SA men: A history of violence
MBUYISELO BOTHA & WESSEL VAN DEN BERG: GENDER JUSTICE
We have both experienced this form of socialisation, this pressure to conform, to adhere to toxic notions of masculinity. We have both experienced the consequences of not conforming. These practices have to be challenged and transformed if we are to rid our society of violence, discrimination, hate, sexism and racism.
Wessel van den Berg
As a white, Afrikaans-speaking man, I consider myself both an Afrikaner and an African. When I first watched the Kommandokorps video, I was sick to the stomach and outraged. Once again I would have to defend my culture to my diverse group of friends and colleagues and repeat that we are not all like that. At the same time, I was surprised by how deeply the video affected me, because I live and work in a context far removed from the Kommandokorps world. The unease sprouted from an old familiarity I have with the discourse of the Kommandokorps cadet camps. As an Afrikaans-speaking white man born long before 1994, I recognised the rhetoric of "true Afrikaner manhood" and how racism is embedded in it. I was regularly exposed to this discourse at school cadet camps and in classrooms and friends' homes when I was young. There was little or no room for other forms of masculinity. During break time as a teenager, my friends would share their bravado stories of how the men in their family used violence towards black people to prove how manly they were. These experiences returned vividly when I watched the Kommandokorps video.
Mbuyiselo Botha
Growing up in Sharpeville, I witnessed the normalisation of violence first hand. During the struggle, if one was not willing to participate in the consumer boycotts, for example, you were punished in two ways. First, you were forced to consume the products you bought, including raw meat, washing powder and full bottles of fish oil. Then, in addition, this punishment was embedded in the message that you were a wimp or a sissy and did not act like a "real man". The "real men" were eager to be violent; they did not show any reluctance. Violence became normalised as part of manhood. Its association with masculinity was present on both sides of the struggle, where both soldiers and fighters equated being a man with their achievements in the heat of the conflict.
Research tells us that most men in South Africa are not violent towards women. But the lack of expressed outrage from Afrikaner men about groups such as the Kommandokorps perpetuates the myth that all Afrikaner men are like that -- committed to violent, racist forms of masculinity. Gender equality is fundamental to democracy. It is high time they joined the debate.
Mbuyiselo Botha and Wessel van den Berg work for Sonke Gender Justice Network, a non-governmental organisation that promotes gender equality in Africa
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-23-sa-men-a-history-of-violence
