The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Christian Council’s stance on Bahamas Carnival came under attack yesterday, with one stakeholder criticising the religious body’s “alarming” and “erroneous” statement that women’s costumes would prompt rape and sexual violence.

In a statement issued yesterday, Bahamas Carnival Band Owners Association president Rafel Dean emphatically defended Carnival’s street festival, Road Fever, from the “unsubstantiated thoughts” and “erroneous statements” recently made by the BCC on the event.

“Statistics and research show that sexual assault is a hate crime and has nothing to do with the attire that a woman wears,” Mr Dean said.

Mr Dean said the Road Fever event has always been “incident free” and noted the BCC has been making such accusatory statements since the parade’s inception — adding the religious group has been “proven wrong” each year.

The BCC’s statement also drew the ire of women’s activist and Equality Bahamas Director Alicia Wallace, who said it is “dangerous” for the organisation to continue to make “reckless, ill-informed statements about sexual violence in its attempt to control women and their bodies.”

On Wednesday, BCC president Delton Fernander released a statement blasting the Carnival Road Fever event, saying “reported” displays of lecherous conduct represents a moral stain on the country.

Carnival band owners directly addressed these concerns yesterday.

“There is presently no statistical data to date that supports the claims of the [BCC] that [the] Bahamas Carnival Road Fever parade has caused any ill effects on any segment of Bahamian society from its inception,” the BCBOA statement reads.

“We the [BCBOA] emphatically refute all of those erroneous statements made by the Christian Council as they are merely unsubstantiated thoughts.

“They speak to revelers performing sexual acts throughout the streets of New Providence and and of threats of sexual violence. It saddens the the entire membership body of the [BCBOA] to have read those bold untruths from a body that we hold in such high esteem.”

The BCBOA also defended the costumes worn by parade participants as “works of art”, praising the artists who design the garments.

In its statement, the Christian Council described the parade as a “vulgar, sexually charged event”.

It added it stands with others who believe it has “the potential to lead to sexual violence, rape and other violent confrontation most especially between our young men who may not be able to handle seeing their female friend in sexual contact with other men on the streets.”

Mr Dean directly criticised this remark.

“For members of the cloth to [allude] that a particular type of clothing worn by a female will incite sexual violence is perhaps the most alarming statement they made and should alarm us all,” he said.

He also pointed out that for the fifth year, the police will be a partner of the event, to ensure that such crimes do not occur.

Noting Bahamas Carnival is a street festival like many that occur world over, he added it’s a “bit hypocritical that many street festivals from around the world are embraced by the same bodies that choose to bash one held in their country.”

Ms Wallace also critiqued the BCC for its reference to sexual assault.

“It is not only unfortunate, but dangerous that the [BCC] continues to make reckless, ill-informed statements about sexual violence in its attempt to control women and their bodies and use violence against women as a justification for its heavy-handed approach to constraining cultural expression,” she told The Tribune yesterday.

“Rape is completely unrelated to appearance or behaviour and is only caused by perpetrators and those who perpetuate rape culture, including people who victim blame and try to leverage fear of sexual violence to limit women’s access to public space.”

She added this is not the first time the BCC has “contributed to a dangerous environment for women by excusing sexual predators through the incorrect assumption that rape is about sex and men are incapable of controlling themselves.”

Instead of making such statements, Ms Wallace called for religious institutions to provided safe houses and resources for victims and to engage with relevant civil society organisations.