The urgency of activism, although well-intentioned, can hide the ordinary, subtle, even banal nature of how societies become sick. The 16 days of activism, now quickly forgotten, reflected our uneasiness at how things are and had a desire to want to put things right. But change is a process, not an event. Our response to […]
Gender violence
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Now for the 21st century round of South African sex panic
Twenty years into democracy and the battles to capture and define South African identities are at fever pitch. Race seems to have a new lease on life and, unexpectedly, so does sexuality. Some say that South Africa’s future is black, in the sense that state power will never be in the hands of a white-defined […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence
How not to pick up women in SA
Written with Rethabile Mashale* City Press ran a story on December 22 by Charl du Plessis titled “The art of picking up women in SA”. The article on Pick Up Artist SA’s boot camp on picking up women is about “the secret psychological techniques that will help [men and lesbian women] get lucky with South […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence
Mandela’s lesson of reconciliation applies to gender divides
As a society on a long walk to making reconciliation a reality, we have already taken significant and decisive strides. Yet, everyday in South Africa is still marked by violence, particularly that of a gendered nature. Today, I offer some reflections on how we might bring reconciliation closer in our everyday experience of being and […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Shallow rhetoric, Mandela and personal responsibility
I still vaguely remember the first time I found out who Nelson Mandela was. My parents had an ANC sticker in their bedroom wardrobe that carried Mandela’s face. I did not know anything about him at the time, but it wasn’t until my mother caught me trying to remove the sticker that I would first […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Health, News/Politics
Gogos under siege: Let’s put an end to it
It should be concerning to every individual when a newspaper headline sates: “Dead woman (80) sexually assaulted with a fork”. Actually everyone should be filled with anger. This was the headline in the Sowetan today (December 4 2013). The story tells of the gruesome murder, and possible rape of Gogo Anna Ntsane of Hennenman in […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence
We need to ‘man down’
On the eve of 16 days of activism for no violence against women, Percy Mabandu got his knickers — sorry, XXL boxers — in a knot. “Manhood is under attack”, was the gist of his protestations in his column (“Why give macho men such a hard time?”). He lamented that masculinity — well, the kind […]
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 inEquality, Gender violence
The role of men during #16Days
*Trigger warning I was shocked to see a tweet by controversial South African blogger Sentletse Diakanyo on the first day of 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence in South Africa. In the tweet Diakanyo says that: “We must not ignore the slaughter of unborn babies during this 16 Days of Activism.” He went on […]
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 […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Media, News/Politics
Concourt ruling against ‘teen sex’ law protects rape survivors’ rights
Last week’s Constitutional Court ruling decriminalising consensual sexual relationships between teens was met with moralising outrage across the country. Sensationalist media fanned the flames of indignation by failing to contextualise the law’s effect on teen sexual relations – including rape.
Under the impugned sections 15 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) teenage rape survivors, especially girls, run the risk of being criminally charged for being raped.
Posted inGender violence, General
The South African man I admire most
This is the man I admire most in South Africa right now. I know his name, but I won’t tell it to you. All you need to know is that he is a 50-something white Afrikaner from the West Rand, an engineer who drives a nice car and has a good job. He is straight […]