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We are a broken society
We are afraid, we want to enjoy the freedoms afforded to our male counterparts – but we cannot continue to plead for our lives because this no longer works.
Sex workers protest outside the Johannesburg Magistrates court as the man accused of murdering 6 sexworkers appears on murder charges, 11 October 2022. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
The fact that six women were murdered and it was only noticed when someone complained about a foul smell that came from a nearby building, speaks to how imperceptible women are in this society. That even upon their discovery, the outrage at the heinous nature of their demise has been downplayed.
We are a broken society, who are going to further break because while raising good men is not the responsibility of government, one thing for sure is that, if government is not serious about tackling the issue, nothing will change.
As we begin to once again wage a war against the threat of extinction as women, it has become highly evident that we must wage our wars differently. We have cried and have silently protested, we have taken to social media and voiced our hurts and formed movements to speak for us in unison.
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We are afraid, we want to enjoy the freedoms afforded to our male counterparts – but we cannot continue to plead for our lives because this no longer works.
The social construct is that women are the caregivers, we are the attentive and loving parent. We are the ones who would rather starve than to let our children go without. But we must demystify that the woman has evolved. Women abuse, they neglect and even kill. As gruesome as men are so, too, can a woman.
While the blame will be put on the doorstep of feminism, this is not correct, murder remains murder. The modern, mostly city man, is a very oppressive man, with crude innuendos, neglecting responsibilities and burdening the woman who must carry his load while remembering to submit to his every (un)reasonable whim, demanding but never giving respect and honour.
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In the same breath, let us with as much zeal demonstrate our anger at the perpetrators of such heinous crimes when they wear skirts and look feminine, when they are women, may we be just as vocal.
As parents in these trying times, may we be more proactive and not reactive – may we rather be judged for being overprotective, as opposed to being too lax with our children to be fodder to the wolves.
