We can be entertained without male artists appearing as female

This article was published in The Citizen Newspaper, Tanzania on 29th August, 2023.

It has become a trend in the Tanzanian entertainment industry, especially in music and drama comedy that men present themselves appearing as women, either by dressing, plaiting hair, having piercings in awkward places, or making up like women, or behaving like women by speaking, walking, dancing, or demonstrating what will publicly be seen as feminine gestures.

Some crucial question here: ‘Why do they choose to appear as female?’ ‘What is the motivation?’ These questions are raised out of obvious confusion as regards the purpose of such foreign spices in the art.

Without mentioning names, there are male artists who are constantly appearing as such, there are also many upcoming artists who are following in their footsteps as if it is also a style of art. This is because it has not been discouraged enough.

With the current turn of things, especially the ethical revolution, it is necessary to encourage boundaries, so that we do not promote the unknown. If allowed to flourish it may become a popular habit, and will certainly have many undesired outcomes with it. It takes a lot of courage to speak about these things properly.

The message to our artists is that we are entertained by their acting, singing, dancing, choreography, jokes, and others, but we are conscious of the ethics and values of our society. There is no point entertaining people with what they do not like or accept.

Our culture does encourages men to be men, to dress, act, and behave like men. It is right, in our shared culture as a nation to have an impression of a man, when one sees a man. The same applies to women. Our culture encourages women to appear and behave like women. The rest of the debate is out of the scope of this article.

The elements of culture and the respective sense of aesthetics can be somewhat fluid in that, they cut across other cultures and are appreciated differently. This is a different matter, as such presentations are appropriate in the context of that culture, and are known.

Generally, art is meant for others. Under normal circumstances, people are involved in art in order for such art to be appreciated by other people. Visual arts like music or drama comedy are meant for people to see and appreciate. Art can still be appreciated when characters appear as they are.

On another hand, dress code helps to identify people. Appearing as a soldier can be confusing, and can have consequences if one is not a soldier, as it was announced last week. The same applies to a man who appears as a woman it creates an undesired conflict of identity which is distasteful to many. It is objectionable because there is a vice that camouflages in such appearances which is abhorred.

Another thing to consider is that with the widespread access to social media today, children and young people get to see these unnecessarily conflicting appearances. Tomorrow when they choose to appear like that and they are forbidden it conflicts with what the entire society has accepted as normalized entertainment.

Just as the government moderates songs and movies based on lyrics or nudity, they should take up the task of controlling visual works of art that have such appearances. Where possible artists have to be asked about their intentions, advised about the possible harms, and encouraged to refrain from such.

Today, social media is the reference point for the good and the bad that young people learn. While we do not intend to impede people’s freedom, we are keen to secure a better future for young people in understanding their traditional gender roles as males and as females.

Males and females are different, they are not the same. That difference needs to be spelt out clearly in whatever entertainment piece that is put forward for the public. It is just the same way as the difference is clear in our actual life.

We are not entertained by works of art done by fellow Tanzanians who act as if they don’t live in Tanzania, and do not reflect our culture and values. The rest of the world’s debates on that are out of scope as they do not hold water with reference to our values and culture.

The influencing factor here is ‘westernization.’ This term refers to “The situation whereby a country, place, or a person, adopts ideas and behaviours that are typical of Europe and North America, rather than preserving the ideas and behaviour traditional in their culture.” We can only escape the trap of being destructively westernized by conscious and strategic approaches, among which is to draw margins about some social issues.

In Europe I experienced it firsthand, it is okay for a person to appear like anything, and even to identify as anything at all. As such, when a lifestyle becomes popular in the media it does not mean that it is the right thing for our young people to do.

We should not follow the West blindly and encourage everything they encourage. We differ from Westerners’ understanding of family and society in a lot of ways. The only reliable standard and reference is the culture we have inherited from our fore-parents and which we dearly cherish.