Violence culture fuels GBV prevalence
International Peace Youth Group coordinator, Abisola Shoforyeke says being exposed to violence at a young age can have a negative impact on children during their adulthood and possibly lead to some being either gender-based violence (GBV) perpetrators or victims.
Speaking at Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWLP) Southern Africa Silencing Guns Project focussed on GBV in Botswana on Wednesday, Shoforyeke pointed out that if children are exposed to a negative culture it might affect them negatively in the long term. She added that violence in play culture also had a negative impact on them.
“As we know, boy and girl toys are very different. While girls normally play with dolls, boys love to play with guns and swords fighting each other. They say words that are normal and used to hearing such as ‘I will kill you, I will destroy you and die’. Constant exposure to those words and even the brutal things we see in video games and computer games as we grow up have a negative impact on us. At a later stage in life, how will these impact how we see people, how we treat people, how we interact with others and the words we say?” she asked.
“While watching television we often see movies where people ‘take care’ of the other person, which is a crime in real life to kill another human being. We also see a culture of hate speech that goes on social media. We see that some news stations sensationalise acts of violence and only cover news that is negative,” she said.
Shoforyeke added that this impacts both children and adults influencing the way that they speak to each other. She pointed out that people started normalising hating on someone and negatively attacking them in different ways through different social media platforms. She added that verbal violence impacted more on the person who was at the receiving end of it. She said the victim in most cases tends to get more affected than the offender adding that negative words were more damaging to an individual crushing their self-esteem.
Furthermore, she said in Botswana, the culture of violence was prevalent, especially in relationships. She explained that women were normally at the receiving end of GBV. As harsh as that may seem, she said men were not transforming as quickly as women in terms of their views on GBV. She also emphasised that one in three women worldwide experienced physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime. She added that a male partner committed 38% of murders of women.
“67% of women experienced abuse, which is over double the global average. In Botswana alone, during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic that impacted the world globally, we see that the hard lockdown led to the death of 2,223 women of 2,273 cases of violence that were reported. However, in comparison to 2019, the whole entire year, only saw 2,265 cases of GBV. The types of GBV we find in our society are intimate partner violence. This type of violence is mostly experienced by women,” Shoforyeke explained.
She went on to explain that intimate partner abuse was influenced by alcohol and the perpetrators’ upbringing. She said if a child grows up exposed to a culture of violence, they were more likely to engage in some kind of violence they grew up exposed to. She added that intimate partner violence in Botswana had seen its ugly head in Botswana as the prevalence of passion killings amongst the youth escalated due to jealousy and normalising violence. She said it was up to the youth to stop GBV.
For her part, Ludo Maphorisa from Volunteer Hub said GBV remains shrouded in Botswana. She added that it was covered up in a culture of silence and normalisation. She added that United Population Fund in Botswana cites as follows; one in four women (25%) and one in five men (21%), reported experiencing some act of sexual abuse as children before the age of 18. She said child sexual abuse is associated with the experienced and perpetration of intimate partner violence and non-partner rape.
“66% of male perpetrators reported being abused as children. Most of this was physical abuse although 24% experience sexual abuse as a child. Linked intimate partner violence (IPV), most gender violence occurs in intimate partnerships. Almost two in three, 62% report having ever experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Almost one in four (23%) of women and girls report experiencing sexual harassment in public places including workplaces and schools. It goes unreported because they fear victimisation and difficulties providing proof,” she said.