The past two weeks has seen a number of women stripped in different parts of Kenya for being indecently dressed. This has sparked a huge debate on social media and the country in general. The debate has raised so many gender issues that as a nation, we deluded ourselves that we had dealt with.
Kenya prides itself as being one of the most developed countries in Africa. Their social values are considered forward but listening to people these past week has made me feel like we are living among animals. The arguments that people are using to justify such a lowly act of stripping a woman have left me dumbfounded.
First and foremost, you cannot use African culture as a defense. Most of the African tribes walked naked before colonialism and some still do and those societies do not have men running around behaving like dogs on heat. When you watch the video, you can clearly see that the perverts that did this were more concerned with touching her breasts and vagina that were covered with clothes. This was a flimsy and unjustified excuse for men to sexually violate a woman. I have been sexually violated and I know first hand that these people do not need anything to do what they do.
If I hear any other person claim that she brought this on herself, I will puke. Here is where most Bible thumping Christians fall. According to them we should raise men that cannot control their urges. However, we should teach women how to dress in a way that will not seduce men. Dressing ‘seductively’ is having an agenda to seduce. This is complete bullshit! First Kenyan men need to get off their high horse. Women do not dress for men. We do not wake up every morning thinking of the outfit that will please all the men we meet. Hard as it is to believe, when I wear that mini, it is for me. I feel good in it and I think that is a good enough reason to put it on.
Again and again the church disappoints me in taking a stand that is altogether stupid. When did social justice stop being an issue for the church? The church cannot define modest and therefore cannot hide behind that concept to justify the acts of these hooligans.
A Facebook group started by Kilimani mums organized a protest. I have gone to the streets before and I know that organizing a protest is not easy but these women proved that nothing is impossible when people with a cause come together. The protest was well organized and peaceful and in the end, we achieved what took us to the street. We handed our petition to the police and chief justice.
One of the highlights of the protest for me was to see women refused for this issue to become a political issue. The women political leaders including the current women’s representative was quiet during the whole storm. She did not give a statement to condemn these actions. Rachel Shebesh like any wise politician was waiting to ride on public opinion. Since it was divided, keeping quiet served her political interests. However, Esther Passaris chose to speak up and went above and beyond to support the campaign. The protest attracted both local and international media attention and Shebesh now felt that joining the cause would benefit her so she showed up during the protest and wanted to take over the agenda. Women vehemently rejected her plea to address them and only accepted listening to Passaris. This was a relief to me and a sign that we citizens of Kenya have the ability to make these politicians irrelevant.
Gender issues continue to plague our country and although the protest was successful, there is a huge task ahead of engaging the whole society in a healthy conversation about gender to encourage change.
Foregone Illusions 