Nigerian men are not new to domestic violence. Growing up as a child at a time that you have no right to ask questions, I shiver at the way many men treated their wives.
The sad part is that these women took those horrible treatment without uttering a word. They took blows after blows, kicks after kicks and they kept taking it because they believed their husbands owned them.
These women lost pregnancies, self esteem and even some body parts because they have been told from childhood that a woman is the keeper of her home.
Women were taught that even if their husbands beat them, they shouldn’t complain because it is an act of love. they should even look forward to know they are in their husband’s good books.
Fast forward today, things haven’t change much. Many men still think that women need to beaten to be corrected. One man actually came online to boast that he has been married for nine years and he beats his wife in love.
According to this man who posted his message anonymously to an Instagram relationship page, he said that women are like children and you need to go an extra mile to correct them. He added that women need to be beaten to be corrected, but they shouldn’t see beating as domestic violence but as an act of love and correction.
He cited instances where African parents beat their children with sticks, cane and bottles but they survived. He said that women who have died as a result domestic violence is accidental and nit deliberate on their husband’s part.
It’s appalling that at this time and age people still reason this way. But this man is not alone. many Nigerian men agree with him. They beat their wives, dehumanize them, shove objects into their vaginas and accuse them of infidelity. And their fellow men cheer them on.
These men see women as merely objects and acquisitions to be used and discarded at will. They don’t see anything wrong in maltreating the mother of their children. These children grow up thinking violence is the way out. They replicate what they have seen growing up.
And Nigerian women keep enduring these beatings because they don’t want to be called divorcees. They prefer to die in abusive relationships than flee for their lives. It’s a sad cycle that keeps repeating itself. Too bad the children are at the receiving end of these violent acts.
May Nigerian women receive brain.