Trinidad happenings: Sex Lies & Leadership

Beyond the cliché; open and honest conversation, between UWI Deputy Principal and Caribbean scholar, Professor Rhoda Reddock and criminologist and journalist Renée Cummings. Sex, sexuality, alternative sex; how the Internet has changed the ways we have sex and gain sexual experience; gender and violence; gender and identity development; education and the grab for qualifications over the quest for knowledge; a crisis of leadership and whether the university is playing its role in national development; two women; two minds; explore the contradictions in Trinidad & Toba

go's society; the challenges, the changes and a new commitment to styling humanity.

Rhoda Reddock. Photos by Ishmael Salandy

"SEX is something we need to take seriously; just like food, it is pleasurable but it could kill you. We just can't keep sweeping it under the carpet." Rhoda Reddock is not mixing matters or mincing her words. "We learn how to cook so it's time for us to learn how to deal with our sexuality." She's won't skim the surface. "Ignorance and misunderstanding," she continues, listing the hurdles. "Parents never speak to boys about sex and both boys and girls say they learn about sex from their peers." In this conversation, there's neither deceit nor conceit; also absent is the clichéd litany of biases. It is not so much about sex. It is more about lies. "In the absence of structured sexuality and sex information in schools, young people are plagued by persistently dangerous and life-threatening behaviour." She's speaking her mind. "Sex, gender, practice and prejudice, sensational newspaper headlines, the whole attitude to alternative sex, it is all fuelled by ignorance."

Beyond the question of sex education in the promotion of healthy lifestyles is the question of fear— in a society as highly sexualized as Trinidad & Tobago—in exploring and examining attitudes and beliefs about sex and sexuality, openly and honestly. "With the absence of sex information, in schools, peer influence takes the lead." In many instances, peer influence equates misinformation. She explains that for teens and young adults, the world of sex has expanded way beyond the imagination to include hyper-interactive sexual experiences and new forms of social masturbation. "Sexual behaviours have changed, there are now chat rooms for sex and Internet sex," she adds, as we discuss virtual sex, sex texting, slut-texting, and text shaming of homosexual teens.

Critical to the interpretation of sex, in a modern society, is the intersection of media and sexuality. Gender, language and media offer an intriguing matrix, a unique intersection for the deconstruction of sexism and stereotypes. "Let's look at the sexualization of young girls in the media and its negative representation," she laments. "For youth, 18-30, sex is now learned on the Internet. Then there are all the taboos. We really need to study the taboos in sexuality because gender and sexuality have implications in areas such as HIV and AIDS. Why all the taboo," she asks, rhetorically, knowing that an answer may never be forthcoming in a society that often suffers from an odd case of muffle-mouth on issues that matter most. She continues to worry out loud. "Child sex abuse, incest, social services and its deficiencies, these are some of the common challenges we are facing."

"We still don't have an understanding of the complexities of gender, thinking it only means men and women and we have taken to replace sex with gender but it is more complex than just male and female. We need to clarify the misconception, in society." She subscribes to a school of thought that applies a more fluid and flexible definition of gender; that gender is not biologically determined but socially constructed; we are born female or male but we are socialised to be women or men by our exposure to gendered social roles which we learn through gendered language. "We are more open than other societies but a lot of change is still needed," she intimates; affirming that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer community, in Trinidad & Tobago, don't face the levels of discrimination in societies such as Jamaica or even Uganda.

However, gender-based violence remains relatively high, in Trinidad & Tobago. "The quality of relationships between men and women still haunt us." She worries that there's a lack of "a clear understanding" of interpersonal violence, particularly, domestic violence. "Sexual violence, criminal rape, and why men feel they need to use their penis as a weapon." How men construct their sexual identities and self-image through violence was a laboured point in our discussion. The proclivities and propensities to violent male personalities, violence against women, violence against other men and violence against themselves through the suppression of emotions were hot topics. "Violence is a gender issue. With men, it is about violence, power and influence. The less power men have, the more they seem to use violence." Then there's the issue of crime and the culture of violence, from gangland to gang rape. "The underclass use violence to deal with self-esteem. Males use violence to express their manhood. Violence is used as a means of gaining access to social and economic goods. We need to question the source of this violence."

Language, the way we speak to each other and the way we speak about each other, plays an active role in the construction of violence in society. Gender bias in language, particularly in media, from magazines and music to movies and mobile technology, perpetrate myths about gender and sex. The language of violence has infiltrated every layer of society. According to Reddock, it is now up to our leadership to style a new humanity and academia must lead the way. "The university has a major role to play in charting and setting direction within the society and to raise the level of discourse and the level of understanding. We must develop a new understanding, within a Caribbean reality, for future leadership."

But there's a major obstacle. "There's not enough knowledge in our society. This is really a pet peeve of mine. We have a lot of qualifications but little real education. The focus has shifted from learning to certification." But all hope is not lost. "We must change the way in which we teach and how learning is understood." On the question of the role of the university in national development and engineering a new breed of leaders, she's adamant that the university cannot renege on its promise. "It is the responsibility of the university to generate public debate and raise the level of public understanding. The university has a heritage and we must do a better job in terms of getting society to strive for a higher standard."