Lady Saw's world

RECENTLY, THE Gleaner's sister publication, The Star, claimed that Marion Hall, better known as Lady Saw, was in a Twitter temper. She was angry at her ex-lover's infidelity and greed. Lady Saw, the queen of dancehall, who was with this man for 14 years, tried to keep the relationship going but to no avail. Lady Saw, one of the raunchiest female deejays, was happy that she did not get married to him, because she would have lost half of her earthly possessions.

It is surprising that Lady Saw was the victim of infidelity, because she boldly proclaimed in her song I've Got Your Man:

"I've got your man and you can't do anything (about it)

You may think he is coming back to you but (I doubt it)

Don't make no sense you even call him and try to (work out it)"

She was bragging about taking away a lady's partner and the lady's being powerless to do anything. She advertised her superior sexual prowess when compared to the other lady's. And she excused the man's infidelity singing,

"Can you blame him, all you try to do is claim him

Shackle, handcuff and house train him

I don't appreciate all the callin'."

Apparently, her song was her make-believe world. She was not giving 'bun', but was receiving 'bun', and the man was removing her cheese, too.

NO JOKING MOOD

In her make-believe world, she was enjoying the fruits of infidelity, but in her real world, she agonised about being the victim of infidelity. She was in no joking mood. Her publicist, Kaylia Williams, said Lady Saw wanted to come clean. And come clean she did. She was explaining the awfulness of infidelity. In the real world, infidelity cannot be glamourised. She vented her spleen. She was angry, cross and miserable. She was so frustrated that she wanted back her money that she contributed to the development of his home and paying his mortgage. She accused him of being ungrateful because she supported the children he had during the relationship. She helped with school fees, clothes and shoes.

Her ex-lover has not denied his infidelity and greed - allegations made against him some three weeks ago. So we do not know his thinking on the matter.

The combination of infidelity and ungratefulness is no laughing matter. Lady Saw was so hurt that it was affecting her career. She found it difficult to follow through on the success of the explicit love song, Heels On.

There are many songs which promote infidelity as if it is harmless fun. There is Stealing Love on the Side and Me and Mrs Jones. There are few memorable songs about infidelity and its painful and heartbreaking consequences. Movies also often promote sex without responsibility. There is so much casual sex and little about possible sexually transmitted diseases. These movies, for many, are creating a make-believe world. Pornographic movies only take infidelity to extremes with unrealistic sexual exploits.

It seems apparent that the upswing in sexual abuse of women, including babies, could be partly the result of these songs and movies creating these make-believe worlds about sexual fantasies and sexual exploits and persons wanting to experiment. These songs and movies should have a disclaimer which states, 'Do not try these things at home'.

Lady Saw's world came crashing down and her songs could not prop her up. She had to let off steam and demonstrate to her fans that infidelity is not cool. Let us hope her fans will accept this sober message and start to live in the real world where it is recognised that there are consequences to our sexual actions and that sexual faithfulness is the best policy.

Rev Devon Dick, PhD, is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: The Jamaican Church in Nation Building', and 'The Cross and the Machette'. Send comments to columnsd@gleanerjm.com.