Why Arent You Vexed........
I wish I could be more articulate and lay out my points more
concisely but notwithstanding, I have to try to get this off my chest.
I was referred to 2 articles written recently by 2 Nigerian authors and I must state that they were both opinion pieces. I respect everyone’s fundamental right to express themselves but some articles leave me with a bad taste in my mouth and make me wonder if the authors require psychiatric attention. No, I am not being insulting.
The 1st article was written by Kenechi Uzochukwu –
Men can do nothing against rape. Please read the article here -http://mail.ipaidabribenaija.com/news/item/15728-men-can-do-nothing-against-rape-kenechi-uzochukwu.
It was initially published on Ynaija. I urge you to read this piece and form
your opinions but I must say that after I read it, I was incensed. Summary of
the article- women that are raped aren’t just victims, they are accomplices because
they dress indecently. So these women should be blamed for dressing indecently
and causing men to sin. There are a number
of things wrong with the opinions expressed in this article. So, rape isn’t rape?
It’s just the natural response of men to indecently dressed women? It makes it sound
like this guy condones rape. He implies that rapists are normal but they are
just provoked. If we allow ourselves to follow this line of thought it means
that in the devoutly Islamic countries where women are covered from head to
toe, there should be no rape. But we all know this is false. The article also implies
that men are unable to control themselves. This would mean that, they are creatures
ruled entirely by impulse, no better than animals. See a scantily clad woman
and tear her clothes off!!!
The 2nd article which I found even more repulsive was written by a Joshua Oyeniyi – Lactating mothers and public decency. Please read it here-http://www.naijastories.com/2013/01/lactating-mothers-and-public-decency. Summary of this article (pretty much in the same mold as the 1st article) is that men cannot be blamed for their normal response of later raping some woman because they saw a mother feeding her child and her breast was exposed. The author went on to claim that when men see these ‘indecent’ breast feeding mothers, they are forced to react. Either they seek out sex with the next available girl/woman and this leads to an abortion or an unplanned pregnancy or even worse, these men become desperate and rape some other woman. All these because a woman is breastfeeding in public? I can honestly say I understand his point about people (men and women) being uncomfortable when a woman just pops out her breast in a public place. That said, I don’t get why it becomes her fault if the man is unable to control his urges.
The underlying link between these 2 articles is the idea
that men are not to blame for things they do- the act of rape or that of denying that the
woman you had unprotected sex with is pregnant.
If we follow this line of reasoning, it would imply that a past history of exposure
to an indecently clad woman or a breastfeeding mother has led to an alteration
in brain chemistry thus making self control impossible.
I am tired and find it difficult to understand why men aren’t vexed with the way they are painted in the Nigerian media. A lot of ills- from rape to abortion to domestic violence, are blamed on the woman starting a chain reaction in a man. Basically, they imply that men are incapable of thought or other higher functions that allow them to stop and think, or achieve any form of self control.
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