Following the tragic event of the death of Winnie Mandela, as observed, people were concious of her inadequacies. Her flaws. Her imperfections. They quickly pointed out, the reasons why she went to jail, even though she denied the allegations until her death. They quickly pointed out the fourteen years old boy she murdered, the cases of adulteries, the whites she killed or that were killed following her instructions...
BUT they simply forgot, that she fought tooth and nail to liberate South Africa, she fought tirelessly to maintain the legacy of her husband. She went to prison for the cause. And the belief!
But the world didn't see these. They saw an adulterous woman, a woman who wasn't there for her husband maritally, a woman who didn't respect her vows, they saw all that.
FORGETTING that Nelson too was wayward maritally, he slept with many women. He had children out of wedlock. He divorced more than once. He had infidelity cases.
But, Nelson's flaws are not seen or are ignored because the world only wants to see and identify with a hero and not a Shero.
This played out even with Bill. Everyone justified his infidelity and saw it as normal for a man to cheat.
This played out with Donald who is currently married to his third wife.
The world won't see these men but is quick to see a woman who is fulfilling her sexual needs even when abandoned, as if it is the woman that is expected to not cross the moral yard stick. As if women aren't expected to have sexual urges with other men.
They won't say this, but do you know that Hillary's major votes came from the women. Majorly, men find it difficult to accept a female president. They find it hard to identify with a woman president and be tagged as "first gentleman".
If you think this is just fallacy, I will leave you to watch "Supergirl", a superhero movie and the female counterpart of super man. First, why wasn't the movie named "superwoman"? Why was the inferior adjective of a woman used instead?. To talk about the challenges of the protagonist and the ideals of the movie itself is another thing.
Well, I leave you with this from KENNY BRANDMUSE
"If you have been following the way the global media have been
portraying Winnie Mandela since yesterday, you would realize that no
matter how successful a woman is, the world never looks past her flaws.
Or the fact that a woman is supposed to be a man’s wife or an ex-wife! I
did a quick scan of male heroes we love to celebrate, I found out that
most of them had major flaws. Some even committed atrocities that spat
on their good intentions.
No, we don’t talk about Nelson Mandela’s
first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase and how they divorced after 13
years due to his adultery and constant absences from the marriage. It’s
ok for Nelson. It’s not ok for Winnie. It’s ok for Bill or the Donald to
have flaws. It’s not ok for Hillary. A man hero is supposed to have a
tragic flaw like the famous Trojan’s Achilles. And that’s ok, but a
woman may not. Our most enduring imagery of a woman is the Virgin Mary. A
rose petal, a freshly laundered white linen. A Nightingale.
Woeman. Winnie. What a World!"
