Gender Across Borders

Dudus Coke's mug shot

Chris “Dudus” Coke, notorious “drug lord,” and basically accused mass murderer (leader of the “Shower Posse” gang) was finally taken into custody last week in Kingston, after a several-week manhunt that left almost 100 people dead in Jamaica.  A notable detail of his capture is that Coke was donning a woman’s curly wig when he was brought it for his mug shot.  Apparently another wig – pink – and women’s glasses were also found in his car when he was taken in.

Now his mug shot, which has been released, immortalizes this bad, bad boy in a dainty wig.  The New York Times’ Robert Mackey posted about this confounding notion last week in the Lede: “Jamaicans Ponder Cross-dressing Gangsters.”

Mackey points to a number of Jamaican writers and bloggers, including Kei Miller who, in a Facebook note makes the humorous and articulate point that not only is Dudus a bad-ass dressed like a woman, but it’s actually part of why he’s so bad-ass: “bad man dress however de rass him want to dress. And that’s exactly what makes them de real bad men.”

Though it seems unclear why or how Dudus is wearing a woman’s wig in his mug shot — and I can think of a few different scenarios — I sincerely hope it’s of his own volition.  Mackey suggests that Jamaican police, angry and insecure, having just reeled in their big catch, plopped the wig on Dudus’ head to ridicule him publicly.  They also leaked to the press the fact that they had found a pink wig in his car — not exactly a relevant point to the larger case against him.

But back to the best case scenario (and I say best case I’m talking gender-wise – at this point it doesn’t have much to do with Dudus’ actions as a drug lord or point of cause for countrywide unrest).  Dudus is wearing women’s clothes as the ultimate transgressor.  When your modus operandi is crossing boundaries and disregarding laws and norms, why not gender as well?  The gruesome and violent power he wields is made almost more disturbing by the mind-play he commits with his gender shifting.  He, in many ways, is emblematic of the “ultimate male” — savage, dangerous, powerful, unstoppable.  Then he is caught, in a moment, wearing garb that undermines, or almost amplifies this contrast — a delicate wig and glasses.  The mind spins.

The notion of cross-dressing in particularly transgressive in a society that has, of late, been known to be generally intolerant of LGBTQ culture and such things.  With his granny-style wig and devilish look in his mug shot, Dudus confounds the institution in captivity almost as much as he evaded authorities while on the run.  We in our binary, close-minded ways, snickering that a man so powerful should have a wig so feminine on – it is we who are confused, not him.  Dudus is wielding almost as much power through his transgendering as he was with his drug running. Read the rest of this entry →

The gay-friendly church, the Sunshine Cathedral, now has 147 active members organized into four branches around the island. (Gabrielle Weiss/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting)

A few months ago, Carrie wrote an article about a national boycott of Jamaica because of Jamaica being labeled as “the most homophobic place on earth.” Jamaica is not only unwelcoming to gay men and women, but in the most recent years it has become a harsh and violent environment for gays.

A safe (and private space) was created in Jamaica five years ago, called the Sunshine Cathedral, for the gay worshiping community. This church was started by an American minister named Rev. Robert Griffin, when he read the Human Rights Watch report on the hostile environment for gay men and women in Jamaica. Griffin now flies down from Florida once a month to hold services at Sunshine. Read the rest of this entry →

Gay rights activists in the United States are preparing a national boycott of Jamaica, known by some as “the most homophobic place on Earth.” The boycott will officially launch on Wednesday, at New York’s Stonewall Inn, with activists dumping Myers’ Rum and Red Stripe beer (both Jamaican products) down a sewer. In addition to liquor, the boycott will target tourism — a significant aspect of Jamaica’s economy.

At first glance, this appears to be a worthy battle for LGBT activists to take on. Instead of constantly focusing on same-sex marriage legislation, why not consider those living in parts of the world where gays and lesbians are continually beaten and murdered because of their sexual orientations?

Well, there’s one significant issue with the boycott: Jamaica’s LGBT population is opposed to it.

Read the rest of this entry →