Times Of Swaziland: FEMALE BODY UNDER ATTACK

FEMALE BODY UNDER ATTACK
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The Editor on 27/06/2019 03:38:00


Sir,
The prevalence of gender-based violence in Africa as a whole highlights the
perilous position the female body finds itself in. Violence against women
continues to plague our society with no signs of the violence subsiding anytime
soon. I mean, the sheer sadism of repeatedly stabbing someone you supposedly
love is numbing.
I am not sure what it is about femininity that threatens maleness so much so
that it feels the need to exert such violence on our mothers and sisters. There
certainly has to be dysfunctionality in the male psyche and major insecurity in
order to express violence in such a horrific way.
There are dynamics of male socialisation that fool the male psyche into
accepting violence as a permitted form of expression, be it in frustration or to
demonstrate control.
Exposure
From early exposure to violent video games to intensely aggressive sports, boys
are quickly conditioned to react more aggressively than females.
Not all men react to this societal pressure the same but it is the general
experience.
I cannot imagine how it feels to be female, and constantly be conscious that the
world views your body as an object it can either commodify or utilise for its
own perverse pleasures.
Experience
To experience the world where construction workers whistle at you, shouting
vulgarities at you only because they view you as a specimen solely in existence
to satisfy their own bodily needs.
This is one of the many examples of the female being treated as a vessel for
male amusement and pleasure. I am sure it’s the unexpected side-effect of
patriarchy, to lash out in violence as a form of expression in order to maintain
its dictatorship on social governance and the victim of this violence is the
female, which is highly misguided.
As a constantly evolving society, we have to start tackling the violence in a
more purposeful and tangible way, to create a safe environment for all women.
There has to be more safe platforms for victims of abuse to express themselves,
free from shame and judgment. The law needs to play a huge role in punishing
this violence justly and speedily, in order to send out a strong message that
condemns violence against the female body.
We need to actively condemn violence in our homes, streets and workplace. As
previously mentioned, violence is not only physical. Shocking acts of violence
against women will continue to make headlines until we unlearn centuries of
conditioning in how we view the female body. All we need to remember is that the
female body does not belong to anyone but its owner.
Nkumane