Dear Editor,
In the most bizarre response to the recent incidents of men attacking and killing women they were supposed to be loving, representatives of the Government (Guyana Chronicle “Manickchand and Persaud call on women to leave abusive relationships” 4 May, 2021) have called on ‘women to leave abusive relationships’. This kind of victim blaming is sickening.
It is unfortunate that the Government has not listened to the experiences of survivors of domestic violence who have talked about entrapment. There is enough knowledge to know that there are multiple factors which trap women in abusive relationships and that shouting ‘leave, leave’ is not the response.
It is unfortunate that the Government of Guyana has not recognised that stopping domestic violence, is about addressing patriarchy. It is about addressing the masculine values and views which see women and girls and anything not masculine as things to be controlled and as less than masculine. It is unfortunate that the Government is not addressing the male violence against women, and against other men, and that it is not pushing the mechanisms to hold the police, the state services, the courts accountable when survivors of domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence are ready to deal with the abusive situation.
May the President and the Leader of the Opposition join in calls to tell abusive men to stop assaulting women, and to tell them where they can go to unlearn their behaviours and learn new ones.
Yours sincerely
Vidyaratha Kissoon
