Parties to stop violence against women? ... psychologist suggests radical move

... psychologist suggests radical move

Renowned psychologist Leahcim Semaj believes that having a 'members only' party in every parish monthly would prevent Jamaican men from killing their women.

Semaj was speaking in light of three women being killed over the past five days by men believed to be their partners.

Semaj suggests that Jamaican men should be re-socialised on how to deal with domestic problems through constructive disengagement.

"By this I mean teach them how to deal with problems without killing their partners and themselves, and I think a perfect way to do this is to keep a big dance in every parish capital each month and all who have lost love - everybody who get 'bun', would come and listen to songs like Sizzla's Dry Cry (Just One Of Those Days), Wayne Wonder's Saddest Day of My Life, and Bob Marley's My Woman is Gone (She's Gone)," he said.

SOOTHE THE ACHES

He said this would help men to soothe the aches from the problems they face at home.

Semaj said the problem of Jamaican men beating their partners is rooted in how they were socialised.

"Many Jamaicans still believe in corporal punishment. I am a strong opponent to corporal punishment because in doing that many of our children realise that the stronger one can beat the weaker one, the bigger one can beat the smaller one, if someone upsets you, you can beat them," Semaj said. "And since the average man is stronger than the average woman, that becomes a method of dealing with a problem within the home."

Women's advocate Glenda Simms also believes the problem has its roots in the classroom.

"I went to colonial school, where the headmaster would beat if someone couldn't read or couldn't do math and because the girls were afraid of beating, they tend to do better," Simms recalled. "So we have come through generations where boys have received more beatings than girls and so now they believe that they can fight back."

According to the World Health Organisation, as many as 38 per cent of women murdered were killed by male intimate partners.