THE EDITOR, Sir: There is a surprising controversy raging over Usain Bolt’s decision to wear, or appear to be wearing, a dress in a commercial. I think he looks quite gorgeous actually.
At first, I thought it would be a one-day observation by those among us who make it a habit to condemn everything they do not understand. But the objections are growing louder.
When I was nine years old, my sister dared me to try on one of her dresses. My father entered the room just as I had the streamers tied behind me. It took him a full week to recover. And there were times during that week when my mother feared he wouldn’t pull through.
What is wrong with us? It’s not as if Mr Bolt was turning up at parties and accepting his awards in dresses. For those who do not understand art and theatre, it’s just a skilful and imaginative way of using one person in a wide variety of roles. In this case, he was old, young, male and female. This is not real life!
lifelong acting
Fifty years ago, Rock Hudson was the kind of man every man wanted to be like and every woman wanted to be with. It was just a few months before his death that he admitted he was acting his whole life.
On Monday, I heard one man at one of our leading tertiary institutions declare, sorrowfully, that he would “never sit down and drink a beer with a man like that”. Speaking of beers, one similarity I find with beer bottles and most of my fellow Jamaican men is that we seem to be empty from the neck up.
Wesley Snipes acts in roles that portray him as the epitome of masculinity. Yet he donned a dress and other girl stuff when the role called for it. It was just acting. Every sensible person understands this.
One caller to a sports programme on Monday claimed that “Jamaica is very likely the most macho country in the world”, and that what Bolt did has “done incalculable harm to that image”. Allow me to say this to that caller: Beating up our women, hiding from our children and dodging our responsibilities is what we are known for. And nowhere is masculinity to be found in all of that.
GLENN TUCKER