The country has been faced with a number of gender-based violence (GBV) attacks in recent weeks and women have been rallying in taking a stance against GBV.
Sacred Heart College boys and Jeppe High School for Boys answered the call and took a stand as young men to say enough is enough.
On September 11, Sacred Heart made their voices heard with their #WithoutUs Campaign.
The male learners stood in solidarity with the female learners, who had stayed away from school in support of the #WithoutUs movement.
The boys decided they would attend school and hold a silent protest outside the school at 7.30am, 12.30pm and again at 2pm.
Throughout the day, the boys engaged in a series of workshops about gender-based violence and held discussions on how to become better young men, by learning about actions, words and mannerisms.
The day ended with the boys making pledges to bring about a difference within the school and society as a whole.
Sacred Heart high school president Tariro Banganayi said it was important to raise awareness as a school.
“It was a very good first attempt. It obviously wasn’t perfect and I think the idea behind starting conversations with the school about the way we talk and about the way they treat girls is important.
“As much as we say we must challenge the harmful ways the boys engage with the opposite sex, I don’t think we’ve ever done it in as much depth as we did today. It is kind of sad that the girls had to be absent when all of that happened, but I feel like next time it’s also important to have the girls present because it’s such a male-dominated space, with male perspectives on everything. It’s very easy for boys to make excuses for themselves and their friends because of the support of their friends.
“I think it’s very important that next time we have this dialogue, which should be soon, we involve the girls and give them an active role in expressing how they feel and including their voices in that conversation,” said Tariro.
Sacred Heart deputy president Thato Kekana said the absence of girls at the school made an impact.
“A day without the girls at school made some people realise that they need to change their actions; they need to change themselves and they need to hold each other accountable.”
Another school that took a stance against GBV was Jeppe Boys.
Jeppe old boy Charles Webster visited Jeppe Boys on September 12 to talk about GBV.
He addressed the boys and relayed his view on life in South Africa and how he believes the rape culture is dependent on behaviours and attitudes and how these can be changed by making basic alterations in conduct and opinions.
“Think about it this way. If you’re a woman, you wake up in the morning and in the gun that you are forced to hold up to your head, there are not six chambers, but, let’s say, a hundred. These hundred chambers are the hundred men that a woman might encounter during the course of a typical day,” said Webster.
He said consent is important.
“We really need to talk about consent. I hope you understand, in the light of my prison scenario, why consent is important. If you want to talk about rape culture you have to start with consent. I find it noteworthy that consent is very important when other people do things to us, but it is somehow less important when we are the people doing things to others,” said Webster.
“Rape culture is not about saying every man who catcalls is a rapist. Rape culture is a sociological concept for a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalised due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality,” said Webster.
The talk was aimed at getting the boys thinking about GBV and to encourage them to take a stand against it.
