If You Don't Laugh and Shake Your Head, Your Money Back.

There's a certain kind of news article I like to post. Not many meet the requirements necessary for ATS, but this one does. It's got sex, drugs, the police, possibly witchcraft, well, I'll just give you a teaser, then you're own your own. (I know this is a minimal post, but the article is well worth it by itself.)

"Let me warn all social miscreants who are soiling the country's social fabric, cultural norms and values by perpetrating abominable and weird activities of women sexually molesting men, sometimes at gunpoint, to stop the practices forthwith," he warned.

Source

I don't get it.

Have you read the article? It reports on a "Man bites Dog" twist to a fairly common criminal event. I found it very strange, and a fertile ground for witty (if off-color) comments.

I don't get it. What's funny about rape?

Back in a bit, called to duty. May I suggest looking at the comments to the original article? I find the inversion of the patriarchal paradigm intriguing in its own right, without including consideration of the variations in cultural dynamics. The contrast between mechanical conveyances, modern tranquilizing technique, and fertility rites bring jocular thoughts to mind. (I can write like that for hours, I've been to school)

my goodness that was amusing.

it was a strange piece of article- like reading about an alternate reality.

be careful men, over that side, 20-somethin women do the raping.

you even get drugs and condoms.



.........*holiday*

Considering the source, this is probably totally concocted rubbish.

Although it may seem funny to foreigners (simply because it is so outrageous) it is very unfunny in the context of some African countries, where gays and "aggressive" women are demonized to allow for brutal oppression in the name of "anti-imperialist" patriarchal dictators.

The truth is actually the other way around.
The rape of women, and its implied threat of HIV, has been used as a political means of terror and coercion in Zimbabwe.

Some dictators in sub-Saharan Africa are using propaganda that implies "feminism" and "gay rights" are an imperialist conspiracy to undermine their societies.
This is then used to justify mass arrests and political violence (sometimes with the support of religious figures).

Lesbian women are raped in order to "cure" them at epidemic levels (corrective rapes), and a whole bunch of conservative men think that they are undermined because women have become too cheeky and powerful.
This is just propaganda grist to their mill.
Men are too weak, and can regain their social power by supporting nationalistic dictators and conservative religions.
This is what's implied.

There is no way that the long-suffering women of Zimbabwe will ever drive around in gangs and somehow drug men in order to rape them.
It goes into all kinds of myths about traditional views on male sexuality, for example, that it is so uncontrollable that even an unconscious man can be raped by a woman who willingly excites him (and by implication women are really responsible for all rape).

It's a very dark and wicked inversion of what goes on in Zimbabwe before every "election", and somehow makes the men who are expected to perpetrate this violence against the opposition feel less guilty.
It says: either we put the women in their place by rape, or they will rape us, so when we rape it is really just self-defense.

This is propaganda to fuel masculine nationalism amongst Mugabe's supporters, and detracts from the fact that he virtually ruined the bread-basket of southern Africa.

Thank you for your thorough response. I agree with all of the points in your post. Mugabe is a vicious, brutal man. He shows no foresight or judgment, and his methods for destroying a strong and proud country will be studied for years.

Originally posted by halfoldman
Considering the source, this is probably totally concocted rubbish.
Although it may seem funny to foreigners (simply because it is so outrageous)

For you (and others) that was my point. I'm sorry that I failed to communicate it. It is such a bizarre story, and so susceptible to frat boy humor, that I thought it would lighten the mood. I either failed to present it correctly, or misjudged my audience. Either way, my apologies. (I still recommend that you take a quick glance at the comments posted below the article.)

reply to post by charles1952

Yeah, I think it's quite important to highlight the misogynistic and homophobic hatred that hides under the guise of state-sponsored/anti-Imperialistic journalism in some African countries.

It is deeply concerning.

reply to post by charles1952

Typically, male hitchhikers on Zimbabwe’s main highways are offered a lift. The drivers are sometimes male, but usually female.

The hitchhikers are then drugged – sometimes by having a cloth with a mystery substance pulled over the faces or through an injection – before they are driven to dark spots or safe houses where the attacks occur.

The victims are forced to be intimate with the female attackers, sometimes without protection, but where a condom is used, semen is collected.

Victims are typically stripped of their possessions before being dumped by the roadside.

At least they're alive. Guys in North America often kill their female victims. Or maybe that's just in Canada. I can never be sure.

Also - sounds a bit like payback.

.....Sort of funny, maybe - but probably only to a guy. I'll give you a flag and a star for weirdness tho.