Letter of the Day | A woman’s value is more than her genitalia

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to The Gleaner report of September 2 regarding a proposed addition to the tourist attraction market: organised visits to a certain spot along Rio Cobre roadway to and from Bog Walk to view a rock formation that is considered to resemble the female external genitalia. The business proposing these visits also sells related themed T-shirts.

The male and female business owners who seek official recognition for this site made two false claims of a sociological and theological nature.

The first false claim is that the promotion of the suggestive rock formation was “a symbol of female empowerment” that would allow women to take “their rightful place in society”. The business owners were then dismissive of any anticipated backlash, since the rock formation was “God-made, not man-made…. isn’t going anywhere ...accept it”. That statement contains their second false claim, that “God and nature are one”.

It is true that rocks and mountains are God-made, as is the human body. Persons also have the fundamental right to freedom of thought to attribute any imagery to geographic formations. It is, however, both false and demeaning to assert that a woman’s value, role and relevance in society is based on her genitalia. This totally man-made argument objectifying women’s bodies is pimp talk and porn promo.

The business owner’s false claim that God and nature are one reflects a failure to understand that while God certainly designed rocks, people and everything else in nature, He is distinct from and external to His creation. Further, He certainly does not reduce the value of women to purely sexual titillation for the pleasure of others who do not understand or regard dignity and worth. This reductive way of thinking and living benefits no one; neither men nor women.

Let us all resist the demoralising of humanity and society. Choose, instead, to pursue and uphold human worth and dignity.

PHILIPPA DAVIES