Cricket writer Vaneisa Baksh takes a wide ranging look at how prevasive chauvinism is in cricket and West Indian culture. The essay is published by ESPN's The Cricket Monthly, and is inspired in part by Chris Gayle's most recent inappropriate comments to a female journalist, and the reactions to that. It begins with the mayor of Port's of Spain's trivialization of murder of a Japanese woman attending Carnival, and ranges into Baksh's own struggles to establish herself as a journalist and cricket fan.

Truth be told, Gayle was the least significant player in this issue, and if it weren't for the fact that he generated it, I wouldn't even waste time mentioning him. He is merely a mindless soldier in the vulgar battle of chauvinism that still exists in every sphere. The consequences have been largely ignored in the conversations following this latest public eruption.

Anyone who has read and appreciates C.L.R. James' 'Beyond A Boundary' should recognise the theme. The full article can be read in The Cricket Monthly.

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38 comments on Franklyn Rose, but no one got anything to say about this?

Telling....

In reply to Arawak

Who you going tell.

Very telling ... dis

In reply to Kay

An excellent piece and i have nothing but admiration for her writing talent and courage. She is correct that a lot of it is learned behavior. Am always amazed that a lot of our gender who objectify women, would start a war if someone were to treat their daughter or sister in a similiar way.

I applaud Ms Baksh for speaking up. I disagree with all forms of discrimination.

I do not like the use of the word "mindless" but I am willing to pay that price to have a discussion on the topic.

BTW, it never ceases to amaze me that a set of folks who are familiar with the effects of discrimination, see nothing wrong when they are the ones doing the discriminating.

Interesting take and certainly worth the read.

She has some very valid points and makes one think about these issues that are often easier to avoid.

I was wondering what took Vanesia so long to address this topic.

In reply to Arawak

That is a good thing... The threads that make the most sense on this site gets a far less feedback.

Great piece btw.

Top class stuff. As you all know, Vaneisa was a huge supporter of CC.com in the early days and has always been way ahead of the class in every way.

Unfortunately, the Caribbean is not ready for this discussion. The mindset she wrote about at QPCC is widespread all over the place.

I've stopped being sad about it. It's just a waste of good sadness.


_ryan

sexism a problem in the Caribbean?

There is always one..and its usually the same person too.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Ms. Baksh just trying to stir up strife between Jamaicans and Trinis.

The whole "Don't Blush, Baby" episode was done and dusted, but look yah now!

In reply to Larr Pullo

Vaneisa is now editing UWI's campus paper. I love that she took on that fraud Hilary Beckles.

Here is the link to the overall paper
http://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/default.asp

and the direct link to the section
http://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/article11.asp

and this is a link to the interactive version
http://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/publications/March2015/index.html

_ryan

Vanessa Bakks problem is not pervasive chauvinism - its pervasive irrelevance....having hitched her wagon to the Brian Lara worship train her descent into Bolivion is perfectly correlated to Lara's demise.....

Serena Williams, Eugenia Charles, Janet Jaggan, Portia Simpson Miller, Kamla Persaud Bisasor...just a few who were unimpeded in their pursuit of glory by steadfastly refusing to subscribe to the doctrine of chauvinistic victimology practiced by Bolivion Bakks...

In reply to FanAttick

wonder where this woman lives,saw a report the other day that 60+% of UWI students are women! but lets not disrupt the herd here.

In reply to camos

I also saw a report that women have vaginas. WTF does one have to do with the other?

_ryan

One day you all will get camos.

In reply to camos

There is no greater champion of women's rights and gender equality than yours truly but Bakks' sordid literary history disqualifies her as a worthy cause for my sympathy...

In reply to FanAttick

You showed that all through that blush baby business.

You be a feminist

In reply to Admin


how can sexism be a problem is a society where women have more of the available opportunities than in most G20 countries? Men in the Caribbean are no doubt crude but that is not sexist.

In reply to Commie

I did condemn the comments..said it was in poor taste..but I also condemned the overreach...and the subsequent circle jerk of feigned outrage...

In reply to FanAttick

hoverreach ?

Is there a way to put a h in front of zealot ? Cause any point framed using Chris Gayle sends you into jerk pork mode.

