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Stop violence against women in South Africa

Posted by flamingpoodle • 9/13/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: abuse, brassiere, breasts, mary phelps jacob, rape, south africa, Violence against Women

This is a serious social problem that needs to stop.

Feel free to comment on my blog or post links which are helpful. I wouldn't mind doing follow up posts to highlight this problem and more importantly, try to solve it.

necrofiles.blogspot.com/2008/09/stop-violence-against-women-in-south.html

User Comments

9/13/08

Jeunelle

How about stop violence against women period?
It happens all the time in our military and nobody cares.

[reply]
1. 9/13/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  Great idea. However, I'm in South Africa. I can't do anything about violence against women elsewhere.
2. 9/13/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  Well you won't get too many people coming to your aide as other people reside in other parts of the world too.
3. 9/13/08
  
  melindaville
  
  Jeunelle--I totally agree with that--but the violence against the women in S. Africa is of a magnitude far greater than elsewhere in the world.
4. 9/13/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  I don't need aid. I'm a guy. Being raped is not a realistic threat I have to live with. Guys getting raped is a statistical anomaly. Being beaten is something I can deal with. This is me sticking up for the ladies who are let down by our system and who are stuck in abusive relationships thinking they can't do any better - or worse, that it is the norm.
  
  I blogged about the situation in Zimbabwe, even though I can't physically do anything about it. Creating awareness is a powerful way to get people talking and thinking about social ills. I hope it is a first step in solving them.
5. 9/13/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  @flamingpoodle...agreed and good work.
6. 9/13/08
  
  globalgirl
  
  Sadly and disgustingly, flamingpoodle, pedophiles rape boys far greater than just a 'statistical anomaly".
7. 9/13/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  @globalgirl..I'm glad you brought that up because it happens to boy/men too and they don't come out and talk about it in the open either as it brings shame,
  the same way it brings shame to a woman or so they think. I think this problem happens
  all too often or more often than we would like to believe.
8. 9/13/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  Yes Globalgirl, but I was raised Protestant.
9. 9/13/08
  
  globalgirl
  
  Pedophiles hide in protestant and catholic churches, as well as other institutions, like schools, where they have access to innocent children. There they lurk and prowl, clothing themselves in self-righteousness, while inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
10. 9/14/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  Globalgirl, I was kidding. Of course violence against women is not the only social ill and it is good to spread awareness of all of them.
  
  This site has some statistics about violence against children too:
  www.powa.co.za/Display.asp?ID=2
  
  These stats are for South Africa. Note that a woman is raped every 26 seconds, whereas a child is abused every 8 minutes. That means violence against women is a bigger problem here than child abuse in terms of frequency, but you are right, it's not a less serious problem.
9/13/08

melindaville

What a great story you wrote--I left you a comment on your blog.

[reply]
1. 9/13/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  I don't disagree with that but violence is violence and unless we show society that it is unacceptable weather it's in the military where women are being raped and the military is covering it up and most military women are afraid to come forward
  and report it, we will have a problem no matter where or what country we focus on.
  current.com/items/89299385_why_soldiers_rape
  www.alternet.org/rights/98603/
  
  Personally I find it disgusting that the US Military of High Ranking officials fall short
  of doing the right thing and showing their lower ranking members what honor truly means.
  
  However it's the military... a place where war and destruction is predominant, so in a way
  I'm not too shocked by it either.
2. 9/13/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  Thank you mtyler77.
  
  Jeunelle, I agree with you. Violence against women is a problem everywhere, but society is making it out to be something that is incurable, or inevitable.
  
  I believe firmly in the divide and conquer principle. By sub-dividing a big problem into smaller, more manageable problems, you can solve each smaller problem easier than one big problem. I highlighted violence against women in South Africa, you are highlighting violence against women in the military. That's 2 smaller problems we are already working on already, inching towards solving the one big problem. Great!
  
  Thanks for the link
9/13/08

Jeunelle

@flamingpoodle...You're welcome this is a major problem and it seems we will never be rid of this negative Red energy but I have a feeling sooner or later it will subside if people like you keep plugging away at it.

[reply]
9/13/08

timethief

Your post is an outstanding one. The research you did was truly impressive and your writing, as always, is excellent. The statistics blew me away. I commented and I will now stumble. Thanks for making me aware how horrid the situation is.

[reply]
1. 9/13/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  Thanks for the kind words
  
  It shocked me too! I thought violence against women is something that happens in seclusion and in really small numbers. I also thought it's something most people are opposed to, or a victim would feel free to approach the authorities to deal with the situation. Sadly, I was wrong.
9/13/08

Onlineguru

Violence against women is a social issue and women all over the world are facing it. It is good that you've highlighted it in your post.

[reply]
1. 10/15/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  Yes, it is. It's a problem that deserves more attention.
9/14/08

SweetViolet

I agree with your divide and conquer approach. My own approach is to recognize that few of us ever get the opportunity to change the world in a big way, but all of us have the ability to make changes in our own little corner of the world.

To that end, when I realized that my maid was being abused by her husband, I spoke with her...in general terms...about how it is wrong and having no man is better than having a man who hurts her. On other occasions I shared my own domestic abuse history, and explained how her sons can grow up to be abusers if this is what they see in the home.

Three months ago she left, her four young children in tow. I and her other two employers have come together to help her. We have found furniture and appliances for her (thanks to Freecycle--a GREAT Yahoo group), and cleaned out our closets (the clothes she cannot use she can sell or trade for clothes for her kids), and each workday we go through the refrigerator and give her things that will probably perish before her next work day. Each month I give her a 10kg bag of mealie meal (less than $5)---that makes breakfast for her kids for the entire month. She has a vegetable garden out in the back of my back yard. And I am going to approach her other two employers about the three of us coming together to help her with the cost of school uniforms and school fees.

She is away from the abusive husband, but if she can't make it financially with the children, it will drive her back to him. This is our contribution, small as it may be, to saving at least ONE South African woman and her children from domestic violence.

[reply]
1. 9/14/08
  
  flamingpoodle
  
  That's great, SweetViolet! Schools usually have a lost and found where you can pick up cheap school uniforms. They had this at all the schools I attended - from the rural primary school to the fancy boarding school.
  
  Also, if their school uniform is the standard grey trousers and white shirts, you can pick them up really cheaply at PEP Stores.