Women’s month is here and a whole host of entities from TV shows to tires are about to slide into our lives like a greasy Tweep sliding into the DMs. As women we are about to be told a whole host of messages from ‘be a strong woman’ to ‘this is your month’ and suddenly […]
Rape Culture
Posted inGender violence, General, Lifestyle
Raising girls; raising boys
When my elder daughter, now 17, decided in Grade 6 that she wanted to attend a school social, we had to have a long talk. She was just 11, but I had to teach her not to accept drinks that weren’t sealed, not to leave an open drink unattended, not to hand out her phone […]
Posted inGender violence, General
Why Baleka Mbete is wrong on ‘rape not part of any culture’
Like many people, Baleka Mbete was shocked by Judge Mabel Jansen’s online comments about black people, and responded by saying that rape is not part of any culture. As a person in the forefront of South Africa’s leadership, her public statements ought to be taken seriously. However, here she is entirely wrong. Rape is part […]
Posted inGender violence
In solidarity with women who speak out
This morning I woke up and like most people logged onto Facebook — out of habit. I saw a friend’s status about a reference list. I naively thought she was referring to her PhD reference list. I made a glib comment with an emoji and scrolled down for more news. The next status I saw […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Men will never stop hurting us
As a child, I thought that grownups weren’t afraid of anything. They killed spiders. They didn’t believe in monsters and ghosts. They weren’t scared of dogs or the dark or the deep end of the swimming pool. Of all the disappointing discoveries of adulthood, the realisation that grownups are in fact very frightened very often […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence
Hostile response to #ForBlackGirlsOnly shows why we need it
With all the racial tension brewing over the past few months it’s no surprise that an event called #ForBlackGirlsOnly has caused a stir. Many think the event counters nation-building in a time when people are losing their jobs over racial slurs, and the amount of melanin you have can trigger an online shouting match. This […]
Posted inGender violence
Yes means yes, lessons from affirmed consent
Freshmen (first-year university students) across the US are in the middle of what is known as “the red zone” — a period of time in which an especially high number of incidences of sexual violence are reported on college campuses. It is during this period that US universities typically engage in numerous awareness campaigns that […]
Posted inGender violence
#ZumaPainting – rape in art is getting old, fast
I love art. Although I cannot say I am the greatest connoisseur in the world, I do love standing in an art gallery, wine in hand mumbling something about this being reminiscent of an early Rembrandt. I enjoy going to a photo exhibition and speaking in a roundabout way about the use of light or […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
The more things change, the more they stay the same: The curious case of black women and queer life at UCT
By Zethu Matebeni The last few months have stimulated long overdue conversations and action in higher education institutions in South Africa. Rhodes Must Fall, over and over again. The concrete structure may be gone from the steps of the UCT upper campus, but its shadow remains — blocking the same path that leads to possible […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Hello rape culture, hello ignorance…
I recall a discussion I had with a friend about why she didn’t want to write yet another article on race and racism. Her view was that it had all been written. She said the problem was that the people who continue to argue that race doesn’t matter and that we should just “move on” […]
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 […]