WHEN GENDER IS SYNONYMOUS WITH WOMEN

What happens in cyberspace directly impacts society and this point was driven home by the construction of the ‘Men’s House Eswatini’ on Facebook, perhaps with the sole intention of countering ‘Ladies House Eswatini’ that had been established earlier.

Not being a permanent resident of cyberspace, yours truly only became aware of the existence of the latter in the wake of the emergence of the former that attracted traditional media coverage. Not until the emergence of ‘Men’s House Eswatini’ did some of us, who have not taken up dual citizenship of the cyber-world, become aware of the existence of the ‘Ladies House Eswatini’. It would appear that the sole mission of ‘Ladies House Eswatini’ was to pillory, malign, ridicule, embarrass – you may add any suitable adjective that is not complimentary – men. This was accomplished through laying bare men’s indiscretions, including, but not limited to, their manhood or use thereof or, in the case of victims of gender based violence and abuse, simply to let off steam. And all of these, a majority of which borders on the criminal and defamatory, remain allegations and accusations until the targeted victims are given space to have their voice heard, if not pursue litigation in the real world.

Construction

As I see it, the construction of the ‘Men’s House Eswatini’ was by no means a serendipitous occasion but its raison d’etre was to balance the social scales by giving men a similar platform and space to respond either directly to the verbal missiles launched from the refuge of ‘Ladies House Eswatini’ or to also launch their own offensiveness because men are not immune to but are also subject to abuse. Perhaps I should explain that this article is not meant to interrogate the apparent toxic content in both houses that seems to suggest that society had not yet come out with a one-size-fits-all solution to the issue of gender-based violence GBV) and abuse, a subject that has now been escalated to cyberspace. Yes, the contents spewing from both houses are, by their nature, perpetuating the abuse that is abroad in the real world.

The gist of this article is to point out the imbalanced societal scales when it comes to issues of gender that has been laid bare. Until the emergence of the ‘Men’s House Eswatini’ there was silence on all fronts about the existence of the ‘Ladies House Eswatini’ and its vituperative posture towards what may be termed (allegedly) abusive men – the jury is still out if this did not include innocent souls. Can this silence be interpreted to mean that society accepts that it is fine for women to dehumanise men but is not ready to accept men reciprocating the gesture? There is a lot of hypocrisy on this subject matter of GBV and abuse because, from the onset, it was constructed on the false foundation of the term, ‘gender’, being interchangeable or synonymous with women.

Abuse

Societies at large seemingly remain hung over from the stereotype of the male being stronger and therefore, immune from abuse or being violated. Hence issues of gender were constructed from the prism of women’s vulnerability to abuse by men and not the other way round. From where I stand, it is impossible to say with certainty whether there has been a noticeable paradigm shift from the traditional position of men being the aggressors and women being recipients of this aggression. Any concessions to the contrary would appear to be superficial ostensibly because deep down remains harboured the belief that women are innocent of any GBV excesses. Empirical to this is the loud and noisy reaction to the formation and response of the ‘Men’s House Eswatini’ that has shattered the silence that enveloped the earlier establishment and existence of the ‘Ladies House Eswatini’, whose objectives were far from harmonising relations between the sexes. As it were, it is a misnomer to refer to the latter as a ladies house because there is absolutely nothing ladylike about what happens in that house. Spewing venom is not the habit of ladies.

As I see it, neither of the two cyber houses can be said to be catharsis to the GBV and abuse happening in real life in the real world. They are both platforms of perpetrating and perpetuating the violence and abuse that gave rise to their construction away in cyberspace. Consequently, both houses can hardly become purgative but, on the contrary, are fueling and perpetuating GBV and abuse from what their residents must consider a safe haven. Yet, oddly enough, the two houses are a mirror of the real world with the only difference being that the former are explicit while in the latter everything, emotions, feelings, et all, are hidden under the veneer of civility and public advocacy and activism against GBV and abuse whose sum total is superficiality.

Remind

In closing, can someone remind Housing and Urban Development Minister Prince Simelane that this country is governed through laws and not according to individual whims? That, of course, is assuming that we are past the rule of law crisis that has dogged this country since government elected not to respect certain judgments of the courts. In lifting an illegal and unconstitutional ban on protest marches in urban areas, Prince Simelane decreed that only a few individuals, not masses, should deliver petitions. He does not site any law that he is invoking towards this end. Oddly enough, security forces and urban authorities had enforced Prince Simelane’s illegitimate, illegal and unconstitutional decree.

Besides the Public Order Act of 2017, itself enacted under heavy domestic and international pressure, which regulates public gatherings and protest marches, is the national Constitution, the so-called supreme law of the land albeit reality says otherwise. Yet an individual was able to override both when banning protest marches in 2021. What enables this apparent abuse of political power is the system of government in which real power resides elsewhere other than the people. This environment can hardly be said to be conducive to attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs) given the cowardly nature of capital. The question is how can jobs be created when the environment for FDIs is unstable?   

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: