Isabel Ochoa
“Disgrace”
For the past few weeks, our ASTU class read “Disgrace” by JM Coetzee. This book won the Booker prize in 1999. The author mentions delicate topics in the book, such as sexual assault and the insecurity in South Africa, it is important to mention that these issues are tied to gender and race. This issue is first seen when David Laurie, the main character of the book, is accused for sexual misconduct with one of his university students, Melanie. Later on, he left Cape Town and went to live the “country life” with his daughter Lucy. One day, Lucy’s farm is attacked by three black men; one of them raped Lucy and at the same time, David was beaten up. After this tragic event, Lucy decides not to report her rape, since it is her story, “…a purely private matter”. In this blog post, I would like to talk about rape since it is such a big issue in this book and in real life; more specifically I would like to relate it to South Africa.
Sexual assault is a very serious issue and there has been no clear solution for it. Unfortunately, many people that have assaulted another person manage to get away with it. According to Amnesty International, one in four men (in South Africa) have raped someone, and out of these men half of them have done it more than once. Only one out of nine rapes are reported and a very small amount of them get to go to trial.
As a “solution”, ex-president Jacob Zuma (he was in power from 2009 to 2018), set up a ministry to reduce crime, focusing primarily in women and children and their rights. Ironically enough, he raped a woman in 2006 because she was dressed “provocatively”. I happen to agree with Amnesty International, that it is important that men in power show the population how women should be treated, they shouldn’t be promoting violence in any way. I believe that education about this serious issue could have a worldwide impact. In some way, it is beginning to happen, however we are still a long way to go. Women should be able to wear what they please without feeling uncomfortable; they should feel safe no matter what.
P.S. It is also important to mention that women are not the only gender that get to deal with this issue.
References:
- https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/10/100-best-novels-disgrace-jm-coetzee-intensely-human
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/10/khwezi-woman-accused-jacob-zuma-south-african-president-aids-activist-fezekile-ntsukela-kuzwayo
- https://www.amnestyusa.org/one-in-four-men-admits-to-rape-in-south-africa/