Plain Truth: Let's stop treating women as sex objects

Date: 24 August 2012   Read: 948

August has been declared as the month of women in South Africa. During this month, South Africans across the length and breadth of this country remember the heroics of those women who have gone ahead of us.

Many stories of such women are told in different social forums, whilst some remain untold. Stories that remain untold have a lot to do with the physical, psychological and emotional abuse that South African women suffer at the hands of men (husbands and other male relatives).

I want to reflect a bit on those untold sexual abuse stories. Sexual abuse is, in most instances, associated with the stigma of rejection. Women who have been sexually abused by their own often do not want to come into the open because they do not want to be rejected by their families. In some instances, they do not want to do that for fear of becoming a laughing stock. They would rather die in silence than be terrorized or face abusive language being hurled at them for having been violated.

In dedicating this article to those victims of abuse, I would like to point out two most critical factors that perpetuate such cases. African men, in some instances, view women as lesser human beings than they are (inferior); some regard women as weaker beings that can be easily bulldozed or manipulated by men; some look at them as sex objects, and whatever relations they have with them, men are more interested in sex than in anything else. That is why many marriages are not built on the firm foundation of love but that of sex; hence, women are rated  more highly when they enter their bedroom than when they leave it. A man might not share a joke with his wife or talk to her during the day, but would like her to fulfill her conjugal responsibilities at night with a broad smile. Some African women are seen as child-making factories, to the point where they remain valuable only for as long as they continue to give birth. As a result of the above-mentioned reasons, African women have always experienced abuse from those men who should have loved and cherished them instead of seeing them as sex objects.

The plain truth about these matters is that our women are not sex objects and should never be treated as such. God created them in his own image, in the same manner as the men. Men and women are both sexual beings who should enjoy a sexual relationship within the context of marriage: “The two shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). We should bring back respect for the institution of marriage at all costs. There is no place where the total sharing of sex is more beautifully pictured than in the relationship between a man and his wife. It is a symbol of a spiritual relationship and the expression of the complete oneness of two persons in married love. Let us stop treating women like sex objects! - Prof Derrick Mashau ([email protected])

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