Tanya Ellis, Star Writer

Dr Donna Hope says the attitudes to dancehall and carnival in Jamaica is hypocritical. - Colin Hamilton

Carnival, for many generations, has been synonymous with skimpy, almost naked, street parades. Only the shortest shorts would be good enough for the event, except for patrons who splash out and decide to be a part of a troop, then it is basically parading in panties, or the lack thereof.

Why then should the group which embraces the nakedness culture of the carnival period criticise the slackness of a dancehall-type gathering?

"It is a genuine case of the pot calling the kettle black," dancehall artist Spragga Benz told The STAR. "I would not exactly call it hypocrisy, even though to some extent it reflects the double standards of society. Not much is expected to change anytime soon," said the DJ, who has in the past done a soca collaboration of Turn Me On with St Kitts' Kevin Little.

He continued that carnival sessions, despite the lewd context of the music, is far less frowned upon than a dancehall event. "I do not believe this bias will be toned down, public display of soca sex over dancehall dancing, the difference can hardly be defined," he said.

Double Standards

Lecturer of cultural studies at UWI, Dr Donna Hope, disagrees. "There is a lot of hypocrisy around the soca versus dancehall dialogue, carnival is a culture originally important by middle-class educated Jamaicans and has become more widely accepted as being legitimate over our own dancehall culture," she said.

She expressed concern that Jamaicans tend to favour anything from abroad as being better than home-grown. "The difference between the two is not at all obvious, and surely if dancehall was imported by middle-class educated socialites it would not be frowned upon."

She pointed out that the only difference to the naked eye is how well carnival, in all its gyrating glory, is totally embraced by corporate Jamaica, while dancehall in all its gyrating glory is being frowned upon.

Social Influence

'Carnival Queen' Destra - Winston Sill

It is felt that the social groups that follow a certain event help to determine its approval, so the ghetto people with little or no social influence are criticised for donning almost nothing by uptown carnival- loving rebels who parade the streets of New Kingston wearing almost nothing.

The disguise of only having fun is hardly justified. It is the same grinding on each other, sometimes without even knowing the dance partner.

"It is about having fun," says Trinidad's carnival soca star Destra, "there are no boundaries for carnival, anything goes as long as the music is uniting the masses," she said.

"I prefer not to comment on the comparison because I do not feel that I know enough about the dancehall culture, but if Jamaicans love dancehall music the way Trinis love soca, then the objective should be to feel comfortable enough to dance."

Regardless of the fun elements of both cultures, one is continuously criticised for the slack content of its music and celebratory style, while the other is being stifled for the slack content of it music and celebratory style. "Hypocritical double standard is all it boils down to," says Dr Hope.