what’s happening in south africa RIGHT NOW? (a thread)

trigger warning //

r*pe, s*xual ab*se, s*xual vi*lence

gender-based violence is violence that is directed towards an individual’s biological sex or gender identity. it includes coercion, physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and psychological abuse. this is the reality for a lot of south african women currently.

whilst people of all genders perpetrate and experience intimate partner and sexual violence, men are most often the perpetrators and women and children the victim. by a shocking margin.

more than 40% of women have experienced sexual/physical violence in their lifetime.
1 in 4 women in south africa have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
and 1 in 3 women will have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

75%+ of women report having economic or emotional abuse at the hands of their partners in their lifetime.

over 40% of adult men have admitted to raping and abusing women in their lifetime. statistically, most men who rape do so for the first time as early as their teenage years, and almost all men who ever rape do so by their mid-late twenties and early thirties.

this doesn’t mean that older men don’t do the same. they do.

the most disgusting statistic is 60%+ reported cases of women and children experiencing sexual assault have been at the hands of relatives, boyfriend or husbands, this goes so far as most deaths at the hands of men are by the hand that knows them.

south africa is a country that faces a high prevalence of gang rape. women stepping outside their homes is the most unsafest thing they could possibly do. and what’s even more sad is women in their homes will still fall victim to the same thing they don’t want to go outside for.

#justiceforkwasa
this young woman was stabbed brutally by her ex boyfriend. she tried to leave. he didn’t give her the choice.

#weremember tshegofatso pule
who was eight months pregnant, stabbed, hanged from a tree by her partner.

#justiceforfetu
shanice “fetu” jonathan was a 26 year old mother who was raped and stabbed to death. she was targeted because she was a lesbian.

#weremember sibongiseni gabada
her body was found, decomposed, chopped into pieces and stuffed in a sports bag. she was 34.

and many... many... more...

south africa has been ranked as one of the unsafest countries in the world for women.

and i am scared.

this thread is just to give you a wake up call at what is happening. men. please. CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE and educate yourselves. check your mates and stop being rape apologists. CHANGE. gbv is real. and it is hurting A LOT of women.

and when spreading awareness on gbv... do not say “this could be your girlfriend / sister / mother / aunt / gogo” to spark compassion in men. men should not feel obligated to care about gbv only when it involves a woman they like. respecting women you know isn’t respecting women

you should want to stop gbv REGARDLESS of who the woman is. she’s not JUST someone’s sister, girlfriend or mother. she is SOMEONE. period.

i’ll make my second thread on how we can stop gbv. please make this country safe. i won’t say “make south africa safe again” because honestly... it’s never been.

justice for women and children.

#stopgbv !

end of thread.