By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FIFTY-eight per cent of high school boys and 37 per cent of high school girls participating in a recent academic survey believe men should discipline their female partners, according to a new College of the Bahamas study.
The study also found that 49 per cent of boys believe women should ask permission from their male partners if they wanted to go out while 17 per cent of girls supported this view.
Of the students surveyed, 46 per cent of boys believed wives must have sex when her husband wants to, compared to 16 per cent of girls. This, according to researchers, has possible implications on debates on marital rape.
According to the study, most of the teens from both sexes believed men should be the head of their households and that both husbands and wives should submit to one another and remain committed, reflecting the country’s religious values.
The research was conducted by members of the Bahamas Crisis Centre (BCC) and COB’s academic community. Its findings appear in the latest edition of the International Journal of Bahamian Studies. The study investigated teen perspectives on relationships between the sexes and the prevalence of violence within teen relationships.
It concluded that efforts must be made to ensure adolescents adjust their behaviour before becoming adults in order to push back against a culture of violence.
It also concluded that girls are more likely than boys to use aggressive behaviour in teen relationships, such as restricting access to friends of the opposite sex.
Based on the gathered data, the study concludes that “there is a clear need for children to be taught how to respect one another from an early age.”
One thousand students from grade 10 to 12 from eight schools, including one private school, participated in the study.
According to the study, “over 80 per cent of respondents had been on a date and so had a relationship of some sort with the opposite sex,” a figure noted as higher than the 61 per cent reported in a similar study of teens in the United States.
The study is titled Attitudes of High School Students Regarding Intimate Relationships and Gender Norms in New Providence, The Bahamas.
“The responses show that on a number of issues regarding relationships, boys and girls have different attitudes and behaviours,” the researchers wrote. “It can also be seen that large numbers of teens can be expected to be victims of controlling behaviours. The use of threats and physical force may be learnt behaviours due to the presence of violence in homes in The Bahamas.”
“Overall, it is apparent that the breakdown in adult relationships, which is considered to play an important role in the violence observed in Bahamian society, may be the consequence of adolescents not adjusting their teen behaviours when they become adults. Therefore, modifying the attitudes of children with regard to interpersonal relationships may be important in reducing long-term violence in the country. Boys and girls had different attitudes on many aspects of relationships with current or future partners, but their endorsement of stereotypes of sex-related roles and their participation in certain behaviours could be a cause for concern. Underpinning these attitudes may be issues associated with what it means to be a woman or a man in The Bahamas, and related gender norms.”
Comments
asiseeit 9 years, 5 months ago
Sounds like 1914 not 2014. Seems about right for the Bahamas.
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
All that 'spare the rod spoil the child ' nonsense and beating the living snot out of kids ,,geez i wonder why they grow up to see physical force as conflict resolution ,,We are a de evolving country
John 9 years, 5 months ago
you sound retarded
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
I live on an island where i see the kids grow up that got the snot beat out of them ,its not a pretty picture as they mature to young violent thugs ..There are too many studies citing the correlation to dispute it .Sitting behind a key board claiming i have a mental condition proves little except that when you don,t like some ones opinion you resort to name calling .
John 9 years, 5 months ago
and which island is this ? lemme guess: Rikers Island Inmate Says He Was Beaten And Sodomized By Guard .
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
Is that all you got ,inmate humor and homosexual rape fantasies ,strange the things that are rattling around in your head ..
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 5 months ago
He's right. Even if you believe in spare the rod spoil the child, there is no reason to beat a child with a hanger, shoe, wire , to throw a bottle at a child or to beat them black and blue. That is ANGER not discipline and in no way resembles, "training" a child. When you abuse children they grow up to be abusers or to think abuse is "normal". They then tell researchers nonsense like a man has the right to "discipline" his girlfriend or wife as if that is an appropriate solution.
GrassRoot 9 years, 5 months ago
So these are our kids and the learnt from us. Shame on us.
CuriousAbaconian 9 years, 5 months ago
This is scary stuff. I fear the Church is mostly to blame
Stapedius 9 years, 5 months ago
This sounds like a flawed survey. How the questions are asked and what questions are asked are important. Then you cannot present empirical data without any margins of error. What is the the hypothesis of this study? There are too many unanswered questions about this academic study which appears to only be partially represented in this article. If COB is going to become a univeristy it has to do better. They should not allow the paper to publish bits and pieces of researched data. It does not tell the whole story of how this study was conducted and by whom. Not all researchers are created equal.
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
I don,t need this study , i can set under the tree in my family island and listen to the majority of men who think beating 'their ' women is normal .and all the no good dead beat dudes that go on bout'god and da bible say da man is da head of da house "' .I can ask any girl out and 7 out of 10 will say 'what ya ga do for me "
John 9 years, 5 months ago
get real!
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
What no more name calling , and here i thought you are a true wordsmith .
janet_small 9 years, 5 months ago
I considered some of the same questions while I read the article. However, just because I haven't seen all the data and study methodology doesn't mean that the study is flawed. I will simply have to do more digging on my own. That's part of what it means to be objective.
Stapedius 9 years, 5 months ago
This exactly why our country goes no where. People don't have any sense of order. Its a free for all type thinking without any sensible data to support theories. The question is where will you dig? What access to journals etc do we as Bahamians have to these studies? Furthermore, do these studies live up to the standard of eithe qualatative or quantatative research and analysis? This is the exact problem with Bahamians, we believe everything we read or hear. No analysis, no perusal just abunch of gossipers and heresayers.
