As a child, during Carnival time, I was always astonished how people had the gall to laugh when men dressed up as women. I found absolutely nothing funny about the way some macho guys borrowed their mother’s bra or sister’s bra, stuffed it with cotton wool in order to depict themselves as having big boobs and paraded all over the island with a look at me, I am a la-dy attitude.
Forgive me but if laughter is good for the soul, I for one found nothing to smile about when I saw a couple of weirdos imitating the female species. Even now years later, though I do not shy away from a good laugh, the feeling of ages ago remains.
The sight of men dressing up as women is something that fills me with contempt, something which I find thoroughly odious which is probably why I do not like carnival time. Now in my opinion, dressing up as women is bad enough but to actually make fun of Jesus Christ and all religious paraphernalia is tantamount to swearing while holding a rosary bead in your hand. It is something completely blatant and blasphemous and to be condemned with all one’s might. No wonder the Bishop of Gozo acted like a woman scorned over this attitude!
What I find so contradictory is the pounding of Anthony Neilson’s play Stitching which though certainly not meant to hold an audience in stitches, would have gained a certain amount of respect towards the acting performances from the public yet showing a sort of leniency where offending Catholic sentiments and the Church are concerned.
If a play is watched by people who can either ‘take it’ or ‘leave it’, who have a choice in the matter, how ultra worse is something displayed to carnival float lovers especially young children who have to watch this atrocity whether they want to or not? What happened during carnival time makes me wonder if a censorship board should be introduced where young kids have no option but to watch an unhealthy display such as the mockery of Jesus Christ and to leave well alone where adults have a choice in the matter.
What are we exposing our wee brains to?