Sonke’s Multimedia Associate, Demelza Bush, is featured on That Skattie today, talking about gender identity and society’s attitudes towards non-binaried people.
News Category: In Electronic Media
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Study showing positive effects of Sonke, RFSU and Reproductive Health Uganda collaboration
Abstract: This study examined the impact of a three-year intervention project conducted in the Hoima district of Uganda, which sought to engage men in sexual and reproductive health as clients, equal partners and advocates of change. Structured surveys with 164 self-reported heterosexual men aged 18-54 years were used to assess knowledge and attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health. Data from these were analysed using Stata and SPSS. Additionally, five focus groups were conducted with the female partners and male beneficiaries of the project and with project peer educators. Four interviews were conducted with project staff and male beneficiaries. Data from these and the focus groups were analysed using a thematic approach.
Following the intervention, a significantly greater number of men accessed, and supported their partners in accessing sexual health services services, had gained sexual and reproductive health awareness, reported sharing domestic duties and contraceptive decision-making, and displayed a decreased tolerance for domestic violence. It was more difficult to assess men’s involvement and behaviours as advocates of change, which sheds light on the complexities of a gender transformative project and the importance of evaluating such projects from both men’s and their partners’ perspectives and at different levels of the male involvement model in sexual and reproductive health.
Lessons learned from engaging men in sexual and reproductive health -
A powerful illustration of the role of power, wealth and silence in sexual abuse being swept under the rug
The man who was once second in line to the President of the United States was indicted by the FBI this week for not reporting large cash withdrawals, as is required by US law, and for lying to the FBI about what these withdrawals were for.
The New York Times now reports that two people briefed on the FBI’s investigation into Dennis Hastert, the man who was once the longest serving Speaker of the US House of Representatives, have just disclosed that Hastert was in fact paying a man to not say publicly that Mr. Hastert had sexually abused him decades ago:
“The man — who was not identified in court papers — told the F.B.I. that he had been inappropriately touched by Mr. Hastert when Mr. Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach, the two people said on Friday.”
The indictment, which does not reflect this same detail, said that in 2010, the man met with Mr. Hastert several times, and that at one of those meetings Mr. Hastert agreed to pay him $3.5 million “in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against” the man (according to the NY Times).
This story is still unfolding but stories of silence, lies and cover ups too often accompany the pain and trauma of survivors of sexual misconduct and assault.
In the USA, civil charges may disappear with a hefty payment and a gag order through a settlement that comes with a confidentiality clause, but the blackmailing of a well known powerful politician, and his eventual potential downfall as a result not of the actions he was trying to hide, but of the cover up itself, is the sort of dramatic twist that can motivate us to think about how much sexual abuse never gets punished, what the role of power is in that, and the rarity of that power being eroded and perhaps, even reversed.
Parents, teachers and priests have for centuries abused children despite their supposed role as protectors.
If true, this revelation that Hastert appears to have been blackmailed and was trying to avoid the truth coming out about his alleged abuse of power and position decades before, and the fact that Hastert was able to rise to the highest echelons of power, despite what the FBI report is alleging, shows the imbalance of power that perpetrators often have that allows them to more successfully keep abusive actions secret.
Over the years we’ve seen many politicians, or leaders, fall as the truth about big lies and cover ups is learned. Often times these are men (or, less often, women) who preach “family values” and condemn others as “sinners”, while little known to the world, they are covering up secrets and even crimes.
Sometimes, the FBI, media or some other power comes along and their houses of cards collapse.
We know this is still an evolving story, but from what we know so far, we can choose to reflect on this story and consider the role of power in keeping perpetrators undiscovered.
[By Czerina Patel]
Payments by Hastert Linked to Report of Sexual Abuse
www.nytimes.com
Two people briefed on an F.B.I. investigation of the former House speaker said the payments were hush money to conceal misconduct during his years as a teacher.
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IOL reports on Sonke’s statement to government on Africa Day
Article in IOL reports on Sonke’s statement to government on #AfricaDay and quotes President Zuma as saying:
“Starting from today, every community and institutions must practice the African Union anthem and must be able to sing it at all gatherings and celebrations…”
http://mobi.iol.co.za/#!/article/zuma-media-blew-up-xeno-attacks-1.1862643
@presidencyZa
IOL: Zuma: Media blew up xeno attacks
Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma has criticised the media for “exaggerating” events and adopting a negative stance in reporting on the xenophobic attacks which recently rocked the country.
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Sonke statement calling on government to end Operation Fiela and to promote African unity
The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa #xenophobia #AfricaDay
SGJ: Sonke calls on Government to embrace African unity on Africa Day
www.polity.org.za
Monday, May 25, is “Africa Day,” and Sonke urges the South African government to take urgent steps to repair relations with other countries in Africa, and to embrace African unity, amidst serious xenophobic violence and government crackdowns targeting African and Asian migrants in South Africa.
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How Operation Fiela is hurting South African children
Article in Al Jazeera English on how Operation Fiela is hurting South African children quotes Sonke’s Demelza Bush:
“Demelza Bush of the national nonprofit Sonke Gender Justice said she saw a 4-month-old-baby whose mother was detained being nursed by another woman in the camp.”
