Don't get me wrong. I like political cartoons - they save me the trouble of having to plough through scrolls of bureaucratic nonsense to get to the absolute point of a story. But this cartoon, "depicting him (Zuma) with his pants undone, preparing to rape a blindfolded, female figure symbolising justice," just won't sit well with me.
First of all, there was an actual rape accusation and a court case, oh and the typical acquittal so I ask myself, first and foremost, what's so bloody funny or satirical about characterising such a violent crime? If Zuma thought it was humiliating, I cannot imagine what the victims felt.
The cartoon's flipside is the the depiction of Zuma practically shafting the judicial system, not the woman/women themselves so I kind of guess, that lets the cartoonist off a little - or does it? As a woman I find any image and I mean any image of rape appalling. To me, it's like trying to read what's behind the image itself - the injustice perhaps of someone like Zuma using his political influence to escape rape charges - but I can't cause the image of rape is too loud and overbearing. So it fails to make it's point in my eyes.
I get tired of female symbolism being used negatively. Boats or ships are predominately depicted as female yet women aren't allowed on them if, god forbid, they are having one of their female moments. The statue of Liberty is female. She's entrusted with the ideals of justice yet brutally raped just to make a point. You can't have it both ways - the worldwide expectation that such a symbol representing justice, an ideology if you will, be respected and then, when it suits, stand back and accept the complete opposite. This goes beyond just bad taste. It's an insult to women.
Umm, since when is rape "female symbolism"? Men and boys get raped and sexually assaulted too. And rape is a very strong metaphor for how a political or judicial system can be used and brutalised in certain circumstances. We adore you and your soapboxes, lovely Miss Jax, and you make some really thought-provoking points, but I'm not sure that using rape as a metaphor or symbol is necessarily an insult to women.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, where did I say Rape was "female symbolism" again?
ReplyDelete