The media has a moral obligation to assist in dealing with gender-based violence, as enunciated from the last episode of the much-loved reality show Our Perfect Wedding,
This episode displayed how blind and insensitive we have become as society to issues relating to gender-based violence. Even more disappointing is that, as people, we tend to be influenced heavily by media-driven agendas.
What is normally displayed in the media many a time informs our perceptions on certain societal issues. In this case, I find it very disturbing that Mzansi Magic finds it acceptable to air an episode like the one they did [recently].
I have often argued with my peers on the age difference between lovers and my argument has precisely been that there is nothing wrong with a 10- or even a 15-year gap difference between lovers, as long as the woman is within the legal age to engage in an intimate relationship.
Fifteen and 25, and 30 and 40 have both got a 10-year difference, but there is something wrong with a 25-year-old dating a 15-year-old, in my view.
Besides my personal discomfort with this and the laws of the country, this seems wrong on all levels. Shouldn’t a teenage girl be concentrating on her studies and a 25-year-old guy be with his peers who are in tertiary institutions or working?
I am certain a lot of us who watched Our Perfect Wedding were astonished and shocked with the sentiments made by the groom. The timing was utterly wrong, let alone the content and the context in which it was aired.
This episode also displayed that we have now, as a society, normalised the abnormal, or what we considered to be taboo, and our value system as people has definitely changed for the worse.
If a guy can openly boast that he would desire to sleep with four girls a day and sees nothing wrong with that, what does that mean to the parents of the bride and the community where they stay to allow such things to happen?
Even more disappointing is the girl who feels like a heroine of some sort because she has managed to bust her boyfriend cheating a number of times and it did not matter because she is the one who won his heart and eventually married him.
Are these the type of girls that we are proud of as a nation, those that can withstand any form of abuse as long as their ultimate goal of being married is realised?
I strongly believe that Mzanzi Magic should not have aired that episode and [should] distance themselves from it. We need the media to play a role in the fight against abuse and exploitation of women and children rather than pulling in a complete opposite direction.
