I was sitting in the library at school. I overheard a couple of girls at my school watching Muvhango and skeem Saam back to back by the way, courtesy to school Wifi.
Then they started having a conversation about the Characters Lelo from Skeem Saam and Matshidiso from Muvhango. They went on about how they dressing “provocatively” and trying to seduce characters KK and Mangaliso is them in the real world asking to be raped. I stopped doing my homework and continued listening to their onslaught of rape culture. They continued also stating that girls in the real world should never dress like that as they were attracting the wrong attention.
Mind you I was wearing short shorts that day (my school dress code is flexible) one of the girls having that conversation snickered at me. In an attempt to calm my pettiness I laughed and I sashayed out that library. But I felt really affected afterwards, imagine a bunch of 16 year olds already practicing thoughts of rape culture and inward misogyny. Despite being insulted I was hurt that victim blaming has become so common that no one even denies it. The fact that the concept of feeling so ashamed of your body, sexuality being crushed, sexual autonomy in comparison to male counterparts is crushed and all at the age of 16 whilst I’m young and still going through puberty.
Where is South Africa getting it wrong?
These thoughts have manifested themselves and from here on out will just mutate. Me showing my thighs is not consent for rape. Dating girls is not permission for you to rape me and cure my “illness”. Slipping codeine into my friends drink is not incentive for her being raped. I could continue, but this thought process needs to be corrected be it us starting with South African text books or merely correcting the syllabus in South Africa that advocates for rape culture!
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