Men urged to end toxic masculinity

With South Africa presenting frightening statistics – such as a five times higher rate of femicide compared to other countries and at least 100 sexual offences reported daily – analysts on Tuesday made an impassioned plea to men to help move the country from toxic to positive masculinity.

An expert panel, however, conceded during a webinar that poor coordination, working in silos and being incoherent weakened the battle against the culture of toxic masculinity, which fuelled gender-based violence (GBV).

The panel included Deputy Minister of Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, Men’s Sector deputy chair Dr Matome Kganakga and Commission for Gender Equality commissioner Sediko Rakolote.

It was moderated by Luxolo Matomela of the German Development Corporation. While men made up most offenders in GBV cases, Rakolote argued against a general slating of masculinity.

“As society, we need to appreciate that there is nothing wrong about masculinity, but there is something wrong about toxic masculinity,” he said.

“The real problem with toxic masculinity is that the phenomenon assumes that for one to be a man, one has to retrain from personal emotions – being told that men don’t cry, with one having to be dominant over other fellow human beings [and] avoiding losing at all costs. Rakolote said key drivers of toxic masculinity included some
cultural and traditional beliefs, which relegated women to second-class citizens in society.

“There are some traditional cultural and religious beliefs that promote men. Some media platforms also perpetuate toxic masculinity.

“If you look at some television story lines, they objectify women, with men projected as strong characters. As a system, capitalism also promotes toxic masculinity by using patriarchy as a lever to attain its objectives.”

He said patriarchy relegates women to domestic tasks – justifying their underpayment, with the argument being that women are less productive.

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“The SA labour market is also characterised by a skewed division of labour, where you will find women in the agricultural sector, doing seasonal, domestic work, care and informal trade. Capitalism as a system promotes economic inequalities.”

Rakolote called on families, schools, the media and faith based organisations to embed a culture promoting gender equality. He said the commission had “a loose mandate and a low budget to impact meaningfully” in addressing GBV.

Kganakga described masculinity as “a social construct”, which differs in many societies.

“It is important to look at toxic masculinity holistically, by focusing on the systemic and structural nature of violence, due to the social, political and economic system.”

On “catching them young to create positive masculinity”, Bogopane-Zulu said: “We need to accept the fact that toxic masculinity starts very young.

“If I am a woman raising a boy, sometimes I miss the signs, due to raising children alone. As a result, we are raising very angry people – not deliberately but because there is not the other party to help.

“The process of us trying to play both roles of mother and father raising a boy who will one day be a husband to someone’s daughter, is not easy.”

Bogopane-Zulu said growing up not knowing who or where your father is, “builds anger”.

– brians@citizen.co.za