Jennifer Ferguson’s rape claim
Jennifer Ferguson has been overwhelmed by support following her rape allegation against Danny Jordaan
ABOVE: Inspired by the #MeToo social media campaign encouraging women to speak up about sexual abuse, singer and former MP Jennifer Ferguson wrote a blog in which she said she’d been raped by soccer boss Danny Jordaan (RIGHT).
EVEN in the land of social media where things go viral in a heartbeat it was nothing short of phenomenal: a total of 4,7 million shares of the hashtag in 24 hours. More than 12 million posts, comments and reactions. It’s likely even Alyssa Milano, the Hollywood actress who got the ball rolling, was taken aback by the global buy-in.
#MeToo was picked up around the world and translated into dozens of languages as women – and some men – united against sexual harassment and assault.
Spurred on by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the initiative snowballed, with everyone from pop star Lady Gaga and actresses Anna Paquin and Evan Rachel Wood to Icelandic singer Björk lending their voice to the campaign by saying, “Me too.”
South Africans were no different. But one woman whose voice stood out is a singer and former ANC member of parliament who claimed she was raped at the age of 32 by one of the most high-profile figures in SA sport.
Jennifer Ferguson, now 56 and living in Sweden, named Danny Jordaan (66), president of the SA Football Association, in a blog that detailed her alleged ordeal in a Port Elizabeth hotel. She believed she wasn’t the only woman he’d assaulted, she said, and others were bound to speak up too. Since then one other woman has come forward anonymously.
“There are powerful ways of change and portals for transformation,” Jennifer says. “I feel #MeToo has allowed for the expression of truth in varying degrees.”
She wasn’t looking for revenge when she wrote her blog, she says. She also isn’t sure that she wants to lay a criminal charge and go through the harrowing experience of a court case.
“My only concern is if my silence has allowed for similar abuses to take place. On some level I’ve colluded in a conspiracy of silence and that’s a hard area for survivors – when we don’t speak out our silence means this continues.”
JENNIFER had been booked to sing at a banquet hosted by sporting bodies in 1994 and after the performance Jordaan had struck up a conversation with her, she says. He invited her to join him for a drink at the bar. She agreed but said she wanted to change out of her stage costume first.
He followed her to her room, she says. “I felt uneasy as he entered my suite,” she tells us via Skype from Falun, central Sweden, where she lives with her husband, Anders Nyberg, and three children.
“I asked him to wait in the lounge and went to the bedroom to change. A few minutes later the door opened and without a word he grabbed me and forced me onto the bed.”
The rape “must have been over in 20 seconds but felt like a lifetime”, she says. “He left immediately without saying a word.”
She saw Jordaan at breakfast the next morning. “He disappeared as soon as I arrived,” she says. “I’d see him at many political gatherings afterwards, in the corridors of parliament, in our caucus. He’d never meet my eye.”
At the time of going to press Jordaan had refused to comment on the matter. “I will respond,” he told the Sunday Times, “but not yet.”
Jennifer, who’s also a composer and life skills coach, told Anders, a conductor, composer and poet, about the alleged rape early in their relationship.
“He’s been there for me,” she says. “There’s a great sensitivity towards sexual abuse in our family.”
She’s also told her two sons, Ralph (26), from a previous relationship, and Gabriel (21), as well as her daughter, Johanna
‘When we bring forward this hidden thing there’s a sense of relief’
(19), who has Down syndrome.
“My sons have been affected – shocked and saddened – but it’s also allowed for a lot of self-reflection,” she says.
Jennifer has been overwhelmed by the reaction to her blog. “It’s been a tidal wave. When we bring forward this horrible, hidden thing there’s such a sense of relief. I think it calms the storm within and there’s a feeling of peace and trust.
“My mantra continues to be that as we heal ourselves we heal one another.”
THE POWER OF THE INTERNET
Sexual harassment is as old as humankind itself but the internet age has equipped people to speak out – and has proven the power of strength in numbers.
“Until the internet came along we just weren’t having these conversations about what it felt like to be a woman, what it’s like to walk down the street and be harassed and catcalled,” says Caroline Criado-Perez, a British feminist activist and journalist who successfully campaigned for the Bank of England to have female representation on banknotes.
“We didn’t know about the idea of everyday sexism. It was just life.”
Thanks to social media platforms, women are sharing their experiences and it’s helping to ease the stigma.
As for criticism that women should have spoken up years ago, that’s absolute nonsense, British MP Mhairi Black told The Guardian. “Don’t dare put that on folk,” she says. “The exact reason they’re speaking out now is to make sure the next generation don’t have to feel the way they did.”
BEHIND THE SILENCE
Women usually stay quiet about sexual harassment because they feel powerless – especially when perpetrators exercise control over them, says Dr Akashni Maharaj, a clinical psychologist from Durban.
“They feel vulnerable and are afraid of being judged,” she says. “They also remain quiet to avoid further trauma.”
Some women are also ashamed and feel guilty, adds Larissa Ernst, a South African clinical psychologist living in Belgium. “They feel perhaps they should have made more of an effort to avoid the advances or worry they might have invited the abuse.”
When the abuse or harassment is in the workplace, women might fear they won’t get a bonus or promotion if they speak up, Ernst says. “Many women endure the abuse because it’s the only way they can achieve their career goals.”
WHY MEN DO IT
Soon after the Harvey Weinstein scandal erupted, radio host Eusebius McKaiser ran a clip on his show of SA men being asked why they catcalled or chatted up women they didn’t know.
Many felt it was primal, part of their make-up, and that women expected it, that it would be insulting to a woman if they didn’t get chirps or whistles when they’d gone to the effort of getting a new hairstyle or were wearing a sharp outfit.
Rubbish, McKaiser said. Men should learn they were degrading women and it was inappropriate and unacceptable.
“Our society is still strongly rooted in patriarchy,” Ernst agrees. “So a power imbalance exists, which would inevitably lead to men – the ones in the position of power – abusing this position and exploiting women or using them as a means to achieve their own objectives.”
Patriarchy makes it difficult for women to speak out, as they fear they’ll be branded “overly sensitive” or that they “brought it on themselves”.
Men whose sexually abusive behaviour repeatedly goes unchallenged get the feeling they can get away with it and that it doesn’t really matter.
WHAT CAN WOMEN DO?
Put your foot down, Maharaj says. “Explain in no uncertain terms that you need to maintain a boundary between the man and yourself so there’s no confusion.”
Boundaries are important. “Women need to have clarity on where their own boundaries are and how far they’re willing to go to achieve what they want – for instance that film role. Then stick to it.”
“Women need to speak out and protect themselves,” Cape Town clinical psychologist Antje Manfroni says. “If they don’t do it, it can lead to fear, depression and feelings of hopelessness.” S