For heterosexual women, lesbians and gay men in South Africa; the subject of men as perpetrators of violence permeates our everyday lives. In response, we express outrage at headline-grabbing instances of brutality; and we mobilize public demonstrations to convey our support both for survivors and victims of violent crimes. Yet tacit acceptance of male violence continuously presents itself across lines of race and class. Evidently, we’ve neglected to problematize the sexist, misogynist culture that informs the concept of what it means to ‘be a man’.
Men & Violence
I just read a bit on your website and a section titled ‘men and violence’ caught my attention. I am struck by the broad generalisation that seem to imply that all men are bad and violent. is this really true? surely most men are inherently good, and while a few cause so much pain in society, it cannot be attributed to the entire gender. This seems to be the unresolvable problem in our society, where even the most vile behaviours perpetrated by a few women against some men, are excused under the cover of female innocence and all things male are pathological. i grew up in soweto, and have witnessed many instances where some bad things were done by women against men, and vice versa. i believe that reality calls for balance in how we treat genders, not these sweeping stereotypes. thanks. i’ll be happy to hear from you.