this girl in a more biblical sense. Therefore, one can understand why some players in this culture would bitterly oppose wasted hours of important video time spent on peacocks. Essentially the culture that sprang up of male dancers; they act in an identical manner to the women they »model« and brag and big up friends and their sexual prowess. And in some cases they beg more than any woman ever could. Where the conflict arise is these Chi Chi bad boys some posing as dancers will muscle out women from the video light. In theory these Chi Chi Bad boys compete for the same spoils and have no qualms reminding females that in comparison to what they have to offer a pussy has no value.
– Second post of a 3-part piece by Eve Mann. Orginally posted on her blog The Phoenix in a Gas House. Read »Chi Chi Badman« Pt. 1 here.
Yo SEEN TEAM. Eve reads as having incredibly close minded views about gender roles and sexuality. Do you guys support those positions as well? Initially I read her as joking “If you have a penis then pink is the wrong colour for you” but reading all three parts im pretty confused about why you guys decided to post this perspective.
First of all if you read anything I write with a closed mind then your are gonna be in big trouble. Second most of what i write is less personal opinion and more a reality check for all the bi-polar craziness that is the Jamaican culture. For the most part people are more inclined to think the negative is true instead of actually finding out what is, as that isn’t as black and white as they hope. Jamaicans are homophobic. That’s an easy statement but its not necessarily true, easier still if you one has never actually been to Jamaica. For the most part what i wrote was pretty straight forward you can’t say
“I hate homos” (I’m not very politically correct so don’t blame Seen) and then dress like a homo, act like a homo dance like a homo and wear homo designers and expect people to not say “wow look at that homo”. Taliesin I’m sure you are a fine person so I’ll tell you a secret its not the things that make you happy and content that you need to find out more about its the ones that make you uneasy, so props to you for actually making an effort to find out what the ‘truth’ is.
Eve