Ruth  Butaumocho Gender Editor

I have never met MDC’s Thabitha Khumalo nor do I know much of her political profile. However, whenever I come across her name in the paper, the image of her topless, wearing a cream lace bra that appeared in all the newspapers last year, quickly flashes through my mind. For some time, the controversial politician hogged the limelight after she allegedly stormed Njube Hall in Bulawayo topless last year after violence erupted at the party’s district rally, resulting in her T-shirt being ripped apart.Other people in attendance alleged that she “donated” her T-shirt to one of the women who had been stripped of their clothes during the orgy of violence, preferring to walk topless during the mayhem. While we may never know what transpired on that day, the image of a topless Thabitha still lingers in the minds of many for one reason or the other. To some, the images serve as a reminder of gender-based violence against women, manipulation of one’s body to court public attention or the continued exploitation of women’s bodies as tools of sexual gratification.

Either way, the impact was felt in equal measure. Justice for Women, a radical women’s pressure group, intends to revive memories of the Thabitha’s incident after they recently threatened to demonstrate naked to register displeasure at the way women are allegedly “ill-treated” by police. This decision was inspired by pictures of women who were allegedly attacked by police while in prison, which were splashed in private media.

Without dismissing their intention, the group’s decision to opt for nudity to register displeasure is unwarranted, ill-advised and is not the best option to express grievances.Such threats or even actions are hardly the picture of a model society which we wish to achieve, where the body of a woman should be treated with respect.

The audacity of such a march in front of our children — no matter how genuine the concerns are — is an affront to what we stand for and believe in as Zimbabweans. Taking such a demeaning approach points to a sad trajectory in the women’s empowerment narrative and their fight to be recognised as equals. In the last two decades or so, the empowerment discourse has fast gained ground, getting good buy-in from across as the nation, as the globe moves towards gender parity.

Agitating for naked protests ahead of all other progressive alternatives can only take the revolution 50 years back rather than forward. Over the years, several women’s organisations have held successful demonstrations and marches in the country without necessarily baring their bottoms to express a point. Some of their concerns, grievances and problems were taken aboard, while others were shelved for one reason or the other Yes, going naked is a form of expression that has been accepted elsewhere and even yielded results in some states.

Should the lobby group, Justice for Women, opt for that publicity stunt, it would still not be the first time women have gone topless or bared their bottoms to express a point. Sometime in July, more than 100 women posed naked during the Republican National Convention in the United States in protests of the “repressive rhetoric” of the Republican Party towards women and minorities.

The women, who were protesting against Donald Trump’s utterances, formed part of an art installation titled #EverythingSheSaysMeansEverything, that was created by American photographer Spencer Tunick. The naked women stood with large mirrors to reflect the “knowledge” and “wisdom of progressive” women, running under the concept Mother Nature and the idea of the sacred feminine.

The demo was meant to show that Trump was unfit for the White House. And naturally the media had a field day beaming naked women of all sizes from different angles to shocked millions of viewers across the globe. A similar demonstration, if not several, have been held in Uganda, where the women’s movement seems to have taken a liking towards nude protests.

Over the years, several women in Uganda have held countless nude protests against anything from land ownership to the classic case of a female research fellow who undressed in protest after she was locked out of her office when she was denied an opportunity to teach in a PhD programme. Across the Limpopo, hundreds of female students are demonstrating naked in the #FeesMustFall protests march in some universities in South Africa.

Is this the culture that Justice for Women intends to be copycats because they can’t think creatively of something that makes impact without showing us their naked bodies? While the world is no stranger to naked protests whose origins can be traced to the Doukhobor Movement, making voices heard through naked bodies is not the best way for women to express themselves, especially at a time when activists have been fighting to eradicate all forms of abuse against women.

Nudity has for a long time been used as a tactic during protests to attract public attention to a cause and warrant urgent attention. Its suitability and effectiveness is a separate matter and a subject for another day. The concerns for Justice for Women and the millions of Zimbabwean women are the same, and should be urgently addressed. However, the lobby group would need to be tactful in pushing their agenda without courting unnecessary controversy. Should the lobby group decide to walk the talk, this would be a major disservice to the well respected Zimbabwean’s women tradition of using non-violent methods to express their grievances to parties concerned.

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