Letter to the Editor - Prostitution, another normalisation |24 March 2017

It is often heard that Seychelles has been developing too fast. Not fast enough in road building because traffic jam is stifling traffic movement. Not fast enough in house construction because almost 4000 applicants are on the waiting list for decent shelter.

We are fast acquiring new ways of life, new habits, new social ills. These are the developments that are too fast.

We are also rapidly normalising behaviour which traditionally have been regarded as undesirable. This is fast development.

We are developing so fast that the line between right and wrong is becoming thinner.

We believe we are developing so fast that we now think it is easier to change the norms of a majority than to get 600 or so prostitutes to adopt a more acceptable behaviour.    

The television broadcasts on Tuesday and Wednesday this week were about prostitutes who trade in sex in Seychelles.

The programmes seemed to have succeeded in normalising the trade. Our prostitutes are now sex workers. 

Prostitution has been normalised. Desirable behaviour is now a blur thing.

Research in recent years has found that many behaviour and attitudes can be normalised with apparent ease – and not only in politics as we witnessed during the recent election campaigns.

One study suggested that romantic comedy films featuring men behaving in a stalker-like way can make women more likely to tolerate real-life obsessive behaviour.

The study showed that our grasp of normal is an entanglement of objective and subjective, moral and social judgements, prone to changing for the better and for the worse.

I just read that there have been accusations recently, for example, that the media has replaced the term “extreme-right” with “alt right” – and that this plays into normalising extreme political views. In Seychelles we’ve had  Pil lo li, Donn li son donn li.

I also read that beyond politics, much has changed with people’s perception of normal over the last century alone – from the words we use every day to how we dress, to gender roles at work and within the family. General attitudes have also shifted. The observation here is from a survey in Britain.

Here in Seychelles, on Tuesday and Wednesday we watched God losing a moral battle to the normalisation of what is (and was) considered a sin. After all, it is also said that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. And profession is defined as a paid occupation, especially after prolonged training and qualification.

Having sex is one of the primary characteristics of living things. For reproduction purpose.

We have also been hearing calls for normalisation of drug use.  Calling it recreational drug use softens opposition, and aids the normalisation.

If we can’t fight them, we join them.

Normalisation can be good in changing taboos. There are conscious attempts to manipulate the norm to change attitudes. Probably one of most renowned examples of this concerns society’s views of people with learning disabilities. Today children with learning disabilities are enjoying near normal status in society.

Talk about an issue often, and we help its normalisation. Mass media help.

But it does not mean that we should stop worrying about the future. How many drug addicts do we have? More than 4000. What if tomorrow 4000 girls and women, and also men in our society that is rapidly becoming more permissive and liberal, find it easier and more convenient to trade in the pleasures of the flesh?

Our population, comprising also the expatriate workers, is only 93,000.

V. Charles

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this letter are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Seychelles NATION newspaper.