Wednesday 4 January 2012

leave our bodies the fuck alone!

Been meaning to write about women Gods and leaders in the Afrikan context for a while... Recent developments in our continuously troubled and constantly sexist patriarchal society has made it almost impossible to reach a space where women WERE/ARE Gods... the disgusting chauvinist acts by a mostly rude, lewd and hugely sexist section of our society have unfortunately spilled out of my ink first!


The sexual assault of the young girls at Noord taxi rank was only but a proverbial 'tip of the iceberg' of our troubled, continuously sexist society that has normalised violence towards the black woman... it is those black men who receive the worst beating by a anti-black world... One who sees himself as the most worthless... cosatu's castro ngobese called them the "taxi rank lumpen, or the dangerous class" ... those who more visibly use the black woman's body to try and reaffirm his worth... continuously inflicting violence on the only other creature his upbringing made him believe is beneath him...  

The black man's constant abuse, rape and killing of black women is a reflection of a being that despises itself... A being that has long forgotten that it's very existence is largely owed to the black woman... It's very ability to breathe today is thanks to three-quarter's of a year's WORK followed by painful labour by a black woman's body to bring it to life... It is only a soulless being that can rape, beat and murder it's own mothers, it's own grandmothers, daughters, sisters, cousins and aunts at such alarming rates... our crime statistics... Which are mostly violence on the black female body... Are like those of other countries at war!!!

There's a war on the black female in this Goddess-forsaken country!


image from sowetan
From your unwelcome lustful looks and whistling and advances and unwelcome touchings and rapes and killings... looking for your long lost "manhood" between our legs... beating your own life-givers to their graves is a beating of the self... a killing of a part of what makes you who you are... which you have forgotten! ... A reflection of your own self hatred at your uselessness as a being... 

You beat up your very Gods when you beat up a woman, and then wonder why you've remained a perpetual slave to all types of masters... The black nation will not rise until the black man starts to respect and honour the black woman... 

Direct your anger at those you fear and leave our bodies the fuck alone! We have our own battles to fight... This continuing abuse from those we should consider brothers and our protectors should not be one of them! 

...and to all you black men who do love, protect, honour and respect women... we appreciate you... but we also say... your silence is too loud!  

3 comments:

  1. I am actually just beginning to read a book about social constructions of masculinity in SA and I think this might be one of the contributing factors to such incidents. There is something wrong in our society that allows men to think that such behaviour is fine.

    Our men are being raised to think that only certain women deserve respect. We have a lot of work to do and perhaps some of the responsibility lies in the hands of the men who know better (as you mentioned in your post which is actually on point).

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  2. Obviously you speak generally and you do make valid points. it is true that men ought to respect women but I strongly feel women also have a roll to play. telling men to leave your bodies the whatever alone will not make them do so, in fact they might even increase. A woman's body was naturally created attractive and showing most part of it while she walks in the street brings a lot in a man's mind, yes you may call it lust, but lust is a feeling and just like crying there are things that provokes it's showing up. Dressing respectably seems to be a problem with women, and get me right, I'm not saying it is the only cause.

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  3. Lust is not the problem, and should never be confused with sexual attack and harassment, which are based on profound disrespect for women, on hatred and destructiveness. It has been used for an excuse for too long. Men can control themselves. It's not about how women dress; traditional dress didn't make women cover most of their bodies. Men should be held responsible for their behavior, and not throw it back on women. And women shouldn't acquiesce in making these excuses.

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