‘He Won't Let She Stretch She Foot'

Women in the former British colonies of the West Indies often live out their lives in quasi-communal domestic units known as ‘yards’ or ‘houseyards’, ¹ where they interact with males on a variety of levels as they mature from infants to old women. In this culture, derived from a mingling of British and African customs modified by the circumstances of the New World plantation system and more recent modernization, the range of possible male/female relationships is more numerous than and different from those in most other traditional as well as modernized societies. Outside observers have frequently misunderstood West Indian gender relationships, not only overlooking non-mating male/female interaction, but also often judging even mating relationships harshly, according to alien ethical standards.