If you visit Sri Lanka, you will find a society that, on the surface at least, is quite modern especially when it comes to the status of women. Women have access to education and occupy high levels of the government and private sectors and there are few restrictions on their movement. Women can and do go about alone, drive, and do pretty much anything that men do. You will see women everywhere, dressed in all manner of styles from the latest western fashions to traditional clothing.
But beneath the surface, there are still some holdovers of the patriarchal past. For example there is the tacit assumption that while they can take prominent roles outside the home, they are still mainly held responsible for the running of the home, the cooking, and the taking care of children. Even though more men are learning to share in those tasks, they are still seen as women’s responsibilities.
There is also a puritanical streak in the country in that public displays of affection are frowned upon. Although foreign films can show people kissing, locally produced media do not. Anything that goes beyond holding hands is frowned upon. This became a major issue recently when the pop star Enrique Iglesias gave a concert in Colombo during which women rushed the stage and kissed and hugged him and some threw their underwear at him.
This caused the president of the country to express outrage, telling a public meeting “This is most uncivilised behaviour that goes against our culture.” He added, “I don’t advocate that these uncivilised women who removed their brassieres should be beaten with toxic stingray tails, but those who organised such an event should be.” The punishment he was recommending is a medieval one that I had not heard of before but apparently used to be done only to hardened criminals.
He may run into a problem advocating this punishment for the organizers of this event because it turns out that it was by a company that is owned by two of Sri Lanka’s most famous cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardana, both of whom had just recently retired from representing the national teams and are revered in this cricket-mad country almost as gods.
I do not know if the president was aware of this when he suggested the punishment. But the two cricket stars have apologized and so this may be allowed to quietly fade from the spotlight, sparing everyone further embarrassment.
It’s reminiscent of the uproar in India back in 2007. Richard Gere kissed Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on the cheek, a long way from women throwing underwear. The response was much the same (i.e. overblown and misplaced).
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1611428,00.html
I’m not comparing India and Sri Lanka, only the countries’ response to the events.
In other words, Sri Lanka is truly a modern, western democracy: hypocrisy and double standards included.
Whoa! That’s some serious shit! But I have no doubt it would work for most teenieboppers.
“Mr President. Please put down the toxic stingray tails and step back from them. We’ll handle this.And Ladies, please put your brassières back on. Can’t you see? The men here are trying to think.”
Jockaira, you have provided a canonical quote-mine, by leaving out the emphasised portion of the quotation: “I don’t advocate that these uncivilised women who removed their brassieres should be beaten with toxic stingray tails […]”
(Were I you, I’d be embarrassed)
On the subject at hand, I think that the more overt the ostensible public puritanism, the more risqué the actual behaviour behind closed doors.
John Morales (#5) --
The publicly puritan are privately prurient. Just look at Bill Cosby or fundy megachurch leaders.
Whatever happened to consent, and Yes means Yes?
What would you say if the genders were reversed?
What if Taylor Swift was performing, and men rushed the stage and kissed and hugged her, and some throw their underwear at her?
You admire the remarkable Noam Chomsky for his flip-the-actors thought experiments which expose hypocrisy of Western militarism. Yet you cant apply the same principle to gender issues. You cant overcome the inner White Knight that inhibits true gender equality.
“For example there is the tacit assumption …..”
Doesn’t sound too different from The Netherlands. In no European country so few women are financially independent.
AstroKid Nj @#7,
You make a good point about my possible double standards and hypocrisy and it is always good to be on the alert against the same faults one finds in others.
In this case, the issue is one of consent. Iglesias seems to have no problems with it. I have no idea what Iglesis’s concerts are like in general (the title ‘Sex and Love’ for his tour suggests some level of sexuality) but this business of women throwing underwear at some certain performers is common while men doing the same for women is unheard of. If a woman performer did not mind it, then there would be no problem with that either.
I think that among concert goers (a world I am not part of), the default assumption seems to be that men don’t mind it but women do, and hence if the performers want to change things, men have to explicitly discourage it while women have to explicitly encourage it.
This is still a double standard but a less pernicious one.
This attitude pervades our entire thinking. Perhaps innately, by default, we want to protect women, and expect men to “man up”. This is done by both conservatives and liberals.
for e.g look at Domestic Violence.
Are you familiar with the case of Solange Knowles repeatedly beating JayZ in an elevator? You can find the video online.
Experiments show that men beating women is a No No. But Women beating men is a Dont Care.
Extreme Domestic Abuse In Public! (Social Experiment)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVHnZX8E50
When Katherine Kieu Becker cuts off her husbands penis, it draws laughs on NationalTV .. Sharon Osborne of The View, and the audience.
Both men and women do gender policing. They do it to men. They do it to women.
But the only thing that gets attention is “what happens to women”. Woman as victim, Man as perpetrator.
All we get from Right Wing is “man up”.
All we get from Feminism is lip service “Patriarchy hurts men too”.
Seems to me that if he didn’t advocate that, then there was no need to mention it. The only reason I can see to mention it then is as a barely veiled threat.
AstroKid, I cannot even begin to express how tedious it is that you tour the blogs looking for an ‘in’ for your pet greivance. You had a point regarding the stage rushing difference, but the rest is a demonstration of pure wonk.
Holms:
Obviously.
So what? What was quoted was literally the opposite of what was said, and the comment was ostensibly about what was quoted.
Pure dishonesty.