‘Inxeba’ treatment unfair

AS A coloured queer man I was deeply disturbed that the film Inxeba (The Wound) was reclassified to a rating of X18 for strong “pornographic” content as well as “perceived cultural insensitivity and distortion of the Xhosa circumcision tradition (Ulwaluko)”.

There are several problems with this argument. Labelling something pornographic is tantamount to calling it obscene, or even lewd.

I saw no scenes that depicted such obscenity. Every scene in which intercourse occurs is only suggested and never fully exposed.

To suggest two males having discreet intercourse on screen is obscene, sets a dangerous precedent in a country whose constitution prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Labelling the movie pornographic is an insult to the LGBTQ community whose stories, like everyone else’s, need to be told.

I find it ironic that films like Fifty Shades of Grey – a film bordering on the pornographic depicting white people having BDSM sex – are able to pass the censorship board but when writers and directors want to tell LGBTQ South African stories this is relegated to the obscene.

The lack of consistency and the blatant support of a hetero-normative society is deeply offensive.

From the beginning of the film it appears the Xhosa initiation is an integral, male-grooming cultural process where caregivers bring up young initiates as a rite of passage into their manhood.

A similar male-grooming, cultural process can be observed in many great civilisations, Ancient Greece for example.

I do feel the film pays attention to that sense of brotherhood while still attempting to make a clear distinction between the initiation rite itself and a queer man’s experience of that initiation rite.

It is in this distinction between individual experience and tradition that the film begins to move towards arguing for a broader conception of African masculinity.

The film enlightened me on the vital cultural processes Xhosa culture has in place to bring young boys up as men. Moreover as a cultural artefact, the film calls viewers to engage in a dialogue important for South African communities.

Notions of masculinity within traditional structures of culture need to be discussed and critiqued in South Africa if cultures are to be reinvigorated and renewed to include LGBTQ identities.

To exclude these identities on the basis of them being “unAfrican” is an old and tired argument that plays into the hands of European Christian colonisers who came to Christianise the African continent.

What I mean by this is that the notion of queer identity as “unAfrican” is a myth – there have been countless instances of queer life in Africa before colonialism. I urge those who are interested in the topic to do the research.

Although cultural sensitivity is important we cannot place all cultures and traditions beyond the pale of criticism and exploration.

To do this would limit us as a rigorous democratic society engaged in fostering a nation that is accepting of diversity in all its hues and orientations.

Culture and tradition are important structures that ground and guide society but we must be mindful of oppressive patriarchal ideologies that hide behind culture and tradition in order to enforce a fragile fabric of hetero-normative morality.

In a country like South Africa, where women are raped, abused and oppressed excessively (and where men have died or been seriously hurt during these initiation rites), it must be the task of cultural artefacts like Inxeba to question traditional notions of masculinity and how these ideologies guide embedded thinking around what it means to be a man and how a man should love another man or a woman.

Where some people see prejudice and cultural denigration, I see a film that uncovers the homoerotic love and support existing between African, Xhosa men.

The Wound is much more than a film depicting a Xhosa initiation ceremony. In the interactions of

Xolani and Vija we see two men who have been warped under the expectations that traditional ideas of masculinity have heaped upon them.

Inxeba is about men who are attempting to help heal each other from a deeper, more substantial, wound – the wound of what society dictates a man should be.

The banning of this film sets a dangerous precedent for LGBTQ stories in Africa, as well as cultural artefacts that critique and interrogate tradition and culture.

The censorship of art is a perilous road that silences the stories of Africa that most desperately need to be told.

I emphatically beseech the tribunal to reconsider their decision and unban Inxeba (The Wound).