mmegi

Tears of the boy-child

Left behind: The fight against gender-based violence often neglects the boy-child victim
Left behind: The fight against gender-based violence often neglects the boy-child victim

The wording commonly used in the media and the general public in Botswana is 'passion killings' for domestic violence deaths.

According to a Demographic and Health Survey done in Kenya some years ago, domestic violence is assessed as abuse within the household by various perpetrators defined as “partner/spousal violence by current or former spouse or partner”.

In a recent edition, Mmegi highlighted some aspects that the boy-child experiences when growing up, which mostly are driven by some traditional and cultural dynamics in society. As a result, the effects lead the young man to a troubled life and in the long term could result in gender-based violence with the boy-child or man labelled as a perpetrator.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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