Its actually pretty funny.

At least with JahJah there is no build up.

The lady is right of course. Would you prefer she had used Brian Lara ?

In reply to Commie

I'm pretty sure I saw video evidence of female media practitioners hitting up their male counterparts or even random strangers on live tv...where was Bolivion Bakks to opine? Surely she has considerable expertise on the subject or so she would have us believe....

I can tell you one thing...I teach my girl pickneys that they ought not to impose this mental barrier on the limits of possibility of their achievements...thankfully the trajectory they are on makes me happy that my teachings haven't fallen on deaf ears...

In reply to FanAttick

You see where you went ?

Thats typical denial behaviour.

Your pickneys trajectory have nothing to do with this.

Unless your pickneys meet Gayle and he zeroes in on them.

Then you go turn from zealot to zeus.

In reply to Commie

Gayle is great at what he does....but it's chalk and cheese ...he may be a physical colossus but in a battle of wits he would be torn to shreds....nothing else really matters...

In reply to FanAttick

It will never be a battle of wits. Thats the proverbial problem.

And twitter will get to adjudicate.

In reply to Commie

I am way more optimistic than you...Madame President Elect Hillary Clinton is well poised to shatter that plexiglass ceiling...stay chuned...

In reply to FanAttick

President Trump will ensure that Gayle gets to tweet victoriously.

Btw Trump will win in a landslide.

In reply to Commie

Hahaha. Got to love Trump

In reply to Commie

By the way have you ever heard Dame Eugenia Charles utter the word Chauvinism?

In reply to FanAttick

I never heard her utter anything. She barked out orders.

Funny guys.

Tek FanAttick to fact up a perfectly good discussion. And BTW, if any man fact wid one of his daughters, 'im draw gun quicker than you can so who dat.

I guess right about now, I should say I nuh care 'cause I do not have a daughter...never mind, wife and modder.

And BTW Fan, the fact that you left JA and occupy a middle-upper mgmnt job is a global corporation in the US does NOT mean that it is not extra hard for Blacks to move up the corporate ladder in the US.

And Camos, the same situation re % of women in universities exist in the US...and women still getting paid ~79 cents on the dollar.

In reply to HumbleCalf

When folk assert that women make less than men they need to explain how the data is gathered. I am yet to see an article that digs beyond the headline and prove the assertion that women are underpaid.

Was job equivalency factored into the stats?

For instance, was the comparison between male/famale UWI lectures' salaries, and did men make more than women on average? If so then this is a problem that should be corrected.

However, I suspect that the surveys did not look at job equivalency but compared disperate professions like teaching and construction.

Teaching is a largely female and low paying profession. Construction is a largely male profession and historically high paying. if we compare these two, the data will warp in favor of males and will be wrong.

Pay inequality depends on how the data is gathered and if not explained, becomes a disingenuous myth that needs to be crushed.. Show me the data and I'll show you a fault line.

In reply to HumbleCalf

Whatcha talkin' bout Willis?
Don't confuse me wid Pullo...I'm a self-made, self-employed man..

In reply to sunfish

THIS IS INTERESTING

THIS TOO IS INTERESTING

Women pay more for clothes, grooming products, hair cuts, etc than men.


So they make less and pay more.


I'm interested to see your fault lines.

Respect

In reply to imusic

spend more ,not pay more.

In reply to camos

Why do womens jeans typically cost more than mens jeans?

Why do womens shoes typically cost more than mens shoes?

Tops, shorts, hats etc...same thing


So yes....they spend more...in large part because it costs more.

It doesn't surprise me that Trinidadians failed to support her equal rights crusade. Vanessa unwittingly exposed a typical banana republic attitude. She is way ahead of her society.

The QPCC should be ashamed of themselves. Look about 60 years ago, I attempted and I was quickly told who I `was and where I could go.

Non White, non Christian and Women need not apply, I guess not much has changed.

In reply to imusic

The peripheral stuff like haircuts and products could easily be explained by needs, time and details. For instance I think (and I don't have the stats to back it up) that women spend more time at the hairdressers and therefore should pay more.

Show me how the salaried data is gathered because it is more important and at the crux of my argument.

We should not accept assertions without proof.

