Dear Editor,
Permit me to respond to the faceless attack on my person by the writer of the October 20, 2007, editorial in the Stabroek News captioned “Verbal sexual abuse”. . Let me tell you something, go right ahead if you want to support the Minister of Human Services tabled proposals to strengthen female exploitation laws, but do not attempt to do it at the expense and besmirching of my character and good name. Capire? (and by the way, capire means “do you understand” in Italian).
Now I noticed you took a cheap shot at my understanding of the word “catcall” and seem to allude by your reference to the Oxford Dictionary’s definition that I am not a well read person. Well, don’t take your eyes and pass me, I understood the meaning just fine, I simply said that females can simply refuse to allow the Cat Caller power by ignoring him or they could use a witty comeback to his remarks. On the other hand, I pointed out that some females don’t mind and even appreciate the cat calls.
Now, who are you, editorial writer, to discount the segment of women who find no problem with the catcalls? Who made you Judge and Jury to determine that they are wrong? Put this in your pipe and spoke it… you are entitled to your opinion and opinions are like morning breath, everyone has one and thinks theirs is great.
Painting a wide brush that Guyanese men are uncouth boars who go around sexually exploiting women is untrue. There are a high number of false reports made by females against men. Take for example the recent case of the teenage girl who reported to the police that she was sexually abused by a high ranking government official. Then she later withdrew the charges and stated that she deliberately gave false testimony. If that had been an ordinary person, he would not have been able to get his charge withdrawn. The police and judiciary would have railroaded him to jail based on her verbal accusations alone. Imagine how many innocent young men are sitting in jail or before the jails based on false rape reports made against them.
However, because they are not a high ranking government official they get railroaded. The Minister of Human Services should take this into consideration as she hastily creates amendments that could condemn our men to jail based on a female accusation. The way the system is currently set up is unfair to men, as they can be arrested based on that alone. The police are not equipped to conduct intelligent investigations to confirm the accusations before an arrest is affected.
Yours faithfully,
Sharmillah (penny) Narine