What a time to be alive. It warms my heart to witness my dear sisters, amid a very male dominated and male centred setting, unapologetically asserting their position and breaking the “culture of silence” when it comes to gender-based violence, particularly rape, against women. And not just towards the rapists but also how the victims’ cases are generally mishandled by not the police only, but the courts, men (myself included), community (esp friends & family), workplaces, churches, NGOs, and the government.
Of course, while at best, as men, we can empathize with women, that is, put ourselves in their shoes. We can never truly know what it feels like to be routinely objectified, threatened and ignored. The uncomfortable truth is: this is owing to the unearned privileges that we continue to enjoy at the expense of women (how many of us men have actually been terrified of the likelihood of getting raped?).
Therefore, the logical thing to do in regard to this pervasive problem in Botswana is to LISTEN to all women: the victims, the survivors, the activists, teachers, cashiers, lawyers, maids, ministers, the young & the elderly as well as many more and adopt the recommendations they propose in the fight against sexualised violence.
That’s all we have to do, listen. And learn.
Quite often, as men, we are too quick to open our mouths (again, myself included, as I shut up) without really having any lived experiences of women. And I’m afraid that this socialised reaction we are too good at does more harm than good: victim blaming.
Re baakanya lehatshe!
#justiceforzinedine
#gayatrispivak
Blessing Kgosi e tsile Kgasa 