We need to change the gendered value system
Are men and women different? If so, are those differences significant today? Recently I’ve had two discussions with men about the differences between men and women. Each time, after a long drawn out...
View ArticleSex for sale: The state as pimp
By Zuki Mqolomba Debates on adult prostitution have been raging on in South Africa’s public and legal domains since the 1990s. Debates surfaced in 2007 when Labour Court judge Halton Cheadle ruled on...
View ArticleSecondary victimisation: Rape survivors denied emergency ARVs
The 2007 Sexual Offences Act (SOA) requires that certain services be made available to rape survivors. Among these services, survivors of oral, anal and vaginal rape are entitled to receive...
View ArticleWhy I no longer tell my brother to wear his pants properly
By Siphokazi Magadla Saggy pants is a popular form of displaying rebellion to teenage respectability by young men who wear their trousers far down their waists, often times generously exposing their...
View ArticleThe day I became a woman
I woke up in the morning feeling unsure of myself. It was as if the world had been watching and judging me as I slept. I got up and hurried to look in the mirror. Something was not right. My hair was...
View ArticleThe changing landscape of financial inclusion
Today, there is broad recognition that access to capital is only one of the inputs required for economic development and poverty alleviation. Furthermore, the marginalised — like anyone — require and...
View ArticleOn sexuality and freedom
“It is not enough to inquire into how women might become more fully represented in language and politics. Feminist critique ought also to understand how the category of ‘women’, the subject of...
View ArticleFacebook’s ‘other’ gender problem
By Gcobani Qambela I have always kept the “About” me section on my Facebook very minimal. But recently I decided to update it and fill it up a little. I was shocked when I got to the icon on “gender”...
View ArticleWhat do men talk about?
By Siphokazi Magadla Recently I participated in a workshop about curriculum review on teaching gender and security to military, police and prison officers in southern Africa. I became intrigued by how...
View ArticleFemen: From enthusiasm to disenchantment
A wave of popular interest and sympathetic media coverage helped the “radical” Ukrainian feminist movement Femen, known for their topless “attacks” on symbols of the “patriarchy” (religion, “dictators”...
View ArticleWhy Trevor Noah’s Semenya tweet matters
By Gcobani Qambela The former secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, says: “All the cruel and brutal things, even genocide, starts with the humiliation of one individual.” I was reminded...
View Article‘Side-guys’ and ‘side-chicks’ in the time of Aids
I just read a very troubling article by Mail & Guardian columnist Khaya Dlanga titled “Why do side-chicks happen?” In this article Dlanga claims to investigate in the South African context the...
View ArticleEFF and the return of the warrior citizen
The advent of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has gained much attention as the first clear reconfiguration of youth politics in post-apartheid South Africa. Much has been discussed about the...
View ArticleWhat is a lesbian?
By Kagure Mugo “What is lesbian now?” I begin explaining “queer theory” to my grandmother and the diffusion of human rights and international instruments that hold states accountable. These terms and...
View ArticleWe need to ‘man down’
On the eve of 16 days of activism for no violence against women, Percy Mabandu got his knickers — sorry, XXL boxers — in a knot. “Manhood is under attack”, was the gist of his protestations in his...
View ArticleMandela’s lesson of reconciliation applies to gender divides
As a society on a long walk to making reconciliation a reality, we have already taken significant and decisive strides. Yet, everyday in South Africa is still marked by violence, particularly that of a...
View ArticleHow not to pick up women in SA
Written with Rethabile Mashale* City Press ran a story on December 22 by Charl du Plessis titled “The art of picking up women in SA”. The article on Pick Up Artist SA’s boot camp on picking up women is...
View ArticleI’ve had enough of Bullard. And so should you
In 2008, proud racist David Bullard was fired from the Sunday Times for a column wherein he denigrated black South Africans. In seems that, after the failure of his many legal matters against the...
View ArticleFor Sunduza, Thulo and other black women who choose life
Written with Gcobani Qambela “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights — if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say,...
View ArticleMen in women’s studies
A male student who sued his women’s studies professor for failing him for never attending class was the subject of what I thought (as a women’s studies professor) was an extraordinary report a few...
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