Does Social Media somewhat Fuel Gender Based Violence? The Film & Publication Boards asks the questions to Eastrand learners on Women’s Month
The Film and Publication Board (FPB) will be hosting a student dialogue on Gender Based Violence (GBV) at The Lakes Hotel, on the 16th of August 2017. The dialogue was sparked by the high alarming rate of GBV in South Africa, in which some cases are high profiled reported cases, and have caused an up roar on social media platforms, and have witnessed women protest against the killing and abuse of women and children.
The Acting Chief Operations Officer Abongile Mashele of the FPB says “Children need to be protected, and as the FPB it is our mandate to ensure that children practice healthy internet habit.” According to Jewkes (2002), abusive behaviour is a learned social behaviour for both men and women, and through this dialogue “we want to unpack and discuss such if such behaviour is learned, and how is it learned amongst learners, and how they feel about such a study,” says Abongile Mashele.
Hundred and twenty learners will gather to share their social media experiences and learn from the dialogues. In partnership with the Commission for Gender Equality, the platform aims to build consensus amongst participants to advocate, raise awareness and take action against violence against children and women prevention.
The dialogue will interrogate the question posed to the young learners “Does social media fuel GBV crimes?” in recent social media activities we have witnessed where men believe women-beating and killing can be justified, where women and girls are still perceived of and treated as subordinates to men and boys due to the prevalence of the system of patriarchy.
The dialogue will also focus on practicing safer internet habits amongst children, the crucial role families, teachers, communities and individuals play in scaling up prevention, rescue, protection and rehabilitation measures that can lessen the fuel that prevails the actions of GBV in schools, and on social media.
Members of the media are invited to the event as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Time: 9h00
Venue: Lakeside Hotel
Enquiries:
Manala Botolo
Cell: 082 860 6748
E-mail: manalabotolo@fpb.org.za
Notes to the Editor
The objective of the Films and Publications Act of 1996 is to regulate the creation, production, possession and distribution of films, games and certain publications, and more recently certain online content.
This is done to provide consumer advice to enable adults to make informed viewing, reading and gaming choices for themselves and children in their care; to protect children from exposure to disturbing and harmful material and from premature exposure to adult experiences, and to make the use of children in, and the exposure of children to pornography, punishable.
Paramount to the mandate of the FPB is the protection of children. Protecting children under the Act is a proportional balancing of the rights afforded in the South African Constitution and Bill of Rights against the right of the child.
The protection of children as enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights includes physical, mental, emotional, spiritual or moral harm to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. It further ensures that children's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning a child.
