Sexual violence and the Church
Rape and sexual violence are prominent issues within our communities and social circles in South Africa and internationally. Over the past few months, across national and international platforms, there has been a huge outcry over violence, particularly sexual violence suffered by woman and children. Many have sought to explore ways of raising awareness and preventing this social injustice.
Spiritfest, as part of their Winter School series ‘Faith and Resistance’ during the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, will be hosting a talk by Doctor Lindsay Kelland in which the ideologies and issues surrounding rape and sexual violence will be discussed.
Doctor Lindsay Kelland is a senior lecturer and feminist philosopher working in the Allan Gray Centre for Leader- ship Ethics (Philosophy Department) at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. She is the recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Community Engagement Award and has published numerous book chapters and articles in South African and international journals. Her work focuses primarily on rape, sexual violence, and menstruation, on the one hand, and ethics, agency and leadership, on the other.
Kelland’s talk will explore the various dimensions of the harm of rape and will then, more importantly, describe the essential role which can be played by others in recovering from these harms.
Kelland notes that the talk is important to all members of society and more so to the members of the church.
“Understanding the harm that rape and sexual violence cause to the individuals that suffer them, to marginalised groups more generally – who are especially vulnerable to this kind of dehumanising treatment – and to the fabric of our community is important for all of us. It is important not only because of the pervasive victim-blaming and shaming culture that we live in – which not only reinforces these harms but perpetuates the patriarchal and heteronormative rape culture that gives rise to the problem in the first place – but also because of the role that we all must necessarily play in the recovery from these harms.”
Within her talk, Kelland will further explain and discuss ways in which one may become more aware of issues surrounding rape.
For instance, “by talking and listening to survivors, activists, and experts, and by critically engaging with the underpinning ideologies that give rise to rape and which we all have, to some degree, internalised. Because of how structurally and ideologically embedded this scourge is in our society, we have to be willing to engage with our own problematic values and beliefs in order to truly understand these issues,” says Kelland.
“As I will show, understanding the issues surrounding rape requires understanding hetero-patriarchal ideology and how it has become deeply rooted in both our own minds and society.”
Kelland believes that “The only way we are able to work sustainably towards the prevention of rape is by unlearning the ways in which we have all become entrenched in hetero-patriarchal ways of thinking and being in the world. This is a responsibility that falls upon all of our shoulders.”
Be sure to catch Doctor Lindsay Kelland’s talk, ‘Recovering from Rape together’, on Thursday 6 July at 11am in the Cathedral Coffee Shop.
For more on Spiritfest visit their digital platforms: http://www.grahamstowncathedral.org/spiritfest/ facebook.com/spiritfest.grahamstown. Instagram: spiritfest_naf