Gender and Diversity Seminar

On the 10th of September, I attended the Gender and Diversity seminar hosted by Constitution Hill at the Women's Gaol Lekgotla Space. The seminar, themed: "Sexuality Towards a Democratic South Africa" was attended by various representatives from lesbian gay bisexual trangernder and intersex (LGBTI) organizations. On the panel, there were representatives from the following organisations: Susan of Out LGBTI Well-Being, Dawn Cavanagh from the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), Musa Ngubane from Behind the mask, Robert Hamblin Gender Dynamix, and the guest speaker Susan Nkomo from the National Women's movement. The aim of the seminar was to discuss and define sexuality in the South African context. This included finding ways of educating the youth about issues relating to homosexuality as well as creating a better understanding of diverse sexual orientations. Susan Nkomo looked at how the government and the national women's movement treat sexuality. She stated how limiting the government perceives these issues. For instance, sexuality issues are viewed as only referring to reproductive health and rights. Dawn Cavanagh as well as other panelists indicated how sexuality is confirmed according to society's perceptions of what is thought to be wrong or right. This view highlighted the roles and responsibilities that the society attaches to sexual beings. For example, a slut or bitch (a woman who chooses to have sex with multiple partners) can be viewed as ‘wrong' but this is her sexual right and her freedom to choose. Funny, when a slut is given names, the co-partaker of the journey to sluthood is not mentioned. Sexuality is an issue. For most lesbian women, expressing sexuality openly is risky. The results are often rape and murder if we were to not mention the everyday verbal insults. The reality is similar for GBTI community members. South Africa has a beautiful constitution that governs everyone's rights regardless of sexuality. The constitution provides a safe space for diverse expression; however this is a myth and is not put into practice. Yes, these are just written laws. We live in a democratic country, but to what extent is democracy in line with freedom? In the discussion, this point was raised and a concern that a lot of things are talked about, and written on paper but not followed with reality. One last point discussed during the seminar, which I may view as a criticism was: We always have these meetings and seminars, but who are we really targeting? Is it the same people who studied gender or are we re-creating the marginalized? I personally agree with the concerns raised during the seminar. The people who get to attend these seminars are people who are familiar with and understand the issues. Most people, particularly women, do not know about their sexual rights, how to access them and where to draw the line.