In reply to imusic

I am not sure you can generalize like that,for typically men's jeans are working clothes,while women's are dress item. I see young guys buying $200 jeans.

and I will disagree that women shoes are more expensive than men's.

In reply to imusic

Boss how much detail, time, and cost are put into women's jeans vs men's? Unless we know this we should not assume there is a discriminating factor!

In reply to imusic

I am not saying there is no gender inequality ,my thing is that it is not a major social problem in the Caribbean at this time.

PURE SHOITE ... FURTHER EMASCULATION OF MEN

Caribbean women also need some literary lash...there are too many of them that validate this crude behaviour in Caribbean men...

In fact, one of the whole attraction of gangster life to young men is that it is a sure-fire way to get gyal pickney attention...

Nice article. I have felt a class divide (if not racial tension) at certain places/events I've visited in T&T and beyond. I remember those instances more than the sexism I've experienced, not that the chauvinism wasn't there, or occurred less, but maybe I accepted the latter as par for the course while not the former. I haven't thought about it in awhile, but its something I intend to explore in the future.

In reply to Commie

There you go...Bolivion Bakks is not fit to carry Dame Eugenia's jockstrap...

In reply to Arawak

Change is coming.

With an overwhelmingly large number of entrants being women at Cave Hill and Mona on top of the age we are in men will largely pursue the jobs of laborers while women dominate the board room.

Before you know it our grandsons will be objectified by women and will fight for equal rights.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

A good article....

This is one of the reasons I have a problem with cricket. The sport treats women's cricket like it's an afterthought, a little sister to the big thing, the game between men. Football is like that too....

The only major sports which seem to offer some sort of parity are tennis and track and field athletics. They haven't achieved complete equality, but they're getting there faster than cricket or football.

For example, Sanya Richards and Allyson Felix are already US dollar millionaires, but Kirani James is not.

However, this is not just a Caribbean problem...we know the backward attitudes a lot of Indians have towards women, and as for the chauvinistic Aussies, well.... And at least in the Caribbean, some of us will cheer on Serena Williams. At least netball makes the sports news in Jamaica...in England, it does not. Most British men I've spoken to have such a condescending attitude towards women's tennis...I realise that they've got a long way to go before they even reach our level!

By and large, it seems that a lot of men take refuge in sports, and use it as an avenue to express their chauvinism, as they sense a marginalisation in other fields. But is it marginalisation? Or is a case that women are finally getting close to something resembling equality?

There are only three countries in the world where more than 50% of middle managers are women, and two of those countries are Jamaica and St Lucia.

More here

Page 21 of this report

This could be a result of more women graduating from UWI with degrees, which means it's just a matter of time before the other Caribbean countries catch up. As far as female middle managers are concerned, Jamaica is at the top with 59.3%, St Lucia third with 52.3%, Bahamas ninth with 44.4%, Bermuda 12th with 43.5%, Barbados 13th with 43.4%, and Trinidad 14th with 43.1%.

Either way, it's time to abandon these chauvinistic rules keeping women like Baksh from joining a cricket club....

VANEISA gave the following Gerry Gomez quote from 1996 –

Gomez was 77 years old then

then Vaneisa also wrote

Gayle is 36 - Less than half Gomez age at the time of his comments – yet somehow Gomez was not characterized as

just an observation

In reply to birdseye

Really?

That's what you get from this???

In reply to birdseye

Thanks man. I was eagerly awaiting your comment on this article...

In reply to Kay
Ah notice me cous Chrissy staying far away from this one,not even with a ten foot pole..... Hehe

In reply to kingie

In reply to Arawak

You can always depend on birdseye, camos and drapesy

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Where is Cherri? I would like to hear her point of view.

I imagine she does not have an issue since she would jus cussout anyone who messes with her and bully them into getting what's hers.

Come eeen Cherri.

In reply to birdseye

You observed that she quoted Gomez.

Her comment on Gayle was very early in her article and the Gomez quote was supporting evidence of the "vulgar battle of chauvinism"

At least....that's what I observed

I read Ms Baksh's article and cringed at some of the content. I cringed because I know it to be true and I know I've also behaved similarly.

