In the days leading to Ake Arts and Literature Festival, there was a huge rumble. Apparently, one of the darlings of the literati had put up a series of posts questions why in cases of sexual harrassament (for the sake of this post, harrassment will include rape, DV and all other disgusting behavior related to it), there is a huge rush to support the victim and shame the accussed even without caring to know or find out if the accusation is false.

Nnedi okorafor had dared to question why people who are accussed of sexual harassment are suddenly demonized without anyone trying to follow the general rule of "innocent until proven guilty". The horror, the hell, the fights, the drawn lines that came as a result was so much she, in all her powers, strength, intelligence and beauty had to delete the tweets which basically is a form of "running back to your house to hide under your parent's bed after you have been flogged" and even after that, some people had planned to call her out during the festival

But really?

American movie director, Emily Lindin last night in a series of tweets said that she is willing to accept that innocent people accused of harrassment will be jailed, lose jobs and respects, lose value, lose family, lose their names etc because too many women have been victims of harrassments and if innocent people are hit in the process of fighting this, then fine. So basically, to her, if you are accused of harrassment, you did it and she is willing to join the bandwagon to fight you, trend your name, make you lose your job, possibly lose your family and if you can't stand the shame and take your own life, oops.

Now, as much as I find punisment by social media very effective and it has helped a lot of people get justice in the sense of naming and shamming, the attitude of "if he/she was accused of it, I will assume the person did it and fight the person without prove" is scary because the court of public opinion is harsh. You can lose everything in hours and never get a chance to take it back even if you are found to be innocent.

I believe that in fighting evil, we should not create another form of evil. In fighting patriarchy, don't let us create some hedious monster to take its place. Yes, I understand that sexual harrassment is hell and it has to be fought but I believe there are better ways to fight it than put the innocent on the line saying "they are collacteral damage" we as feminists have to do better, we have to do more. If we want to replace a system which we have found to be corrupt, shameful, disgusting and needing a total change, we need to replace it with a system where almost no one is a victim or bystander who was hit by a stray bullet. We as feminists need to demand more from ourselves the same way we demand more from other. Call out the bullshit in our ranks because this bullshit will simply derail progress.

You ask why it will derail progress? a lot of people who are accused of harrassment actually did it (going by percentages) but when innocent people get shamed by this new system of justice, there will be a reaction, a backlash, a call to order by the authorities. Laws will be made, consequencies will be fuxed and guess what it will be against? This gag will not just be against calling out people who are accused but innocent but against all forms of calling out. Soon, it will be illegal to publicly accuse anyone of these things except you go through some government stipulated process just because some people dont have the sense to draw lines.

To the Kings out there, you are Kings. Act like Kings, dont do these yama yama things, hold your heads high, wear your crown with pride and dont get stained because of a few minutes of pleasure.

To the Queens, be brave, strong, break boundaries, refuse to be limited by society, draw your own limits yourself and flourish in your own success.

Mynd Out

Nobodys:
.

Bigbeard:
Interesting.

I hope this thread isn't about Ake festival because mentioning it corroded the topic at hand.


Anyways, I look forward to read what the Angelic spacebooker ahead of me has to say.

If she's intelligent enough, I might just take her home to mama before this year runs out.

Nobodys:
lolzx.... I have read the thread over and over and still don't know what to say oo.....

Bigbeard:


Perhaps we can discuss this privately. I'd like to have.an Angelic view on a few other topics.

walcut:
mehn... nice article, but a perfect world is mere fantasy, people will always be victims of the sins they did not commit.

Nobodys:
lolxzz. will prefer here.

tosyne2much:
Rape accusation is a very bad one but the most saddening thing is that some people are wrongly accused of rape but are never given the chance to prove their innocence.

Even some ladies use "rape accusation" as a tool of getting back to an offender

dingbang:
The society has become so bad to the extent that these vices are now seen to be like a norm. The attitude of the society to victims of sexual harassment ain't what I expect it to be as in the days of old. Even to the extent you begin to hear comments like.. 'So is she the first person to be raped on earth"?

To the Queens, be brave, strong, break boundaries, refuse to be limited by society, draw your own limits yourself and flourish in your own success.