Adult parties in the guise of a parade

Adult Parties in the guise of a parade

MAY 2, 2014

Some thoughts that will be unpopular. 

May 22, 2023

This year's staging was refreshingly different:

Promotion was directly targeted to the audiences not general public;

Streets were managed so processions were very well contained and did not absorb onlookers;

Parade gathering points were not in neighbourhoods;

Event was not broadcast on licensed platforms;

What was published showed that photo and video editors showed sensitivity for the general public.

I say, well done.

Below was written in 2014 and edited before the 2023 carnival staging.

I remember being very relieved when the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) moved to stop the broadcast of what it considered to be inappropriate content. The persons who stood to lose from the action objected very strongly, but the rest of the society quietly welcomed the change and the policy has continued. Shortly after, I returned to popular music format radio stations, and remain grateful to the brave executives who enforced the BCJ change.

The commission's statement of February 6, 2009 said in part:

"...The Commission assures the public that it continues to actively work with broadcast licensees, the Minister of Information, the Media Association of Jamaica, the Jamaica Association of Community Cable Operators, the Entertainment Fraternity and other stakeholders to bring a halt to the deluge of inappropriate content on the airwaves. The public will have already seen and should continue to expect strong disciplinary action against those who fail to cooperate and comply with the broadcasting regulations...."

Today, I pose a question that will be directly objectionable to a certain segment of party goers, but I believe that the rest of society would welcome the change to what is now a norm.

I ask, was it reasonable for a road closure permit for Class A and Class B roads in the parish of St Andrew to be issued for an adult street party to run across eight hours of daylight on Sunday April 27, 2014? 

The list of alcoholic beverage sponsors made it clear that it was an adult themed event; and under part 11, sections 39 (2) and (3) of the Childcare and Protection Act the operator of a nightclub has to ensure that children are not exposed to goings on in a nightclub. Based on what has been recorded in newspapers of record in print and online, and also on video recordings that were broadcast from these events, there is no difference between the behaviour of patrons in a nightclub or patrons of an adult street parade. In the first instance, patrons are in a fixed place; in the other, it is a movable dance floor and movable bars serving up alcoholic beverages in party cups. 

Looking more closely at Section 2 of the Childcare and Protection Act:

(2) An owner or operator of a nightclub who permits a child to enter into, or remain in, the nightclub commits an offence: Provided that no person shall be guilty of an offence under this section if he proves to the satisfaction of the count that at the time of entry and while the child was permitted to remain on the premises, the person took all reasonable steps to ascertain and reasonably believed, that the person was not a child. 

It would mean that the public authority who signed the permit would be transforming the public thoroughfare into a nightclub environment, which is adult entertainment, dressed colourfully in the guise of a public daytime parade. 

The public authority gets significant parts of its legitimacy from the Town and Communities Act and with the act in force, it is causing and aiding offences to happen in a public place. I suggest three offences:

Section 3 (k) : indecently expose his or her person; (This means exposing genitals; breasts are not genitals)

(l) : ....sing any profane, indecent or obscene song or ballad, or write or draw any indecent or obscene word, figure, or representation, or use any profane, indecent or obscene language; 

(m) : use any threatening, or abusive and calumnious language to any other person publicly

The authority itself does not do these things, but in transforming the public street into a nightclub is aiding and urging these matters which did happen on April 27, 2014.

There are also other offences that are wrapped in sections 5 (h) and also 8 and 9. The Town and Communities Act was last amended in 1997, long after adult party parades started, so if the members of the country's parliament had thought that these sections were no longer relevant, or had wanted to put in an exemption for these types of parades, I imagine that the matter might have come up for debate. 

The behavior that includes explicit portrayal of adult subject matter are picturesquely and enticingly captured and publicised for a general audience in the printed press and across social media. It is projected as a part of the marketing of the country for overseas visitors and to the diaspora as a part of their intrinsic culture under the moniker Brand Jamaica. In 2014, persons, with the thinking of colour, fun, vibes, energy, took their small children out to the event; and school-age teenagers begged to go. 

If our society has reached a stage where we accept that on one day per year - or specific days per year - persons in a particular adult parade can ignore the expected behavour for public places and the exposure of children to aspects of adult entertainment, then perhaps it is time to put it in the regulations to make these clear exemptions.

The exemptions might look like this:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections (....) the Minister responsible for Transport and Works on the advice of the Children's Advocate will issue a special permit for an annual adult street parade to be held on the first Sunday after Easter, or any other appointed day, in the parish of St Andrew during which time nightclub products and behaviour can be freely exhibited between the hours of 10AM and 7PM. 

If we do not think that we like the idea of a particular parade or parades to be exempted from laws that set out what is acceptable public behaviour, then the authority should stop issuing permits to the organisers of adult parties to have parades on public roads.

I believe that the parade is an abuse of the Town and Communities Act. I remember the year that the parade was broadcast live on television, the station's master control had difficulty finding appropriate content to transmit into people's homes.

With regards to the Obscene Publications (Supression of) Act, if the fine is still J$40, self-restraint will be the only deterrent to publishing obscene photos for a long time to come.

The parades generate discussion about women in tantalizing costumes in contact with men wearing jeans trousers and polo shirts, but I am not going to stroll down that gender garden path now.

The photos of the 2014 adult party parade along St Andrew's main roads that I saw showed no grand spectacle that dazzled the senses with a showcase of high craftsmanship and artistry of costumes. The events did not state any connection with raising funds for deserving public causes. It promoted no social movement for Iustitia, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. There were no dancing displays of trained movement and coordination. It was open season to see normally unattainable, beautiful women - those young and those young at heart - scantily clad, and hopefully engaging in sexually explicit poses and sexually arousing behaviour. These are the reasons people go out to see the parades, and so, to me, it seems to be observance of commonly held public decency en flagrante delicto.

I propose that if the granting of the road closure permit considered points that were outside of traffic management; if the official who signs the permit considers a set of shared values about how to handle matters that should preferably be limited to mature individuals in a setting where it would not offend others; then the organisers should not be issued a road closure permit again. The partygoers can have adult fun in a licensed entertainment venue and have the parade on private property. One day, I might even buy a feathery fascination, get me some boots with the fur, and pay to wuk-up me waist and jump.

-30-

Edits for clarity and punctuation April 17, 2023
Edit April 12, 2015
Edit May 3, 2014
Edits to include a point about the Childcare and Protection Act and also an explanation of what exposure means under the T&C Act.