WE at the Northglen News were shocked when somebody called in anonymously and said that Gayle Graham, who was brutally assaulted at Durban View Park in Umhlanga last week, “deserved it”.
We were left wondering what the mother of six had done wrong. We could not conjure up a reasons why that could justify one man beating her up over a parking space? None.
And while Gayle and her husband Michael have laid charges and the matter is yet to be ventilated in court, I agree with our hundreds of readers who commented on our Facebook page with the overwhelming majority saying that this type of behaviour was disgusting.
For me it was more saddening that as we have just come out of Women’s Month and head towards the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign, that abuse of women is still rampant.
The day and the month dedicated to protecting women and their rights as human beings are futile. If they had some kind of effect, surely the man alleged to have assaulted Gayle would have been cautious in some way. And if he were not mindful of it surely, he was taught, at some stage in his life, not to lift his hands to a woman. Ever.
Unless you have been on receiving end of abuse with no way to defend yourself, it will be difficult to understand what a serious bruising this does to a woman.
Its damage goes much further than the blue eye. It hurts deeply and embeds a sense of worthlessness that is difficult to shake. That was my experience and undoubtedly that of thousands of other women at the receiving end of abuse.
Seems Gayle became a victim because she stood up for herself. She told them that they could not hold a parking space for somebody when she and her husband were next in line to park. Parents teach your sons that hitting a woman should never enter their heads but more importantly teach your daughters that they, like Gayle, should never accept the abuse.