And while it might be right to paint Mel McLaughlin as a victim....and in that instance...gayle's comments appeared to be unwelcomed.....what does it say when another female reporter behaved similarly HERE

Does the difference lie in how the approach was taken? The guy didn't seem offended. But he was just minding his business and the reporter objectified him.

Was that chauvinism on her part?

In reply to birdseye

Bolivion Bakks is clearly exhibiting racist tendencies....she is in good company...



Bolivion Bakks partner obviously knows her inclinations...

The Caribbean needs to work on gender equality and anti-discrimination, they have some way to go. Sadly the men do not know any better, Tino Best just revealed in his book that bedding them was a game for him and team mates, such is the respect. The response by the Aussie players, media etc to Gayle's unprofessional conduct was a reflection of how they felt about his behaviour. In societies with strong anti discriminatory laws etc such behavior is a no no and not tolerated. In the work place companies will fire you for such behavior.

In reply to Runs

Who are more racist than the crocodile dundees? Yuh think anti-discrimination laws can stop systemic racism?

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Bolivion Bakks say it's her Pussin

In reply to FanAttick

Are we discussing racism here? You do know they have anti-discrimination laws right? Does the Caribbean have such? If they do, and I apologize I am not schooled on their laws, why are women so pervasively ill treated by men? That is what we need to address, how can we, as a society become more fair and equitable in gender relations. You need to argue on fair application and due process with regards to Australia's application if that is how you feel dude. Start another thread.

In reply to Runs

I'm merely responding to Birdseye's very astute observation on the irony of Bakks whining about being a victim of discrimination on account of her gender while in the same vein using racially coded words to describe Gayle. Those word choices were carefully avoided when she recounted her imaginary encounter with the dearly departed Sir Gomez of Caucasia...

Bakks is clearly exhibiting symptoms of a condition epitomized by apocalyptic fantasies and delusions of grandeur..

In reply to FanAttick

Gayle's was racism? Oh my

In reply to Runs

You honestly think it's different anywhere else?

It's not only a Caribbean issue dude

In reply to imusic

Lol she is speaking specifically about the Caribbean, that is our main concern the CARIBBEAN, let's address that and fix. We can address other areas later.

In reply to imusic

How was he to know that his comments would be unwelcome? He had already subjected himself to her interview – the interview was over……..he apparently was attracted to the lady and suggested an after match drink……seem like a rather normal – boy meets girl – boy attracted to girl – what the next reasonable step…..I am not sure why people find that outrageous…… he realized his suggestion made her uncomfortable – and in his own discomfited state - made the awkward “don’t blush comment” …..why that became the international poster of - bad male-female interaction – I never quite understand

In reply to birdseye

Really?


INTERVIEW

In reply to birdseye
Yo d banas was propositioning another when his woman was with child. Lol what a guy

In reply to imusic

The world boss at his charming best.That was seriously awkward.

In reply to Runs

By the way have you seen Bakks amazing article on certain mothers arranging marriages of their 12 year old daughters to random hard back strangers? She will call the piece Mauvinism...when she finally gets some space on her busy calendar to put pen to paper as soon as she finishes writing about Gayle...

In reply to Runs

does your religion sanction multiple wives,or you don't observe that part?

In reply to Runs

Yes, it was.

At least that's what my PAK and Indian associates convinced me of. They had no doubt whatsoever.

In reply to Drapsey

I have a very nice seafront property in Mavis Bank if you're interested.

In reply to camos

I abide by the laws of the land I live in.
By the way that question was off topic what was the reason for your question?
Is Gayle an observant muslim or mormon for that matter?

In reply to Runs

you said he was out looking women while his woman was pregnant, and I am saying that is common place in your religion.

In reply to camos

It always gets personal huh? Why is it so hard to control your biasness and sticking to the topic?

In reply to Runs

Bro I have no personal issue with you, not in the past not now, I just don't think that is something that should bother you when that is so prevalent in the religion you choose, unless you condemn that practice there also.

In reply to camos
I do not know any muslim who practices such, so yes to me it is foreign. It may be accepted in certain countries that allow, but as I said before I abide by the laws of the lands that I have lived in. All muslims are expected to do so, as a matter of fact all religions.