UserOne 9 years, 5 months ago
Regarding access to journals, this article says the study is published in the International Journal of Bahamian Studies. That journal is available on The College of The Bahamas website. Easy to find.
janet_small 9 years, 5 months ago
All I am saying is that you should read the study before you bash it, lest you also be accused of making statements without facts to back them up.
ktsears98 9 years, 5 months ago
So what you're saying is that you are to lazy to google the study? Granted the reporter should have included a link but the journal is freely available. It took me all of 10 seconds to find the article but here you go http://journals.sfu.ca/cob/index.php/...">http://journals.sfu.ca/cob/index.php/...
digimagination 9 years, 5 months ago
Gross immaturity and ignorance!
John 9 years, 5 months ago
Unfortunately for the average Bahamian male, he is already at a disadvantage when he makes is first social encounter with a member of the opposite sex. The girl is likely to come from a home where her parents and family stand behind her, she has friends who give her advice, she may be more educated than her male counterpart and, if she is working, she may be earning more than him. So the young men start off at a disadvantage and in a "trying to catch up mode." Hence the average Bahamian male is in crisis. Yet, while many are supporting gender equality as noted in this forum, young men are still expected to carry the financial burden of dating or socializing with members of the opposite sex and while many say a man is no longer the head of the family or household, men are still expected to be the primary provider for his family. In fact we are only now seeing a change in trend where unmarried fathers are being given equal or regular access to their children and its doubtful that any (single) mother in the Bahamas has been ordered by the courts to pay child support for her children. When you speak of gender equality you are actually talking of taking power from one gender and giving it to the other. You are stripping a man of his authority to be the head of the family and saying this is now a shared responsibility. Of course there will be conflicts and breakdowns in relationships hen women now have the legal right to have her own way. So the question now is what does a man do when he can no longer control his wife or spouse? I guess I am old school and cannot see how it will work. But more than half the girls in the report expect their male counterparts to disclipine them
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
I can picture you brow beating and physically threatening a women and feeling your religion supports it ..Your dislike of women and low self esteem is thinly veiled .
John 9 years, 5 months ago
Actually you were looking in the mirror at your own shortcomings. A real man never has to abuse a woman to assume his role.
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
And you sir are a real man ,in three post you have managed to belittle the mentally challenged ,demean women and put forth your fantasy of being raped by a man in prison ..
Stapedius 9 years, 5 months ago
I didn't know men where meant to control their wife. It sounds quite stupid and misplaced in the world we live in. It has nothing to do with being old school. Bahamian men simply want to possess people or things. "Das mines," type attitude. So when their heart gets broken or the woman gets tired of the controlling relationship and attempts to deviate from the norm the dude gets mad. Bahamian guys are too emotional and we are teaching that same erattic emotional behaviour to younger males. So, what does 'discipline' in that questionnaire mean?
g945 9 years, 5 months ago
"when you talk about gender equality you are actually talking about taking power from one gender and giving it to the other." Gender equality is about ensuring equal opportunity between men and women. And you talk about poor men being the victims in gender equality? And what do men do when they no longer control his wife? You can't see how it works? It's 2014 sir, to hell with the old school, and do yourself a favor and do some light reading on women's struggles, even in the our Bahamas.
TalRussell 9 years, 5 months ago
Hold A COB Check Da Clitoris Day For Them 38% Who Voted With Guys ..... Cause Behind Panty - Some Them Comrade Sisters is No Way Comes Into This World With Theirs Attached?
ohdrap4 9 years, 5 months ago
was this study commissioned by leslie miller?
And, in the meantime, i am writing my PHD thesis on the "Attittudes of Talk show callers towards sitting Prime Ministers"
John 9 years, 5 months ago
Anytime you go against the word of God you will have problems. God made man to have dominion over the earth and everything that dwelleth therein, and he made woman to be his helpmate and companion. There is no record of Adam beating or abusing Eve. Even when she was beguiled by the serpent and made to eat the forbidden fruit Adam stood by her and 'he to did eat of the fruit". It wasn't until God came to Adam and ask him what he had done did he try to distance himself from the woman: "this woman that thou givest me, she bid me eat (the fruit) and I did eat." The woman, at that time, did not have the authority to speak to God, so she remained silent. Ask any woman today if they want a soft and weak man for a husband. A strong and virtuous woman makes a man even stronger.
duppyVAT 9 years, 5 months ago
So how do you account for the wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who manipulated their husbands? Women in the Bible ALWAYS had the upper hand. Check Eve, Esther, Abigail, Naomi, Deborah, Jezebel and Delilah etc.
mhmkeeptalkin 9 years, 5 months ago
And that is one of the reasons this society so sexist and the men so misogynistic, if you read Genesis I it doesn't give gender or sex roles, it was man's interpretation later that added this Adam and Eve nonsense. How can you expect a nation to not be sexist when it is a Christian nation? Christianity is and always has been sexist. Oh 'woman was silent because she didn't have the authority to speak'...well no wonder Bahamian women feel they need to ask if they can go out. That story was made up for men to justify their patriarchal hegemonic domination. Women have never been accepted into the church as man's equal, if this is the dogma your christian ideology preaches you should expect no less from the society until you free yourself from false religious preconceived notions of man and woman.
concernedcitizen 9 years, 5 months ago
The old testament is very similar to Shira law ,thats why men that want to oppress women like it ..
duppyVAT 9 years, 5 months ago
Agreed. and how do you account for Hindu wives killing themselves to honour their dead husbands?
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