She was too overwrought to be a good writer...
Sam Finkler makes the above comment on his wife's writing (Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question). It is a moment where he is being typically insensitive but rather brutally honest. His deceased wife is pouring out her heart and hurt to him in letters she's left behind, and his almost automatic initial response is the above cold and critical one.
More on The Finkler Question later. But for now, some or all of that sentiment (you decide which) may apply to this post.
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On December 21st last year, the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of ensuring legal protection for people targeted because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
The vote - which passed 93 to 55, with 27 abstentions and 17 absent or not voting - demonstrated that efforts to exclude vulnerable groups from human rights protections at the UN will be vigorously opposed. [more].
While that's good news overall, there is (for those concerned about the condition of human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean) some cause for concern. Here's a closer look at the way they voted:
In favor of... (Yay!)
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Opposed... (But what de hell!!??)
Saint Lucia.
Abstained... (Lowly cowards!)
Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
I wonder why fair-minded (as I'd like to think all elected officials are, in principle) policy-makers would want to continue to uphold laws that blatantly discriminate against any segment of the population over which they govern? Is their fair-mindedness being clouded by what they assume to be the typical gay person in the Caribbean? Do repulsive terms like "auntie man," batty bwoy," or "makoumé" describe the typical gay man in the Caribbean?
Shouldn't an "auntie" (meaning "anti") man be any man who behaves in any way that is contrary to what must be assumed to be a "real" man? And if the assumed real man, the ideal man, is not solely defined by his preference for pussy--consider his love and respect for family, friends, workmates, and country, for instance--shouldn't other behaviors be considered in opposition to that ideal?
And in the same vein of "rational" thinking, couldn't the "batty bwoy" be any boy (or man, I suppose) who either stands out because of his large ass, or who displays asinine behavior so often that one can't help but refer to him as a batty?
Makoumé is less complex than the others (more simplistically stupid) since it suggests a man who falls short of the ideal is woman-like. Well, I don't know any women who would define their womanhood based on their preference for ass-fucking, but maybe those women exist somewhere. Who knows?
But back to my point. Who is the real Caribbean auntie man / batty bwoy / maco... (hmmm any Trinis reading this?) ? And how soon can we get a full description of him included in any harsh law against behavior that is less than ideal? I am willing to do my part to make it easier for lawmakers to identify these undesirables, so here are a few examples of the type of behavior they should seek to punish:
-- The anti man in the house: This is the man who insists his wife, girlfriend, live-in woman should organize her days thinking about and caring for his needs--his meals, laundry, rusty toenails--and she shouldn't complain about it because she's his main squeeze afterall. She should just be lucky she's number one.
-- The large prominent ass in the workplace: He is the one who demands the comfiest chair, the largest office, the least amount of work, the most days off, the most credit for good work done, and the most pay. He needs a lot of room to accommodate his huge portions, so everybody else better clear the way.
-- The makoumé who holds political office: He needs a podium and a mandatory gathering of attentive ears (usually journalists and other media) to rant about the trials and tribulations of his job... similar to the gathering of women folk in the market square, only with less humor and less democracy.
--The overgrown ass on the internet: He's past his teens and twenties, but he continues to create several aliases, and uses email, photoshop, facebook, twitter, blogs, and forums to engage in all kinds of mischief ranging from mild--flirting--to criminal--identity theft. And he thinks his country's slack law enforcement will keep him free from punishment.
I urge Saint Lucia, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago--who seem most willing to be harsh and punitive towards defective men--to go after these men with all it takes.
Here's to ridding the Caribbean of the real real anti men!
