On February 14 this year, One Billion Rising for Justice are calling on women and men everywhere to harness their power and imagination to rise for justice — the largest global action against gender-based violence (GBV) yet. Thousands of us across southern Africa will be taking part. There is an ever-increasing number of men who […]
Trevor Davies
Trevor Davies has worked in African media and development for 26 years. He challenges the conventional gendered stereotypes of Africa with innovative approaches. He is currently co-ordinator for the Africa Fatherhood Initiative -- a continent-wide institutional base for the generation, collection, connection and dissemination of gender-sensitive knowledge and skills about fatherhood in Africa.Follow Trevor on twitter @BabaZuwa
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
16 Days of Activism — we need to be uncomfortable
I always get angry during the 16 Days campaign, it’s comfortable to be angry, to structure my protest and join with thousands of others in writing, meeting and talking about the problem. People just like me, who are passionate, concerned and vocal. This year my anger is turning inward and outward. Inward because I recognise […]
Posted inGeneral
Why did men stop holding hands?
In the 80s I would walk down the streets with black male friends holding hands while we chatted. It was an essential part of real male friendship and no-one would really give it a second glance. Many men would give no thought at all to draping their arms around one another as they walked and […]
Posted inEnvironment
COP19 – the cathedral and the bazaar
The people in suits want to talk and nothing will stop them from listening to the sound of their own voices. COP19, the global climate-change meeting, might seem far away in Warsaw, Poland, this week but like a massive weather system migrating the globe its impact will be felt in Africa for sure. Africa knows […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, Media
Corporate paedophilia is the hypersexualisation of our young girls
Adult sexuality is often imposed upon children rather than chosen by them. Some clothing retailers carry completely inappropriate and sexualised clothing ranges for girls as young as six. They sell thongs sized for seven-year-old girls. Imagine a five-year-old girl wearing a cut-off T-shirt that says “flirt”. How does a seven-year-old understand the plastic sexuality of […]
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
Fire on the mountain
To shout fire is an act of alarm demanding that everything we are doing at this moment is dropped and postponed because there is a real emergency that overrides all other considerations. The fire threatening us all is the failure of our African masculinity to answer so many of the questions that are being asked […]