Speaking with Jamaican men and women....

[Tropicana]

....there seems to be a disconnect.

Many women are looking for Christian men who will go to church with them, non-smokers, men who don't drink heavily or stay out late. The young women are specifying no tattoos, earrings or sagging pants.

Yet so many men are smokers, drinkers, parties who use herb and have no use for church. Many of the young men are into the earrings, sagging pants and tattoos. Young and old are into staying out late, gambling, etc.

How can men and women raised in the same culture have such different expectations?

[j-kid]

Tropi ah whe yuh up yah ah defend? Yuh finally went tuh di odda side?

Many men are looking for Christian men who will go to church with them

[Tropicana]

Christian WOMEN, Christian Women are looking for Christian men

[j-kid]

Yuh had mi worried fi ah minute, mi was about fi goh call yuh Pastor.

Any women always hav di choice. Some things are a deal breaker, smoking for example, but if him hav wan likkle earring or ah party now an den, yuh can lowe dat? Everything cyan bi ah deal breaker, can it?

[Tropicana]

Smoking, drinking, smoking herb, staying out all night, saggy pants, tattoos, earrings and gold chains, sound like deal breakers to me. Why can't men just behave normally?

[Tropicana]

Come on J-Kid and other men don't be shy.

I spoke with a Jamaican man yesterday and he had a theory. Boys get to the stage where they test limits. Since so many boys are being raised in single parent homes and the fathers are shirking their responsibility, the mothers have a hard time controlling them and making them obey rules like getting home at a decent hour. They run wild and party and the influence of the peer group takes over.

Do you think there is merit in this argument? You too Xavier.

[j-kid]

Come on now, yuh really ah goh try lay di lowering of society's standards at di feet of fathers? Jamaica has had single parent household fi many decades, an di oomen whe ran dem, yuh betta not play wid caa dem neva joke. Matta of fact some was quite wid dem discipline! However, wen yuh hav both oomen an men ah try act like dem ah teenager, an ah falla slackness pan cable TV an movies, instead ah raising dem pickney, whe yuh expect?

[Tropicana]

Then how come the males are much wilder than the females. Mark you some a de young gyal dem a gi de men a run fi dem money.


..and as fi de locks....




..so many men with locks and women with weaves. And when it comes to the sagging pants, in JA they are sagging in the back AND front.

So J-Kid you thin that the parents are too busy partying themselves and not parenting and that this is responsible for the wild behaviour and outlandish dress?

[Wahalla]

So dese "wild" Jamaican man dem wild wid ? Aliens?_ if dese men are characterised as "wild" is must be with Jamaican oomans dwm "wild" with.. All dem Christian oomans ah gi an get hagony...

Such characterisation is offensivie...degradeing Jamaican men as wild... Never seen a wild Jamaican man yet... We may come from bush, but wi nuh wild... Is b we ast wild not humans....

[j-kid]

Dat plus Jamaica tink it is di 51 State ah di USA. JamRock like fi copy everyting dem duh.

So J-Kid you think that the parents are too busy partying themselves and not parenting and that this is responsible for the wild behaviour and outlandish dress?

[Tropicana]

True I have seen some guys in Jamaican restaurants in New York who dress like dem tink dem going shoot rap video.

[j-kid]