Dear Editor,
I had the pleasure of attending the Windies vs Bangladesh ICC Women’s World T20 game at Providence on November 9, 2018 in the company of some little girls crazy about cricket. It was their first time at Providence to see cricket and their first time at an International Cricket event. They could not contain their happiness and excitement at being there. They were all squeals and giggles and busy with blowing up their Windies paraphernalia.
Having successfully navigated all the necessary hazards and indignities of attending a public event in Guyana, as I was busy getting us settled into our seats in the Orange Stand to watch the game, a tiny nine-year-old tapped my arm urgently to gain my attention and pointed in horror and disgust in the direction of the ground. I was shocked to see the expression of nausea and hurt on her face and followed her gaze to see what could possibly be so offensive at cricket. The offensive and traumatic view was three half-naked female backsides in our faces gyrating to the sounds of some up-tempo music, ostensibly to create ‘atmosphere’. Had I seen these dancing girls first, I would have thought nothing of them since as a Guyanese adult, we are desensitised to such things. We accept this behaviour as normal. However, the innocence of childhood has an intrinsic morality of its own. That a nine-year-old child can feel traumatised by such a view ought to shake us out of our complacency. It means something is wrong with this behaviour.
I hurriedly gathered the girls and tried to console them from the almost pornographic views they had just witnessed, and went to the extreme other end of the stand so they could see the cricket and not be burdened by the offensive view. However, it was not possible to ignore this view because in the Orange Stand, these gyrating women were placed near the TV screen and near the scoreboard.
As we settled into new seats, the opening ceremony began. The solemnity, dignity and discipline of the ceremony with National Anthems and sweet well-behaved little boys fully dressed in white escorting the fully focused and fully dressed female cricketers out onto the field contrasted sharply with these gyrating ladies. It made me question their purpose at the game, especially a Women’s cricket match with a bunch of women on the field doing something completely different from marketing their bodies. How would the public react if we had dancing men in g-strings exposing their bottoms and crotches instead of these women? Women continue to degrade and cheapen themselves in many ways.
I think the organisers of cricket in Guyana need to rethink their inclusion of these half-naked gyrating ladies as part of cricket. Patrons need to wear clothing out in public to attend the games, the cricketers are also fully-dressed on the field and entertainers need to wear clothing too. Going to cricket should not be a traumatic event for a child and it is imperative that, as a Guyanese adult, I do some little thing to stand up for the rights of children in this country. All the other activities to create ‘atmosphere’ at the cricket games have some technical content. Cheerleaders can be attractively dressed, athletic and sport-oriented instead of selling sex as these ladies are doing. I hope for some improvement in conscience for future matches.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
