Zanmi Femme: Pathologizing Women Friendships

This post was originally written in Kreyòl.

The need for advice, fun, closeness, a shoulder to lean on, etc. are not needs specific to one gender. However, capitalist and patriarchal social constructs have created a gender divide for basic needs rendering the concept of bad friends and friendships arbitrary. 

WILSON THIERSAINT

For several weeks praises have been pouring in for Zafèm’s very first album “LAS”.  In the midst of all of this, Reginald Cangé and Dener Céide have produced a thorough work, raising the bar in terms of sonic experience, vocal delivery, creative themes, and the variety of subjects broached in their compositions. The project has also allowed Konpa Dirèk enthusiasts to rediscover elements of a Konpa tradition that has marked several generations of Haitians.

The critiquing of a work can take many forms: appreciation, consideration, consumption, remarks, or comparison, all the way to redaction of the work or parts of it. Therefore, the critique has as an objective the rendering of all the works’ qualities. And it is in this process that its limits, contradictions, and its incoherences appear. This happened with Tayc’s last album “Chambre 96” and the song “Quand tu dors” because it can be interpreted as a song that excuses conjugal violence. 

Since its release, the “LAS” album has stirred a lot of conversation. The public has been waiting for this release with great anticipation – receiving  it with open arms. The buzz and anticipation surrounding the album was amplified by Ticket Magazine’s bitter categorization of the group as “The disappointment of the year” – as part of the popular Haitian magazine’s annual end of the year round up back in 2021. Therefore, the release of this album is set in a space and time where the discourse surrounding the band’s work (or lack thereof) has been loud since well before the album even existed. It is within this context that Mathania Charles’ petition asking for the withdrawal of “Zanmi Femme” is set. 

Here it is important to note that while critique and boycotts might appear to be the same, they do not share the same objective. 

Zafèm’s album “LAS” is a jewel, a quality artistic and literary work. However, certain themes present in the album can open it to criticism, and the characters created are often rooted in common stereotypes making them easily identifiable social archetypes. Notably, the reality depicted in the song “Zanmi Femme” (Female Friends) on the “LAS” album relies on a discriminatory depiction of a social minority – a minority not in quality or quantity, but rather in social representation.

The songs starts off with the lyrics “bèl fanm ti sèvèl” (beautiful woman small brain) followed by “zanmi fanm konn mete w dozado ak mouche marye w” (female friends can turn you against your husband) to “tèt kole fanm ak fanm gen gwo danje ladan l” (women working together can be very dangerous). It’s clear that the reality being denounced in this song is friendship, but more specifically, friendship amongst women.

A friendship can involve two or more people, but only they can decide how to navigate it, whether to maintain it or to end it, however they please. Friendships are based on people’s likes and quirks. And since likes and quirks are the result of various perceptions and representations that permeate society, friendships are a social construct. But the tendency to classify friendships based on gender, race or class comes from a hyperbolic way of thinking that is gendered and racialized. And it is these structures that determine what will come out of these relationships. In this way, the classifying of female friendships as a problem in their relationships amongst themselves, or as a threat to relationships one or many of them may have with a man goes against the principle that all humans are equal. This kind of thinking belittles the solidarity women have built among themselves as a historically victimized group, but it also circles back to a misogynistic philosophy that could lead to physical or emotional violence towards a woman if, as the song says  “female friendships can be very dangerous.”

The construction and spreading of such a philosophy is the same system that pathologizes friendships among women, in a society which, as stated in Gaelle Bien-Aimé’s “Kwonik Yon Dayiva S2E4”, does not favor or understand female solidarity.  These attitudes underline a misogynistic logic, which seeks to limit the freedom to build an autonomous reality for one’s mind and body. We must always be in pursuit of a mindset that does not reproduce misogynistic logic and does not pose a threat to the emancipation of the oppressed. An oppression that is capitalist, and therefore imperialist, all thanks to white supremacy and the patriarchy.

Conversely, in another tune on the same album, Reginald Cangé sings “Fanm ak gason gen menm bezwen, egal ego” (women and men have the same needs, they are equal). The need for advice, fun, closeness, a shoulder to lean on etc. are not needs specific to one gender. However, capitalist and patriarchal social constructs have created a gender divide for basic needs. Therefore, the concept of bad friends and friendships becomes arbitrary. People in general can be bad friends, it is not female friendships that are inherently dangerous. As it stands, it is female friendships that are depicted negatively in Haitian cultural productions, and female friends are responsible for creating toxicity (through gossip) in romantic relationships. 

The songs in the Haitian musical canon that reflect this are many. From Move zanmi, Méridionale de Montréal ; Zanmi Femme, Méridionale des Cayes, to Zafèm’s cover of the same tune. There are other productions representing these attitudes such as Marcelo Nilecram Tripotay, where he plays the role of the gossiper, or BélO’s Deblozay. The latter speaks of the friend of a man named Laurent who caused his wife to leave him after gossiping about him, and yet the danger of male friendships was not the conclusion in this story. As Gaelle Bien-Aimé says, “why can men be “bro’s” and “partners” but a friendship between women carries such negativity in the song?”

This idea that a woman’s friends can lead her to make decisions that could potentially ruin her relationship infantilizes her and belittles the choices she makes. Not to mention comments like “you have to stay strong by him” or tactics to stop women from “wearing the pants” in the relationship, open the door to physical or emotional violence. These are the kinds of empty slogans being left to the interpretation of each and every consumer playing the song. 

The petitioners ask that the track be removed from the album. I don’t know if they should remove it. But it would not be the first time music is removed from an album. In 2022, Beyonce withdrew a title from the “Renaissance” album due to accusations of plagiarism. Indeed, Zafèm could issue a note to rectify the fact that the music was more intended to pay homage to the old Meridionale des Cayes majesty than to reinforce a structural logic that promotes the hatred, limitations and infantilization imposed on women in the patriarchal capitalist society. This will honor the public, the artists, the country and women. It is otherwise a beautiful album.

Featured Photo Creadit: Zafèm

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