Dear Editor,
I refer to the Stabroek News letter written by an anonymous person titled, `These half-naked gyrating ladies should not be at cricket’ which was published on 11th November. This letter reeks of bigotry and misogyny. After reading it the only thing I found deeply offensive was the letter writer.
Firstly, a cricket match is not a religious function nor was the one the writer attended held in a religious building so there was no expectation that those present would be dressed conservatively or adhere to a dress code. The cricket match was a sporting event opened to all Guyanese. Were the gyrating ladies dressed in a manner that is illegal? Were their genitals exposed?
I find it alarming that the writer would use the words: horror, disgust, nausea and hurt to describe the reaction of a child to the ladies’ state of dress. There is nothing vulgar, dirty or immoral about the female body. What were the children with him/her taught? The only thing ‘traumatic’ is the conditioning of the young, impressionable children by the writer.
What the he/she did was objectify and demean the adult, gyrating women who had the right to dress themselves as they deemed fit. The only problem I can think of is whether the women were forced to dress in the manner that they did. If not, then the writer should refrain from trying to impose his archaic views on others; we are living in a modern world.
The writer and children should be taught to respect the fact that people are different; lifestyles, dress, thinking and views on morality. There was nothing illegal about the women’s dress and nobody was negatively affected. I find that people often focus too much on things that do not negatively affect them or pose a danger to society and the things that do affect us like crime and social ills such as noise nuisance, drinking and driving, bribery, speeding etc are overlooked.
The views that the writer hold contribute to victim blaming and shaming and the objectification of women. Instead of degrading and shaming, the writer should teach those female children that women’s bodies are not dirty, no one has the right to make them feel ashamed of it or to assault/insult them because the person feels that they are dressed provocatively. Maybe, if the writer ever travels out of this country to one of the sought-after travel destinations frequented by Guyanese his/her eyes might just pop out from severe shock at the number of ‘half-naked’ females who walk freely without shame oppressing them or being subjected to the level of street sexual harassment that fully dressed Guyanese women face here.
The writer states that the cricketers were fully dressed. Well, they were in uniform, I wonder what this person would say about female tennis players, swimmers, skaters etc. Do they cheapen and degrade themselves with their uniform? I was particularly irked by the statement, ‘‘Cheer leaders can be attractively dressed, athletic and sport-oriented instead of selling sex as these ladies are doing.’ This is very insulting and nasty, how does he/she know that the women were selling sex? This is the type of thinking that hinders the liberation of women from the chains of patriarchy and oppression. If any of those women were assaulted most likely the writer would have blamed the woman for ‘provoking’ the act rather than the real culprit who would then feel empowered to view women as sexual objects who exist to satisfy his lust.
How fitting that the anonymous writer seeks to shame and degrade women on their dress at a women’s cricket match; an event that highlights women’s progress and participation in all aspects of life including the right to be uncovered and not have their sexuality controlled.
Yours faithfully,
Narissa Deokarran
