CAPÍTULO IV......................................................................................................................... 39
5.5 Formulación del Proceso de aplicación de la propuesta
The role of babyfather is another viable, socially sanctioned and sexual route to masculinity in Jamaica. A babyfather is a man who fathers an illegitimate child or several children. Each child serves as undisputed proof of his conquest of the punaany and the accompanying subjugation of the woman. The man who can become a babyfather multiple times over lays claim to high levels of masculine identity as a potent and virile man. Many men, particularly those from the inner city and lower and working classes are elevated and praised by their peers for siring mul- tiple offspring. Those who do so with as many different mothers or who are “potent” enough to sire more than one child in the same year or month are elevated to the status of near myth or legend. They are “real” men. The paradox is that many show little or no concern about the eco-
nomic and emotional welfare and upbringing of these children. Further, my research revealed that some of these babyfathers selected their poten- tial babymothers with great care to ensure that these women were mature, responsible and financially secure enough to provide their chil- dren with a decent upbringing and a secure future in the inevitable absence of the man’s support – economic, emotional, physical and otherwise.
The champion jockey is one example of sexual conquest as male empowerment at work in one inner-city community in Kingston, Jamaica that I will refer to as Waterhole. In Waterhole, jockey is a sex- ual play on the notion of riding and the concept is one of riding as many women as possible to become a champion. Many young men in commu- nities like Waterhole become fathers at an early age because if they do not father children by the time they are around twenty-three years old, then their manhood becomes suspect and their peers will often cast derogatory slurs at them and chase them away from the “corner”. In these communities, the corner acts as a strategic site of male socialization and male bonding, and access to it is treasured and protected.27At this particular corner in Waterhole a man does not become a man until he gets someone pregnant, and the concept of champion jockey as a status- generating tool is used to rank levels of masculinity among young men.
The year-long process or race culminates at the same time that tradi- tional and uptown Jamaica engages in various New Year’s Eve celebra- tions – New Year’s Eve balls and parties, church vigils and watch nights, community vigils, family gatherings, and so on. At this time, groups of young and middle-aged men from Waterhole tally their list of conquests and the winner is crowned champion jockey for the year ended. Conquests must be more than casual dates, because the men have to prove that they have been involved in an intimate sexual relationship or liaison with their female conquests. A one-night stand cannot qualify as a new conquest, and the contestants for the supreme position of cham- pion jockey must prove that they have had sexual relations with this woman several times, over an extended period of time. A pregnancy or birth of a child is the ultimate and most valuable proof of such relations. In an effort to ensure undeniable confirmation of these conquests, many of these men ensure that, during the course of the year, they conduct their
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liaisons and sexual activities openly. For example, inviting these women to their homes and publicly promoting their sexual trysts. Many prefer vigorous or violent sexual activities that elicit screams or moans from the woman and cause the tell-tale creaking or shifting of bedroom furni- ture that can be heard by neighbours or peeping Toms outside. Love bites (hickeys) can be strategically placed on conspicuous parts of the woman’s body, such as the neck. All these actions help to ensure adequate confir- mation of the couple’s multiple sexual engagements.
Further, the man ensures that, where possible, he visits the woman’s home and makes himself “man a yaad”. Therefore, he would sleep over at her house and behave like the “man in residence”. Where possible, he would also encourage his friends to telephone him at the woman’s house while he is visiting. If either man or woman has an ongoing relationship with another partner, clandestine trysts are scheduled. Confrontations often develop, but these serve only to cement the man’s position as con- queror. If the confrontation occurs between the two women, then the man in question is viewed as a sexual don, a virile man who has ultimate control over several women. If the confrontation occurs between two men, then the woman’s main, legitimate partner reviles her as a loose woman or skettel. In some cases, the trespassing male abandons the cheating woman to the punishment meted out to her by her legitimate partner. In others, the legitimate partner dismisses the woman as dam- aged goods and discards her into the clutches of her new lover. In either scenario, the male ultimately gains ascendancy at the expense of the female.
On 31 December each year, these men gather on their corner and sum up their new conquests, as defined, for the year. Carryover conquests from the previous year do not qualify, neither can long-standing baby- mothers. Ultimately, the man with the most new conquests is symboli- cally crowned champion jockey and given the task of defending his title and, by extension, his ascension to the highest levels of public patriarchy in this narrow sphere. Defending his title for the succeeding year means the champion jockey must ride his way through as many sexual con- quests as possible. Other contenders are mandated to “do better next year” and, therefore, would certainly undertake to engage in as many different sexual relationships as possible.
Many of the men who hang out at these corners are young (early teens to late twenties) and unemployed, underemployed or seasonally employed. Most are high-school dropouts with no marketable skills. Some are engaged in intermittent extra-legal or illegal activities as a means of earning an income. Others are supported by their mothers or babymothers/wives/spouses or by remittances from relatives in the dias- pora, or what Barry Chevannes refers to as the “barrel connection”.28
In the interlinked spaces of inner-city culture and the dancehall dis/place, the champion jockey is one expression of the interlinked and underlying processes at work in what dancehall culture identifies as the wukka man with “nuff gyal inna bungle” or the “Best Babyfather” and other such manifestations of extreme male sexuality activity, which is traded for higher levels of masculine status. Some men are able to main- tain lengthy relationships based on both economic trade-offs and sexual liaisons with their multiple partners. Others, with little or no financial resources, also use the route of multiple sexual relationships to consis- tently symbolize and reinforce their masculinity. If this domination and control is based entirely on the private sex act, then it has to be publicly conducted. Therefore, each private sexual act or conquest is publicly parodied and declared by the male conqueror for confirmation. This public confirmation by his peers bestows higher levels of masculinity on the male conqueror.