THE FRIGHTENING REALITY IN ZIMBABWEAN STREETS

Imagine walking down the streets on one of your favorite

outfit that is nothing extravagant, just comfortable for the scorching midday

heat. Suddenly everyone is starring at you as if they are seeing something

shameful or disgusting. Before you even figure out why everyone is behaving the

way they are, a group of men is now following you, whistling and throwing dirty

comments that penetrates deep inside you as if multiple nails are being nailed

directly in your heart. The worst part of it is that their phone cameras are

pointed directly at you as they are filming you. The looks on their faces shows

that they are having one of the best moments of their lives. Few minutes later

you are trending on all social media platforms.

This is not a hypothetical scenario, but it is a

frightening reality for thousands of women and girls living in Zimbabwe. This

kind of behavior has become sought of a “norm” among Zimbabwean men who feel

like they have the right to impose their opinions on what women should wear.

Whenever men come across a woman in the streets on an attire which they feel

isn’t in line with their ideals of modesty, they start whistling and beeping

their car hones to drive everyone’s attention towards her. They throw all nasty

comments that sounds as bad as insults and film the helpless lady before they

post her on all social media platforms. More than three quarters of Zimbabwean

men use this kind of harassment as a form of entertainment, making fun of women

who dress “provocatively” so they think.

“She has no respect for herself.” “She is asking for

attention.” “She thinks she is in the West.” These are the comments you will

find flooding the comments sections whenever such a video is posted. Other will

mock the poor woman`s body structure, make lewd comments about her appearance

and randomly some comments from other women saying she deserved it all. That’s

how far this form of harassment has gone in our country, even women no longer

feel the need to stand for themselves instead some of them have turned to be

abusers just like most men.

The thrilling part isn’t just a trending video, its an

overwhelming sense of powerlessness and injustice. The fact that men can follow

a woman down the streets, film her without her consent and use her body to fuel

her online humiliation without any consequence is a chilling reminder of the

digital violence standard women face. Sometimes the harassment doesn’t end in

the comment section, some women receive messages from strangers imposing rape

threats since they feel like they were asking for it.

This has devastating consequences for women. It leads

to depression, anxiety, mental health issues and shame. However, this can be

put to an end. Zimbabwean women may be helped regain their confidence, power

and pride. Action has to be taken and it has to start now. As women we need to

come together and use the same social media platforms to raise awareness of how

devastating this toxic culture being normalized in our country is.

Legislation should put in place laws and policies that

explicitly prohibit this kind of online harassment. The criminal justice system

must take immediate action of any violent video that is posted online. Posters

of such videos should face criminal charges.

Digital spaces like social media platforms must

enforce policies that prohibit posting of videos that have some form of

harassment in which a woman is filmed and posted without consent. Any comments

that are linked to harassment should also be prohibited with anyone who does

that facing deactivation of their accounts.

Men need to be held accountable of their actions.

Everyone has the right to wear whatever they feel comfortable in without fear

of harassment or judgement. No one has the right to film another person and

post them on digital platforms without their consent. Zimbabwean women have the

right to walk freely on the streets without any men passing nasty comments

about their body structure or their looks. All these can be achieved if as

women we work together as one. This doesn’t protect just us but also our

daughters and the future generations.