“What a week for women! First, two of the (very few) prominent political mavens became kissing besties and then spectacularly not, and then that rape-cry-baby Michelle Solomon made a scene and had to be put back in her place by a good ol’ cigar-smokin’ man like David Bullard (for a bet it turns out, classic!) […]
michelle solomon
Posted inGender violence
Bullard vs Solomon and the unwritten rules for speaking about rape
With its dredging of historical slights and recycling of resentments nurtured over time, Team Bullard vs Team Solomon has all the hallmarks of a grudgefest. This personalised process of verbal pushing and shoving has not only diminished the sort of ethical public sphere needed for discussion of sexual violence, but also endorsed uncritically the unwritten […]
Posted inGender violence, Media, News/Politics
Breaking my Bullard silence
Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out I wanna see you be brave. There I was driving along Witkoppen with Jacaranda on the radio — for once, I was a classic shooter curtain cliché — and those words struck home. So here I am, being brave — or stupid — and […]
Posted inGender violence, Media
I’ve had enough of Bullard. And so should you
In 2008, proud racist David Bullard was fired from the Sunday Times for a column wherein he denigrated black South Africans. In seems that, after the failure of his many legal matters against the Sunday Times and its owning company Avusa, Bullard found a new hobby. And that hobby is harassing and bullying rape survivors – and I get the special honour of being his target of choice.
Posted inGender violence, Media
David Bullard, do not pass begin, do not collect R200
When you can’t afford to invest in a new hobby, or buy a new car, or take a life-changing trip because you’re a bitter journalist who’s basically ragged on every publication they have ever worked for … then the next best thing to do is obviously start trolling people on Twitter. A public space, where […]
Posted inGeneral
Reclaiming the term ‘rape survivor’
There are times when silence is more eloquent and expressive than shouts of protest, or words spoken in the face of ignorance. The Silent Protest seeks to embody this silence in solidarity with rape survivors who, for whatever reason, are not able to speak out about the violence exerted on them and their bodies. The […]
Posted inNews/Politics
When journalists silence rape survivors
This week Rhodes University student newspaper Activate published a story titled “Club Etiquette”. The story explains best party practice along the lines of ‘don’t wear heels’ and ‘respect your bartender’. Then there was this: “Don’t take advantage of the drunken person of your dreams. The next morning, when they wake up next to you wondering […]