As we commemorate the 16 days against gender-based violence (GBV), I want to take this opportunity to conscientise my fathers, mothers fellow brothers and sisters across the length and breadth of this globe that we shouldn’t be viewing the vice with a gendered lens and afford ourselves the illusory pleasure to relegate the matter to women because this challenge is twofold.
By Alfred Towo
A man can be a perpetrator as well as he can be a victim same applies to the fairer sex. Before I delve much into nothing, let me start by dishing out for all and sundry the definition of GBV.
GBV is an umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetuated against a person’s will, based on socially-ascribed (gender) differences resulting in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to the person(s) — threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public of private life, actual or threatened physical, mental, social or economic abuse that occurs in a domestic relationship.
GBV has both physical and psychological effects because the stigmatisation and humiliation can last for decades. Family and community rejection is traumatic as victims fight a war within the war.
GBV includes physical, sexual and psychological violence, or the threat of such, directed against women, men, girls or boys because of their sex; and/or their socially constructed gender roles.
Proximity of many contemporary conflicts to the everyday lives of civilians heightens women and girls as vulnerability to GBV. We are both active participants in the play and hence our efforts should be collective and be guided by mutual understanding and appreciation of the catch-22 situation we find ourselves in.
We can achieve this if we adopt the human security shift that acknowledges that a world is made of people and that security of people is the best guarantee of security for all with a clear disregard of our delicate pride.
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Saka varume ngatisapeta maoko (we cannot continue burying our heads in the sand) nekuti titoriwo pama1 bigtym (because we are under seige).
I hope we haven’t forgotten cases of man who were raped along our highways and their sperm harvested for unknown rituals.
GBV encompasses a wide range of acts in the home, in the wider community and more broadly within the state. The abuse of power and gender inequality is at the core of GBV.
We all know how rape was used strategically and systematically as a weapon of war during the 2008 presidential run-off to terrorise and subjugate the civilian population.
This is meant to reinforce the subordinate status of victims — subjugated population are more vulnerable.
SGBV is acknowledged as a human rights issue so please do not suffer in silence.
GBV is reflecting a shift away from having women/girls as victims and survivors but also to include male as victims/survivors.
Although sexual violence is committed more often by male perpetrators, women have been known to encourage, organise and commit SGBV against women and men. Perpetrators can simultaneously be victims for example men forced to rape mothers/(in-laws) daughters at gun-point. Perpetrators can be unwilling, compelled to engage in sexual violence under threat of being harmed themselves.
It is meant to demean your dignity for example being forced to masturbate publicly. Some would testify that they went through this during their early form 1 days of ugede/manyunyu.
However male sexual violence (SV) is recognised as “regular and unexceptional”, pervasive yet widespread. Bosnian conflict, estimated that 80% of 5 000 male in concentration camp detainees were sexually abused; A third of the male population in Liberia might have been sexually abused during the conflict. In 2012 survey of 1005 households in the eastern DRC — 23,6% (men) had experienced SV which was conflict related.
The world is now a very dangerous place not only because of people who do evil deeds but because of those who look on and do nothing about it. “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good man do nothing about it . . .” Edmund Burke.
The worst enermy of humanity is ignorance. There is a particular place in hell, in fact its innermost heart where reside for eternity the tormented souls of men and women of all sorts.
They freeze and burn at the same time, their skin is excoriated in sulphurous acidic pools of their accumulated sins, the tenacles of Satan drag them to drink of it. This region is presided over by Judas Iscariot we all know the name I trust. Yes, we are in this together. To make this world a better place for us to be.
Alfred Towo is the advocacy and communications officer for Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network a trust organisation that advocates for effective strategies to deal with the harms associated with dangerous drugs.
