Sexual Slavery, Sexual and Gender violence...

Sexual slavery, sexual and gender violence…

Sam Mwaka-karama

As I write - this week the World sympathize with modern victims while we all remind ourselves of past and historical even celebrated publicized victims of sexual slavery, sexual and gender violence… and all those women (Young and old) who have been derailed in life by obsessive, imposing and often even organized rape and other aspects of extremism in masculinity - these also should include media and advertisement orchestrated mind-sets that are detrimental to or spur violence in-family.

Talking about sexual and gender violence, without incorporating ‘sexual slavery’ is like diagnosing and treating symptoms - while you don’t want to recognize presence of its root-causes. And you don’t want to recognize these root-causes because it is tied-up to ancient abduction and slavery of Africans whose descendants are now the African-Americans; you are ashamed of that because the American former slave masters… are now the major donor country and, as a dire-needy African, you wouldn’t want to get into their black-books, you don’t want to be seen or heard to root sexual slavery and violence with them. You are therefore playing safe – by not wanting to blame the donors!

But then it is all true; sexual and gender violence as known to modern day civilized world started with sexual slavery: on board ‘the great white ships’ of the trans Atlantic slave trade; the good looking slave women were isolated and raped. Similarly, on board the ‘Trade Wind Arab Dhows’ of the Indian Ocean slave trade; the nude body of the young African woman was irresistible, she was isolated and raped.
African traditional ‘sexual and gender violence’ started first as ‘co-wife wrangles’ that attracted and molded male dominance in the African household; first as reprisal the man who had co-wives that fought each-other, also as a repercussion beat one or both of them. Household sexual and gender violence spread-out to eventually gain in house notoriety. And as Africans began brewing crude-base drinks, the men even became more violent both sexually and physically. These violent trends developed becoming even more and more vicious by the generations.

There are also certain clan-tribe characteristics in Africa that have natural tendency towards violence when involved in sexual relationships - these truly and really exist even to these days, women who would rather be forcefully accessed by the man… they would rather be semi-raped to even enjoy the act… however the modern African woman has come a long way towards submissiveness (older generation African women were actually not as submissive as modern studies might indicate - the man didn’t find access easily and all the time - to them sex was for reproductive purposes - and not for consumerism), however the more modern society woman with education and exposure, awareness and being media savvy, being movie and TV buffs, and avid readers of good books; these category of women have developed romantic comely and more friendly tendencies. Many such African women have even become extroverts; she might propose directly to the man she is attracted to.

By percentage, those women who are stimulated by an element of forcefulness from the man are becoming less and less… while the liberal and more affirmative society women are growing more and more. In other words, a certain type of African woman is disappearing, while the emerging new society woman types (educated or not) are increasing.

Sexual Slavery - might not exist per-say in Africa - but there are certain obscure ‘convenience’ marriages that might eventually evolve and amount to sexual slavery… especially when the girl’s origin was endowed in dire poverty. When the girl was perhaps an orphan. When the girl had separated and often disagreeable parents. When the girl didn’t have proper education and lacked job-security. When the girl lived and grew-up in insecurity away from both parents or with even a more insecure mother. When the girl married a white-man, she automatically was a sexual slave - subjected to certain type of sexuality that wasn’t entirely African, while it might be considered normal by European or American standards, her hold in such marriages can only have connotations of ‘convenience’ which carry with it the slavery-to-wealth and comfort thing.

It is here that serious ‘African Cultural and Sociology’ thinking is needed. To gather-together the thinking around how the young African woman who somehow finds herself abroad and married to a white man - might be salvaged.

The slavery MUST be stopped: Respect of the girl’s culture and roots. Recognition of her parents (cripples, lepers or deranged lunatics they may be, but they parented that young woman). That is where African Union AU legislature has to be formulated, to link with relevant overseas laws, and place control over white men taking advantage of young vulnerable African women - where a parent might be able to contract a local lawyer and even by such small remote action, be able to place caveat over such marriages and bring to bear even claims for legal redress or reparations where necessary.

If high society African-American black people who are PhDs, are agitating for ‘reparations’ over 1500/1600 Trans-Atlantic slave trade - then why mustn’t an African parent whose daughter suffers and dies of ‘HIV/Aids’ or ‘dog rabies’ in Europe - not be able to seek reparations - since the girl might have died in sexual slavery, which is a modern kind of slavery? - “Sexual slavery and sexual and gender violence” - are one and the same. In marriage or outside marriage… as long as there exist ‘educational and wealth’ inequality the relationship becomes that of ‘convenience’ - a fertile ground for sexual violence and sexual slavery.

Between the western world and Africa, there is need for certain new ‘legal frameworks’ and ‘legal practice’ collaborative ‘access-ways’ under Globalization’s new Laws or Conventions to help address this increasingly occurring situation. To help address the many-many Africa’s gender parity questions, there has got to be legal framework of modern International laws that guarantee respect of the African woman wherever they might be. And such laws must be linkable (to and fro) between African Law Firms and Western Legal and Security Systems - whenever need arises to culprit sexual slave masters, even years after their African spouses living abroad might have died under hushed-up circumstances. $$$