Harlem, New York reception for poet Marvin X, at the home of writer Rashidah Ismaili. Marvin X was in town to speak at the New York University memorial for poets Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka.Harvey is Everyman
We must begin this discussion in the deep structure of human myth/ritual, in the foundation of culture and socialization. We must examine the manhood and womanhood rites of passage for a clearer understanding of why men and women are caught in this global quagmire of sexual pathology now being exposed as Pandora's box has never seen. And yet we cannot put all the blame on Hollywood, even though Hollywood is one of the chief myth makers in the modern world. Thus the sexual improprieties can be seen as the rite of passage for those neophytes seeking advancement in the medium of film, to become the new high priest and priestess of the celluloid world of make believe.
And so the neophytes must appropriately endure the ordeal by fire to prove themselves worthy of advancement. Sexual debasement thus is a well known procedure in most myth-ritual based societies and institutions, whether tribal, religious, fraternal and sororal. Even the marriage rite began with having sex with the bride but has been reduced to kissing the bride. The prostitute evolved from the temple priestess who traded sexual favors for strangers who in turn gave love offerings to the temple god, the priest and herself. At some point in time immemorial the priestess's activity was deemed immoral, although we know the "church ho'" is yet alive and well today. And the priest/preacher/imam/Babalawo, et al., is yet known to take full advantage of his position as chief of the spiritual order.
As per sex with boys in the Catholic Church, we know it is an economic rather than sexual matter. In order to preserve property in the name of the Church, marriage had to be banned to prevent inheritance from flowing outside the church. Boys were sacrificed on the altar of economic prosperity and longevity. On the fifth century anniversary of the Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther, we know one of his objections was Papal sex with boys, along with his main objection, paying one's way into heaven
Let's be fair and balanced, Muslims have long been known for their right/rite to have sex with boys, most recently in madrassas or religious schools. The US has allowed soldiers in the Afghanistan army to have sex with boys since it is their cultural and religious rite/right! Of course the glaring contradiction is the Islamic ban against homosexuality, including beheading and/or stoning to death. This latter sentence is given to women for adultery, but not men. Such gender discrimination is obviously the product of the patriarchal society. Alas, this entire discussion is about the myth/rituals embedded in patriarchal culture and socialization.
We say Harvey is Everyman because almost every man is socialized in patriarchal culture!
No matter than many of our children are raised in matrifocal households, i.e., mother in authority, she is herself a victim of patriarchal mythology and socialization and thus either consciously or unconsciously transmits this culture to her sons and daughters. When she tells her son to be man, what is she talking about except the patriarchal definition of manhood. The problem today is that when the son is so violently hostile to his absent and abandoned father, he often emulates the feminine behavior of his mother, verbally and physically in hand gestures and gait, and yet we heard this from a young man at a recovery meeting of men, "Let me say this, some of my friends you might think are gay but they are not gay, they just sound gay because they have never heard a man's voice!"
It is not simply a matter of pathology with men of power, after all, we grew up powerless in the hood yet engaging in gang rape we called "pulling a train on a bitch." And this occurred every Sunday at the movie theatre, sometimes behind the screen while the film was showing, then afterward as we crossed the tracks going home, literally on or near the freight trains. This was a cultural phenomena that seemed absolutely normal to us, as normal as beating up Mexicans in the movie house men's restroom during intermission, not because we hated Latinos but because they were a reasonable facsimile of the white boy who would/did not attend White's Theatre that was for blacks and Latinos only. Few whites went to White's Theatre!
And in our teenage ritual of sex and violence, we went to the Memorial Auditorium in Fresno for one purpose: to get the last dance with our girlfriends to guarantee pussy after the dance, but our primary mission was to fight the Latinos we called Meskins, again, not because we hated Latinos, afterall, we were both in the lower depths of oppression, but since the white boy rarely attended our Rock And Roll concerts featuring Little Richard, The Coasters, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Ike and Tina, Sam Cooke, and all the rest of our Rock and Roll heroes, we attacked the Latinos on the dance floor and for sure after the concert on the grass outside the auditorium, mad fist fighting and knifing, no guns at this time.
But the sociology of sexual pathology was pervasive in our young adult male/female relationships, after all, did we not own our mates and they owned us, thus a perfect prescription for violence upon any violation of chattel (personal, i.e., sexual) property rights/rites.
Of course this madness continued into our marriage rites, especially after sexual rites/rights were codified in the marriage rite: to death do us part! In the patriarchal social psychology, men were absolutely convinced they now owned the pussy and must have it at their beck and call. The wife had no choice in this matter since the man was paying the cost to be the boss, yes, he was paying his pussy bill, thus he owned the pussy and could go in and out as he pleased, no matter if and when the poor wife cried, "Can you let my pussy rest for 24 hours, just 24 hours, Baby, please let my pussy rest!"
His response was the Cave Man Supreme, "Bitch, you better hurry up and give me some of your good pussy! I don't want to hear bout yo pussy need a rest!"
Por favor, let us go global with this madness: we pray for the women of the world at this hour. In this entire discussion, we are tempered by the fact we have three daughters and now granddaughters, not to mention we have six sisters, and most importantly, the mothers of my children, who themselves were victims of my patriarchal madness. I bow down in praise to the wonderful mothers of my children, Patricia, Barbara and Nisa, and the other women partners in my life who endured my psycho-pathology that sometimes became physical. I know I am truly blessed to have the most beautiful, spiritual and intelligent women any man could have on this earth!. I give honor and praise to all the women in my life! They were all angelic, if anything, I was the devil!
Ok, I am known for glaring generalizations, hyperbole, but in truth, we know every man is not Harvey, that there are many men who've never contemplated the imaginings of Harvey and his ilk, but surely we know men of power throughout the world have enacted Harvey's ritual of sexual impropriety at every possible moment, whether in the arts, academia, religion, corporation, fraternity, home life or any other social situation.
As per solution, we know none except revolution in all institutions. In the words of Ancestor Kwame Toure' (Stokeley Carmichael), "Are you ready for revolution?"
Toward the Revolutionary Solution
We cannot get to the root of this matter and propose a solution until we start at the slave trade that was the total and absolute debasement of human beings, men, women and children. Nothing equaled this debauchery until the Crack epidemic in America. Four hundred years of free labor, free sex, imagine the surplus capital that was accumulated in four centuries, imagine the twisted psycho-pathology on all sides. News Year's Day being the most dreaded day in the life of the African captured in the American Slave System. New Year's was the slave auction, when mothers, fathers, children were separated from love ones. The slave master was so wicked, cruel, heartless that he sold this own children, especially those sired by him and his African captive woman. We don't want to acknowledge the wicked devil slave master raped African men, women and children, yes, even his own. With this DNA, do you imagine that there is any iota of moral fiber in the descendants of the slave master?
Do you realize the medical profession of gynecology is the result of experimenting on enslaved African women without anesthesia?
--continued-
--Marvin X
12/13/17