‘We are our own worst enemy’ - Female artistes say women leading fight against each other

The dancehall industry has always been male-dominated. As such, what goes for the 'goose' usually does not go for the 'gander' as far as actions carried out by male and female artistes. A man singing about sex, graphically stating what he would like to do to a woman, is usually accepted as dancehall status quo.

On the other hand, women singing about their vaginas, wanting to be treated equally in the bedroom, usually earns them the label of 'whores', as they are viewed as morally depraved.

With more female artistes pushing the envelope in dancehall, embracing their sexuality and taking on the title of sex symbol wholeheartedly, a call for fellow female artistes and women in general to stand by their entertainers has been made.

Dancehall Queen Carlene told THE STAR that although the music fraternity is largely run by men, it is usually women who tear other women down.

"As women, we always have to fight, especially in dancehall where it's a 'man's world'. And we tend to take the fight to the wrong persons a lot of the time. We're not united as women in the industry and as women in general. You're always going to have negativity towards whatever a woman is doing sexually because women fight against each other way too much," she said.

"Females are the first to call another woman out or to bash her for something. When you have a woman lashing out at another woman for expressing herself, what do you expect from others?"

Carlene said that people should understand by now that not everything an artiste sings or deejays about is part of their lifestyle.

"It's performance, its entertainment and if men can be free to sing what they want, women should be able to do so also without the fear of being viewed as the worst by society."

Dancehall artiste Stylysh agreed. She said that back when she collaborated with Vybz Kartel for their song, Are You Ready, she received a slew of negative comments, majority of which came from other women.

Back each other

"Everybody is free to express themselves in whichever way, and we, as females, need to back each other. And I'm not just talking about in the industry, but overall. Whenever a woman starts expressing herself sexually, it's always a female first who has something negative to say," Stylish said.

"But when di man dem come and call dem 'john crow or slut' or whatever, dem take it as a positive vibe. Until we have women backing each other in music, female artistes will always be looked down on when they speak their minds as far as sex is concerned."

Veteran artiste Macka Diamond said that "Woman to woman is our worst enemy."

"I don't know why, but women are always the first to bash another woman. It's going to be a hard task and I wish it will change one day because I get my fair share of bashing and I'm still going through it now," she said.