I have written before about how men are generally more aggressive than women. This is true; however, it’s also true that ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’, famously coined by author William Congreve.
In 2013, a 21-year-old woman appeared in a Johannesburg court after cutting off her boyfriend’s private parts. She walked in on him with another woman and made sure that it would never happen again.
A 5-year-old girl was found murdered in Port Elizabeth in 2019. A man was suspected of raping and murdering her, and while police were still waiting for DNA evidence, the family took matters into their own hands. The girl’s mother and other family members have been charged with attempted murder after cutting off his private parts.
This sort of thing happens all over the world.
A well-known case was that of John Wayne Bobbitt in America in 1993. John woke up to find his wife Lorena cutting off his private parts. Lorena then drove to a friend’s house, the body part in her hand, but decided to throw it out the window and call the police. The police recovered the severed part, and it was reattached.
Lorena claimed that John raped her, and that is why she cut off his private parts. He denies raping her. His version is that Lorena was jealous and that he had told her he wanted a divorce. Both of them were found not guilty.
While this case captured the public’s attention and was amusing in some respects, other victims have suffered immense pain. And what about those who are innocent?
Every year, hundreds of boys go into the mountains, hoping to return as men. Unfortunately, some of them never return, and some return never to be the same again. They put their lives in danger by being circumcised by inexperienced traditional healers and doctors.
Equipment is not sterile, and when these boys complain about the pain, they are punished. In some cases, severe infection sets in, and they lose their private parts. Some have lost their lives. These men speak about the empty lives they now have: too scared to fall in love, not being able to conceive children, and being rejected by their friends and family.
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