Violence Against Men#not a laughing matter
On Wednesday,10th June 2015,Kenyan media ran a story of a woman , who had been arrested after assaulting her husband and chopping off his penis.
After the usual outrage,social media has been awash with funny memes on the matter.
I have to admit,I chuckled at some of them.
Of which I ought to be ashamed.
A lot of work has been done around violence against women and Kenyans generally have been sensitized
on how to respond to the female survivors of violence.
In fact,most of us sympathize with the woman and where possible,we offer assistance,comfort and reassurance.
Which is in sharp contrast to our response to male survivors of violence.
After our shortlived shock and outrage,we start joking about it.
Most of us,since we are a patriachal society,cannot fathom how a man can be violated.
We rationalise that it must be his fault and wonder out loud what he did to provoke such an act.
We then laugh and forward the numerous jokes of the defence classes,male chastity belts and Nyeri ahead roadsigns.
Shame on us.
Violence is about power-unequal power relations and whoever has power in a relationship ,whether male or female,can use that power negatively and physically,emotionally,economically or sexually abuse the other party.
What the male survivors need from us is understanding,not judgement as we look to address the gaps existing in our response to violence against men.
Not forwarding the memes and cautioning the person who sent them is a good place to start.
After the usual outrage,social media has been awash with funny memes on the matter.
I have to admit,I chuckled at some of them.
Of which I ought to be ashamed.
A lot of work has been done around violence against women and Kenyans generally have been sensitized
on how to respond to the female survivors of violence.
In fact,most of us sympathize with the woman and where possible,we offer assistance,comfort and reassurance.
Which is in sharp contrast to our response to male survivors of violence.
After our shortlived shock and outrage,we start joking about it.
Most of us,since we are a patriachal society,cannot fathom how a man can be violated.
We rationalise that it must be his fault and wonder out loud what he did to provoke such an act.
We then laugh and forward the numerous jokes of the defence classes,male chastity belts and Nyeri ahead roadsigns.
Shame on us.
Violence is about power-unequal power relations and whoever has power in a relationship ,whether male or female,can use that power negatively and physically,emotionally,economically or sexually abuse the other party.
What the male survivors need from us is understanding,not judgement as we look to address the gaps existing in our response to violence against men.
Not forwarding the memes and cautioning the person who sent them is a good place to start.
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