[CP]
Displaced children bear brunt of South Africa’s crime crackdown | Al Jazeera America
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Sonke’s Policy Development and Advocacy Specialist discusses Operation Fiela on ENCA.com
ENCA interviews Sonke’s Policy Development and Advocacy Specialist, Marlise Richter, about Operation Fiela
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/more-migrants-seeking-counseling-after-operation-fiela-crackdown
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Sonke statement on Operation Fiela in AllAfrica.com
AllAfrica.com publishes Sonke and our partners’ statement calling for the South African government to stop arrests and stigmatisation of foreign nationals.
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Great press coverage of Sonke’s parliamentary march calling for urgent TB response
Great coverage of our joint march to parliament calling for an urgent response to TB, including nice quote from Sonke Community Action Team member Mthetho Molekazi:
“A former prisoner and now member of the Sonke Gender Justice and Beyond the Bars support group for ex-inmates, Mthetho Molekazi, said he had contracted TB twice while in prison. The prisons are so overcrowded, some people have to sleep on the floor. In prison you have cells for 18 people, but sometimes 30 to 40 people have to stay in there,” he said.
Molekazi said the first time he contracted TB, he had to undergo six months of treatment, which included medication and injections. The second time, he contracted a multidrug resistant strain. Each day for two years I had to take 18 tablets a day,” he said.
MPs fail to take up TB test challenge – Cape Times
www.iol.co.za -
Sonke’s Katie Bolbach on a national plan to combat gender-based violence
Sonke’s Katie Bolbach writes about South African civil society’s campaign to implement a national plan to combat gender-based violence in Saferspaces:
http://www.saferspaces.org.za/…/civil-society-demands-natio…
Sign petition: tinyurl.com/gbvplan
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Patriarchy must be defrocked
Sonke’s Mbuyiselo Botha writes in the Mail & Guardian about women priests who are defying Catholic doctrine and demanding equality.
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Sonke and Sex Workers Education and Advocacy write letter to President about the wellbeing of sex workers
Sonke’s Nomonde Nyembe, together with Cherith Sanger and Sally-Jean Shackleton from Sex Workers Education and Advocacy (SWEAT), write an open letter to President Jacob Zuma about the well-being of all sex workers in South Africa.
This letter was published in City Press.
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Sonke’s Sisonke Msimang interviews a sexworker on the decriminalization of sex work
Sonke’s Sisonke Msimang co-hosts with Eusebius McKaiser! She interviews Pauline, a sexworker, about why sex work should be decriminalized.
Listen on our soundcloud playlist:
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Don’t Ignore the Screams Next Door
Sonke’s OPED in the M&G online on what we each can do to prevent another Reeva Steenkamp or Anene Booysen:
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Detention Justice Forum website goes live
The Detention Justice Forum is a civil society coalition to advance the rights and well-being of detainees in South Africa. The Forum is co-founded and co-coordinated by Sonke, Wits Justice Project, and Just Detention International. Learn more about the Detention Justice Forum at the newly launched website, www.detentionjusticeforum.org.za.
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Research paper by Sonke’s Tanya Charles published by Institute of Development Studies
A report by Sonke’s Tanya Charles in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has been launched on the IDS website and in their latest newsletter. The report focuses on South Africa’s policy-making processes with reference to the White Paper on Families.
» See the report at IDS.ac.uk
» ‘Marriage Above All Else’: The Push for Heterosexual, Nuclear Families in the Making of South Africa -
Let’s Empower Youth for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Sonke’s Remmy Shawa and Jill Sheffield, Founder and President of Women Deliver, wrote a piece published in the Huffington Post on Monday: Let’s Empower Youth for Sexual and Reproductive Rights.
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Sonke Director Dean Peacock interviewed about death sentence as ineffective deterrent for rape
Four Indian men were sentenced to death by a New Delhi court last Friday for the gruesome gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in December. Sonke’s Dean Peacock was interviewed about the death sentence as a penalty for rape, saying that while it is understandable in cases like this, it is not the most effective deterrent to future violence against women.
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Video on Sonke’s work towards the elimination of violence against women
The Huffington Post has an article by Lynne Featherstone, the UK’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, in which she writes about her experience of the UN CSW. The article includes a video about Sonke and other NGOs in South Africa working towards the elimination of violence against women.
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Ground Up reporters on the mess that is The Maitland Refugee Reception Centre
Sonke intern, Veronica Washaya, is currently participating in the six-month Ground Up training programme to develop community journalists.
This week, the Ground Up team has published a series of articles on the Maitland Refugee Centre exposing abuse and corruption and highlighting the extremely difficult circumstances that refugees face.
- The top featured story on the Ground Up homepage is this:
http://groundup.org.za/content/corruption-and-inhumanity-maitland-home-affairs - The corruption story:
http://groundup.org.za/content/how-immigrants-are-scammed-maitland-home-affairs - An editorial: How the asylum process can be improved:
http://groundup.org.za/content/how-asylum-seeking-process-can-be-improved - An editorial that should raise a few eyebrows: Why we paid a bribe:
http://groundup.org.za/content/why-we-paid-bribe
- The top featured story on the Ground Up homepage is this:
