I wrote this before I became a victim of sibling-on-sibling gender-based violence; albeit now, I am a determined survivor who is legally fighting back with all she has got. Meanwhile, each word that I prior wrote has taken on enhanced meaning for me. I wrote:

“A common misunderstanding or distortion of gender in Uganda is that which narrows the determination of gender to sexual organs. It reduces gender to being determined by biology as opposed to locating gender within the wider context of culture as its determinant.

Gender, moreover, is culturally prescribed and it prescribes the norms of how a man and how a woman should behave in a particular society. It determines the process of socialization and the learning of a pattern of behavior that is either considered feminine (assigned to females); or masculine (assigned to males).”

Norah Owaraga, read more here

The distortion of gender that limits its definition to sexual organs causes a ‘substandard male’ (as is the case in my particular experience) to feel entitled to be in a position of leadership, because of the sexual organ they possess and yet their morals, skills-set, knowledge and endowment, generally, is inadequate for that position they feel entitled to occupy because they are a man. The reality that a woman can do and should do the job better, the ‘substandard male’ cannot fathom for they have been socialized not to expect it.

And such a male will find support among women who have internalized an inferiority complex (as is the case in my particular experience). Such women are the terrible aggressors too, for they are hell bent to remind a woman of the inferior position they believe is of women and to bring down any woman who excels and breaks the glass ceiling.

A fight against sexual and gender-based violence that does not confront this reality of the distortion of gender is bound to fail.

Featured photo is of me about two years ago, a couple of days after I had fallen down, fleeing goons that my said male aggressor sent to terrorize me.