Fame FM's "Uncensored" on Piercings, Men fighting for mirror time & dancehall's changing aesthetics

Last evening's edition of FAME FM's (radio cousin of Television Jamaica TVJ that rejected the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays JFLAG ad) Uncensored program went from the ridiculous to the sublime and back again in my view in a supposed discussion about piercings initially which ended up all over the place with insinuations of gays in the dancehall, metrosexuality, males fearing effeminacy, men fighting for mirror time with women, men wanting to wear so called female attire more openly and the fast changing unique fashions in dancehall culture. When listening to the program one who is weak in their convictions or insecure in their sexuality would have walked away with a notion that masculinity is going to die forever with the implosion of everything held dear to machismo and how glaringly insecure the male participants especially in the exchange were which included suspected down low but the publicly bitter & homophobic Rodney Campbell.

In studio amongst others was a male guest whose tongue was said to be pierced as he sports a tongue ring openly, at first the female participants expressed some reservations hinting to male homosexuals who do the same and who come to dancehall events posing with females as they are heterosexuals but when the pierced tongue male was given his chance to speak he outlined he did the piercing for purely sexual reasons so as to enhance his ability to perform oral sex on his female partners as he is not gay, the cynical females who at first expressed reservations soon changed their tune most hypocritically and said they would allow a man to have it as long as that was the reason. After being told another male participant forthrightly that women will supposedly turn men like himself into complete gadgets by conforming to new norms and trends that of piercing tongues to provide oral pleasure whilst warning him not to fall for it the pierced tongue brother challenged the men by posturing that he gets into sex with women alot orally, at times with more than one (further confirming the Jamaican men who love multiple female partner action) he asked why can't men reciprocate oral pleasure? seeing we like it when it is done to us by women. Strangely the same ladies who were reserved before cheered loudly in the background when this question was posed. He also said since he has been pierced he has never received any negative feedback over some five years now until his appearance on the show.

Dancehall's changing aesthetics

As for the dancehall and the changing aesthetics the tight pants phenomenon, the change in choice of clothes and that as Rodney Campbell puts it "what would make a man want to wear his entire sister's collection?" clearly showing how backward thinking the mindset of a host of a program when he should be steering the conversation, one wonders what are the criteria for selecting the hosts of radio programs these days? He suggested that many of the so called women who appear in the dancehall maybe cross dressers or drag queens without saying it in so many words. The fear that the metrosexual or outright effeminate mode of dress was changing the masculinity of men or making them girls was expressed over and over again, a male dancer who was introduced to the program said he was not into the new way of dressing as male dancers do not even dance anymore or cannot do certain types of dances as their clothes were too close fitting. Rodney however reminded him that he is fast becoming a relic as he does not match the new look of the dancehall and its dancers. The issue of male colour selection took up some 35 minutes of the entire program as some male voices expressed the fast growing popularity of pink, lilac, fuchsia and other soft or effeminate colours alongside powdered faces and coloured contacts lenses were just too much for them to take. Hints to certain dancehall acts as influencing the metrosexual revolution as I have been calling it in previous posts also came through every now and again but we all knew they were knocking Vybz Kartel forgetting that there were other acts who pushed the envelope long before his rise to power such as Elephant Man and Harry Toddler with their blond hair, pink or multi-coloured uni-sexual tops and tight jeans or nickers. 

Jeggings

Capris for men

The fast rise in popularity of Jeggings, Rosettes on a Cardigan sleeve and Capris for men as well was a sore point for the male participants in the exchange as they thought men should remain as "men" they also took issue to the wearing of large rosettes on the shoulders of some of the male dancers in the game. Text messages from listeners reaffirmed their pronouncements. 

Swagg is supposedly turned up (tun up) with this new type of metrosexual look, swagg or swagger of course is an imported African American term to describe hype fashion and personal style.

