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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

My daughter was raped last night. Then again, some people think that's okay.

Eyebrows raised across the internet when the picture to your right went viral on Facebook a few weeks back. Words cannot express how appalled I was when I first saw it. Apparently the woman in the dress is Dancehall Queen, Lady Saw. Now I'm sure she makes good money selling albums and doing live performances, but at what cost? I'm not too familiar with her albums, but I doubt after seeing this picture that I'd want to buy any of them. What she has done is literally a slap in the face to the thousands of abused women worldwide.

If I were to meet Lady Saw, I'd have a few questions to ask her.

1) Lady Saw, how do you plan to respond to the young girls in Los Angeles, California, who were sexually assaulted by their own elementary school teacher  earlier this year if they were to stumble across this picture?

2) Is this your way of justifying why over 92 million African girls who are aged 10 and older should undergo female genital mutilation? Or are you just simply boasting your freedom to be publicly fondled while these innocent girls are forced to undergo such a barbaric practice?

3) How would you respond to every female rape survivor, including the repeat victims, if they were to publicly condemn you for giving it up this easy to a complete stranger?

4) Do you encourage boys and young men to treat women the way this guy is treating you? Do you encourage young girls and women to be as open (no pun intended)?

I'm sure that you were enjoying yourself as well as entertaining your audience while cashing in on it. Coming from a Bajan ancestry (that's slang for Barbadian, by the way), I'm quite familiar with gyrations and whining as a form of dancing, which has been the norm in the Caribbean for decades. But as for this, I'm quite surprised that even you, as a (mature?) woman, don't know when to draw the line. This is considering the fact that women worldwide continue to be sexually mistreated, while some were fortunate enough to stand up and expose their aggressors (ever hear of Herman Cain?). Your behaviour in this picture set back respect towards women over one hundred years.

I hope that you strongly consider and think over the questions that I've listed above. Because there's a huge difference between entertainment and letting some stranger treat your body as though it's some Goddamned Six Flags Theme Park!


References
USAToday: Ex-LA Teacher accused of Molesting 23 children
World Health Organization
FGM: The Debate about FGM in Africa, The Middle East, and the Far East
TMZ

Russell Brooks is a former Canadian Track Team member and the author of the thrillers CHILL RUN, PANDORA'S SUCCESSION, and the short story collection UNSAVORY DELICACIES.

3 comments:

  1. This lady is a entertainer and has been threw thing as well. In her life. Look up the song my story which is a true story about here. This show was at and adult club where adults there know its just entertainment. What's done on stage is what's done on stage. Lady Saw has 3 kids that respect and love her. I don't know her personally but I have met her a few times and she is the nicest person you could ever meet

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  2. Dee, whether Lady Saw has children or whether she's a nice person is irrelevant. Because there are many nice parents who do stupid and insensitive things too. By the way, can you in certainty tell the age of everyone in that audience by just looking at them in this picture? I know I can't and I doubt that you could too. So you can't argue that everyone in the audience is legally an adult because minors sneaking into clubs is not news today anymore than it has been in the past? Now you say that she's also gone through things in her life. Are you saying that she's been raped or sexually abused? Because if that's that's the case, wouldn't you think that she'd be a bit more sensitive to allowing a young man (who appears to) finger her on stage?

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  3. Yes she has been raped before as a teenager, and you are right i don't know the age of everyone there. But i do know that if under age kids or teenagers are there she doesn't do them type of things. Look at lil Kim, nicki manaji, rihanna they all the things like this but they do it in front off everybody no matter the age. And I'm sorry bout your daughter being raped. Ppl that rape ppl don't do it cause of the music or because a person allows someone to touch them in a certain spot. The rapist normal is just a sick individual or it was something that happen to them and cause them to act that way. I'm a performer aswell and I have allowed a woman to touch me on stage but its just entertainment. Off stage I'm not like that

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