For a holiday, I had a very productive morning: taking a moral stand. I joined an anti-rape march, organised in solidarity with community members of Grahamstown East, as part of an ongoing quest for justice for the two siblings, aged 6 and 7, raped by their school teacher.
We marched declaring proudly that rape was not part of our culture and necessarily not part of the curricula! What was troubling to me was how few men were actually present at the march.
I believe only a few men are rapists. I also believe in order to paint this reality we need to see more men taking a visible stand against rape. The question then is: how can we get more men to be visibly involved in activities that will allow positive construction of masculinity?
Men — speaking only on my behalf — I need to see more of you lest I start thinking what I see in marches, like one we had today, is representative of some reality. Please don’t wait until it is your blood relative or your partner to take a visible stand against rape, sexual violence and all other forms of patriarchy. Stand now to prevent false construction of masculinity; and more importantly, to help stop the war on women and children’s bodies!