At one point US rapper Little Wayne (photoed above) was referenced as an influence to the low wearing or hugging jeggings craze now taking the nation by storm and again co-host Rodney Campbell took issue that he should not be used to define a "thug" or manliness while almost implying that he (LW) or other thug stars was on the downlow, he continued that real thugs do not or are not supposed to dress so metro. The issue of thugs on the DL was also touched on briefly with no serious sensible examination to report, Jamaican men blurring the lines of roles and sexuality came up for some scrutiny when a more enlightened brother made a point that piercings were of African origin and that we should not shy away from it in a sense but that soon died as it came as again good ole Rodney brought the old stereotype into play that men who pierce their right ear were gay and those who now pierced both were supposedly not or men who pierce their chin or lower lip were trying to be too girly hence they are gay. The moving target of pin pointing gays by simple aesthetics was a point the participants could not agree on. New colloquial expressions such as "dash weh shirt, a blouse a dweet" (throw away the shirts its blouses that are doing it) was brought up as well which the more enlightened brother before rebutted that men are exploring their feminine sides so to speak and that styles change wherein we may see a return of more "big clothes" in the future. The cost factor of the clothes also was a sore point as the persons pondered whether the men were being supported by other men secretly suggesting downlow homo thug culture again but publicly having females as handbags or for show to conceal their actions.

Other points and questions in the sometime irritating discourse were:

• Women are bisexual like oral sex from women who wear tongue rings, why can't men do it too?
• Men are getting into oral sex more so than now
• Why bore ones tongue if oral sex is so popular, why not a tongue alone?
• Most persons like piercings for various reasons including the euphoria of the act 
• Why are mostly men who complain about piercings done by other men?
• Rodney Campbell "Oman a wicked but man a wear lilac"
• One female had a problem with men having their eyebrows arched or the surprised permanently look 
• We judge persons sexuality just by aesthetics, whether someone is gay or not
• Persons are pushing the envelope more in Jamaica and doing so in the open
• A male participant said he used to dance in pink leotards while at arts school and he is not gay
• Text messages claimed "FIRE" (typical anti gay term) for the so called metrosexual look
• Do Jamaican women have the so called "gay friend" as a bestie as well that obtains elsewhere?
• Comparisons to Texan cowboys in tight jeans was used but they are masculine by virtue of the masculine items such as boots and the trademark cowboy hats.
• The dancer commented he fears being branded as he does not wear the tight clothes etc as others on social networks
• When did the trends change for men to wear very close jeans or capris with clothes tucked in?
• Men are now wearing man-liners and or concealers with makeup to hide blemishes alongside french manicure nails etc
• The influence of the internet was used to suggest the rapid changes in tastes and styles
• The difference between evolution versus mutation was asked but not responded to by the hosts fully
• Looking gay versus being gay was very briefly looked at with no proper follow up
• Everybody no matter who you are has someones fit for them
• We must allow people to choose freely without judging them (this came at the extreme end of the talks)
• The tongue pierced man said the other stereotypical actions such as tight pants, eyebrow arching and bleaching are GAY and he wouldn't go there. Co-host Rodney found that profound, he cynically sang Beres Hammond's "One Step Ahead" suggesting to me that the moving target for stereotypical looks.
• The fashion competitions in the dancehall are rigid that women have to accept the new look of their male partners without protest as they may become the victim of a violent reaction 
• One female participant asked "why are we acting as if there is a shortage of hardcore men or something?" she suggested persons should find what they like
• Rodney complained there are no lines of demarcation with effeminacy and masculinity
• A texter texted in "Gaza we used to seh" (suggesting a switch from Vybz Kartel empire's name
• Another one said "Steve must be Steve and Eve must be Eve"
• Persons complained about the hair extensions and coloured mohawks worn by men 
• Gender roles should be strictly observed so pink for females dark colours for men
• It's difficult to identify men from women in some instances

All in all the phobia is real as it comes when these same persons travel to other more liberal parts of the world and do not complain so why complain here? We have a long way to go it seems but clearly the individualism that is sweeping the land may very help the soft but extremely fragile tolerance that we now are experiencing nationally but how long will it last and will the relapse implode on the LGBT community?

Lots to consider.

Peace and tolerance

H