Michael Abrahams | Cindy’s Rorschach test

If you are expecting “mix-up” in this article, I am sorry. You will be disappointed. However, if you are interested in human behaviour, this may interest you. This article concerns Cindy Breakspeare’s public birthday tribute to Bob Marley. It is not about her or their relationship. It is about us. When I shared her post and asked for comments, I did not expect the deluge of responses that occurred. The sharing of the post turned out to be an inadvertent social experiment, revealing not just human behaviour but also how certain issues affect us and the society we live in.

What did it reveal?

HUMANS LOVE CONTROVERSY

I write a weekly column for The Gleaner. Many of the articles I write are about serious issues that not only concern me but also affect my country, such as child abuse, childhood trauma, mental health, violence and political corruption. When I write my articles, I usually post them on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter) and my two Facebook pages, where I tag several of my followers. There are usually comments, but often not very many.

A couple of weeks ago, I reposted Cindy Breakspeare’s tribute on my Facebook and Instagram pages and asked people to share their thoughts. I tagged no one. However, before the day ended, hundreds of comments were under each of my posts. Not only that, but I received several phone calls and messages from people sharing their views.

One week later I shared another Bob Marley-related item on my Facebook and Instagram pages. This time a video of passengers on the Metro in Paris playing and singing along loudly to the song Is This Love when they realised my family was from Jamaica. It was something uplifting and positive. More than one week later, there were less than seventy comments. These observations confirm what many of us already know: we love controversy and negativity.

GENDER BIAS REGARDING HUMAN SEXUALITY

The comments sections also revealed a significant gender bias. Some people called out Bob for his multiple relationships and children outside his marriage. But considerably more abuse was directed at Cindy. Bob was the one who was married and had an obligation to his wife, but the bulk of the derogatory remarks were hurled in the direction of Cindy. More interestingly, the most scathing jabs were from women, demonstrating that patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes are not only displayed by men but also perpetuated by women. It is as if men are given a free pass. Society is more tolerant and forgiving regarding men and their sexual behaviour.

TRIGGERING AND PROJECTION

What interested me was that there were not only a lot of comments, but many were vitriolic and downright nasty. Some folks got seriously riled up, commenting repeatedly as if the issue was stuck in their craw. I identified people being triggered (emotionally overwhelmed or distressed) and witnessed a lot of projection (a psychological process during which a person, consciously or unconsciously, attributes their feelings or traits on to another person or group).

My friend, psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj, said it best; that the post was a Rorschach test for many of us. A Rorschach test, commonly known as an ink blot test, is used for psychological assessment. Subjects are asked to look at an ink blot during the test and say what they see. And people will see different things. So, one person might look at an image and see a beautiful butterfly, and another might see a terrifying demon. Their interpretation of the image reflects their unconscious thoughts, motives, or desires. The comments revealed a lot of that.

RELATIONSHIP ISSUES

For example, some women identified with Rita, a woman whose husband had relationships and children outside the marriage. While they vented, the comments from some of them revealed their pain and anger. A friend of mine who commented admitted to being triggered. She told me of a past relationship during which she came across a message from a woman to her spouse at the time, listing places they had visited together and the sexual activities that took place at those locations.

Cindy’s post, listing places she had been with Bob, reminded her of that and took her to a very dark place. On the other hand, some women identified with Cindy, being in or having been in relationships with married men. For some, their defence of Cindy was influenced by their own experiences.

COLOUR/CLASS ISSUES

The comments sections made it evident that this country’s colour/class issue is alive and kicking. Many comments referred to Cindy’s light complexion, along with the view that these “uptown high colour people” have a sense of entitlement. They expressed the feeling that she felt comfortable and entitled to expound on her relationship with Bob while he was married to Rita because of her colour.

The resentment was obvious, as her complexion was mentioned repeatedly. And you could see light-skinned people defending Cindy, too. One of whom is a friend of mine who could identify with her, as she has experienced resentment from darker-skinned Jamaicans merely because of her complexion.

A simple birthday greeting simultaneously opened up a can of worms and stirred up a hornet’s nest, with many of us exposing our biases, prejudices, fears and pain. It served as a reminder that our society continues to socialise us to be harsher to women than men regarding their sexual behaviour, which, in my opinion, is unfair. It has also exposed the festering wounds that the legacy of slavery and the subsequent persistence of colourism have inflicted. These are issues that need to be addressed. Ignoring them will not make them go away.

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on X , formerly Twitter, @mikeyabrahams.