Dear Editor,
I feel compelled to respond to the letter titled “This woman took the blows and did not run to the police for help” (08.01.04). I commend the writer for focusing on this pertinent matter.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is indeed a great burden and it continues to destroy the very foundation of our society! But before one makes hasty comments such as “in many instances women are responsible for this continued irresponsible behaviour by our men folk”, the person must realize that it is about time our men folk (with due respect to every one of them) take responsibility for their own behaviour.
It is imperative that our men: a) honour their commitments to the women they take as partners and the children of their relationships so the very foundation of our society could be maintained – the family. (One of the gravest problems facing our society if the prevalence of female-headed households. Only a man can teach a boy to be a man! Grandmothers, mothers and female teachers, as precious as they are, cannot raise a boy effectively.); b) desist from seeing females as sex objects and stop sexually molesting them as research shows, child sexual molestation is one of the atrocities that predisposes women to IPV; c) learn for themselves and teach their sons appropriate ways of expressing emotions such as anger so that they do not resort to abusing their women nor children in any form; d) learn to value and appreciate themselves so that they may not continue to abuse their women and children in order to feel better about themselves.
A person must love and value himself before he can treat another with the dignity we each deserve. Indeed abuse of girls and women in all its forms must stop now!
Yours faithfully,
(name and address supplied)
