Rasta Lionesses

Here is some information I received by e-mail today.


SISTREN

Female Rastafarians were never referred to as ladies. They were better known as lioness, sistrens, sistas, or dawtas (McFarlane, 90, 1988). The Rastafarians regard themselves as successor of the Maroons’ freedom-fighting tradition. The Maroons are a West Indian tribe found in the mountain of Jamaica who refused to live in slavery. They were ruled by a former slave woman called Nanny, Jamaica’s only woman national hero. A Rastafari woman is appropriately characterized as a "lioness," positioning rebel woman against the system.
Though the woman represents a delightful pleasure, she also symbolizes a particular danger to men. "Rastafari believe that a woman is of such wayward nature that only through her male spouse, her ‘king-man’, may she attain the enlightenment of Jah" (Chevannes, 37, 1998). One Biblical story of Adam and Eve’s experience is in the Garden of Eden where she gets him to eat the apple. This story is used as an example of what is in store for men when they allow the woman to take charge. Samson and Delilah’s story is another example of why women should not be trusted. Delilah marries Samson, gets him to tell her the secret of his strength, then she uses the secret against him.
During the female menstrual cycle, men are seen as vulnerable. To avoid all possibilities of contamination during this time, female underwear is strictly segregated from the laundry. Only the woman herself is allowed to wash her undergarment. "Menstruating and pregnant women are also thought to have a malignant effect on certain crops" (Chevannes, 24, 1998). Rasta women are not allowed to work in the field when they are in these conditions. They are expected to work in the homes where they do not come into contact with anything that germinate.
Despite all the negative views that are imposed on them, women are still seen as a source of male delight and comfort, they are therefor pleasuring their counterparts. In sexual intercourse men always believe they satisfy the women. She is not allowed to complain about anything that happens in the bedroom. Rasta women get the greatest respect and adoration from men in their role of mother. To demonstrate the importance of motherhood the title "Mada" is given to women who gain the widenewpage7.htm respect of their communities, and those who become Revival leaders. The strongest domestic relationship is the bond that is found between a mother and her son, where the highest possible insult to any man is to berate his mother.
In the early 1980’s Rastawomen began speaking out about the role that they played in the movement. The sistrens demanded more specific responses from brethren, men in the movement, regarding the revision of gender relations to reflect the imperative for female autonomy. ‘A women’s organization concerned with the analysis of working woman’s lives, Sistren Theatre Collective, was unprecedented in the mid-to late 1980s, to say the least’ (McFarlane, 90, 1998).