A Twitter thread of men bragging about mistreating women is the last thing we thought we would see in the heightened awareness and activism around gender-based violence in the country and internationally.
A simple tweet, “Gents what's the worst thing you've done to a lady?” by @CalvinDuncan17 sparked a string of men sharing horrific stories of how they have treated women badly, followed by a string of congratulations from the rest.
“You're a King”, “My Man!”, “Leadership” are some of the congratulatory comments respond with after each story.
Had my girl from Bloem coming ko Jozi to visit for the weekend, then I went ko Petori that same Friday and ended up sleeping over at the Pta's chicks flat. Poor child was left stranded ko parkstation with nowhere to go bro pic.twitter.com/btjMlgrq6z
— Whiskey_In_A_TeaCup? (@Inno_Unlock) November 5, 2018
One user wrote: “Didn't give her a lift on purpose & it was raining hard (sic).
Another user wrote: “Convinced her to stay at the party when her friends were leaving (11PM). Took her to the crib then I told her I’m going to drink water. Locked the door & went back to the party Came back around 4am (sic)”. Comments in response to this one, included multiple laughing emoticons.
???????? o mpya
— c a l v i n . (@CalvinDuncan17) November 5, 2018
There is no question that these are accounts of men who have put women’s lives and emotional wellbeing in serious danger.
Left her in town and I drove away with her pace and she walked from Cbd to turffontein as punishment for going out with her friends without my approval??
— Music&Lights?? (@Shabzen) November 5, 2018
Statistics SA’s Crime against Women in South Africa survey shows that greater percentages women were victims of theft of personal property, sexual offence and fraud in the past year than in previous years.
It's horrifying to see the jokes and encouragement on the rest of the thread as too few Twitter users raised any concern about the injustices against women.
One of the few women who did participate in this thread called for a different thread inviting women to relay their experiences of how they have been treated by men. We can all imagine how disturbing those accounts would be.
Please create a thread for us girls too one day... so we can expose what some of these dogs have done to us ??????
— Kaylie? (@Kaylen_Nkosi23) November 5, 2018
I shared the thread with my colleagues to hear their thoughts. This is what they had to say:
What are your thoughts on this Twitter thread? Tell us your thoughts here.
If you bumped into any men you know whose thoughts shocked you or are looking to start a conversation around the topic of gender-based violence with someone, here are five important reads to share.
1. A real sense of what women have gone and continue to go through, shared directly with our president: What we've learned from the Gender-based Violence and Femicide Summit
2. Imagine having to teach young girls self defence? 11-year-old girls are being taught feminist self-defence as part of sexual and gender-based violence awareness
3. Crime stats: Gauteng has the highest number of reported rape cases in SA. Read more about which other cities come in second and third place
4. How tavern owners are taking ownership: #HeforShe Taverns is encouraging men to actively join the conversation around gender-based violence
5. Mistreatment and abuse are no joke: "You burned my food" - and more horrifying reasons men give their partners to justify domestic violence
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