That we don’t flinch when the bodies of six women are found decomposing in Johannesburg says everything about South Africa’s attitude towards women, writes Eusebius Mckaiser.
There is a second reason we often respond with inappropriate silence and indifference to such stories. Some people are regarded as less worthy of our empathy. Sex Workers Education & Advocacy Taskforce noted speculation that the six women found dead in central Johannesburg might have been sex workers. It concurs with this in light of recent attacks on sex workers in the area and reports of some going missing.
At any rate, sex work is work. It should have been fully decriminalised years ago. The moral police must shut up. It is not your place to tell another person what to do with their body. If a person wishes to earn a living from sex work, then so be it. I have interviewed many sex workers and organisations working with them. What has always struck me is the audacity of opponents to their work to make assumptions about sex workers without engaging them. They condescend to them, treating them as toddlers who do not know what is in their best interests.
So what are the prospects of South Africa being a safer space for women in the near future? Dim. Sadly. Because the first step towards change is to recognise that men want dominion over women’s bodies. We are in denial about this violent desire. Unsurprisingly. Who would admit to such an immoral and unlawful desire? But our denial, in turn, means we aren't facing up to the ways in which patriarchy plays out daily.
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