The civil society and the rape culture. A charge!!!!

Part 1

The Nigerian structure is very faulty and as such, it makes every effort feel like one is fetching water into a basket. This structure has adversely affected so many sectors, thereby making efforts of the concerned civil society somewhat futile. While we can’t dispute the fact that there is a lot of gaps and lacuna in the Nigerian system especially with the government, we can not hide our faces away from some important issues that cannot be totally left in the hands of the government. 

‘I wrote this article about four weeks ago. I was complacent and didn’t find it worthy of publishing and so I just kept it in my draft. With the current happening, I thought it would be a good time to publish.’

The rape culture

In my research and reading, while trying to gather information on this topic, I realized that writing about it will just add to the number of well-meaning articles already written about this topic. (This doesn’t mean we would ever stop talking about it).

With the hashtags #justiceforuwa #justicefor being one of the trending topics for days now, you’d realise that we are far from the end of this menace.  This is not the first time neither would it be the last of it. It seems to me like at every time it comes up, it sort of reawakens Nigerians to the reality that this monster is still prevalent in our society. It also gives us a view of how far behind we are in really addressing this menace. 

There has been so much intellectual discussion on this topic. With so many undergraduates using it has their project topic and other many intellectual talk and presentations on this topic.

Just like every other sector, we have to move away from solely relying on or expecting the government to help in curbing this menace, the entire civil society has a lot of work to do. There is the need for re-orientation of several minds. reading comments online is very sickening. You’d realise how myopic a lot of people are in their thinking. 

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It just seems to be like the bulk of the work have been left to some individuals to handle, thereby little or no involvement from individuals. Thank God for the #metoomovement, it gave more light into the fact that the rape culture is still very prevalent in our society.

The Entertainment Industry.

Music has a strong impact on lives and influences the mind, attitudes and reasoning of so many people. Imagine if the with the number of fans that, Wizkid, Davido, Naira Marley and the likes have, they use their medium to kick against rape. Many songs I hear have the rape culture engraved in their lyrics. It is high time Popstars mixed their music with messages that reveals and educate and trash out these societal ills

‘There are so many talented Artisties that can address these issues in their songs and it would be beautifully crafted.’

The movie industry. Watching a lot of Africa Magic Yoruba, and other Nollywood movies, I’d say that industry has failed us. With the number of people that watch these movies, it forms something in peoples’ subconscious. They show us that a woman is still a subject. A typical Yoruba movie, when a wife denies her husband sex for a night, you see family member tell the woman that she is the husband’s property and he has paid her dowry. hence she shouldn’t deny him “his right”. In a rape story, they make it all about the victim.

‘Thank God for series like MTV Shuga which educates us these matters and many more.’

READ ALSO:https://www.simiteds.com/preventing-responding-to-gender-based-violence/

The Charge

You, as an individual, as a member of a family, society, religious group, media, etc. You have a role to play through your actions, inactions, poems, music, writeups, and other things you find yourself involved in to take out time to talk about this menace that has eaten deep into our society.

Educate your young ones about sex and what harassment entails. It does not necessarily have to be on social media, start a conversation with your family members. Understand their view and explain to people. Don’t be tired of explaining especially to the little ones that their ideologies are just getting developed.

The work we have to do is how to dismantle the rape culture idea, to change the attitude that tolerates this culture.