Getting panties in a bunch…
An explosive video posted to TV host Yanique ‘Curvy Diva’ Barrett’s Instagam depicts the entrepreneur removing her underwear at a recent Pride Jamaica event, an act that has had some Jamaicans calling for her head, despite her revealing that it was all for entertainment, and she was actually wearing stockings and another pair of underwear.
On one hand, some people praised her for being unabashedly risqué with her craft despite societal perceptions of modesty, while others doused her with fire and brimstone, fuming that as the mother of a girl child, she should have known better.
But where should the line between morality and entertainment be drawn? Is it a gender issue? Are the criticisms justified because Barrett is a woman, a mother? And is there a double standard when the same criticism isn’t dished out to Dexta Daps, for example, whose stage performances border on adult entertainment?
Some readers weigh in.
Crystal Morris, 30, paralegal:
As a woman she will always get dumped on, because people just can’t rationalise a woman doing what a man would do and still being classed a lady. Worse, she is the mother of an impressionable child. While it’s not fair that she can’t enjoy equality in treatment, I think that the behaviour does reflect some amount of moral decay in the society, even if it was only done for the likes.
David Anderson, 38, counsellor:
In this day and age, you have to accept that this is entertainment, and it draws a crowd. Who am I to say what is acceptable and what’s not, based on my one-dimensional outlook on life?
Lance P, 26, teacher:
I personally find it distasteful, but I will not give her behaviour the broad brush of being disgusting, because to each his own. If we are going to police this particular woman’s body, then we should police the bodies of male entertainers who perform likewise.
Lorrel F, 22, artist:
It’s her life to live, no one else’s. It’s all art – sex sells and people will gobble it up, always.
Antonio, 33, accountant:
I think it’s a publicity stunt; however, it’s refreshing that this woman has always embraced her body and just did what she wanted, when and where she wanted, and to hell with societal rules and norms.
Mariah, 40, education officer:
Judge not lest ye be judged! Will we also criticise the men who are just as raunchy? Or is the collective disdain only targeted towards women?
