The world of celebrities can be filled with many rumours. Some are silly enough to be a joke between a favourite and their fans. Some are scandalous enough to result in lawsuits. Other rumours can be very damaging, while some have often broken a camel’s back and brought an issue left silent into the light.
With many rumours swirling around about domestic abuse between celebrities who dated in the 2000s with the potential to capsize their life, I couldn’t help but wonder whose careers are really on the line here – that of the wrongdoer or the person who forever becomes a survivor.
I have to first look at the case of one of the biggest gender-based violence (GBV) stories to shock the county, that of Uyinene Mrwetyana. The young student made headlines after she went missing and it sent shivers down our collective spines to know that she was raped and murdered in a post office.
Much like many other young women to have not made it out of these violent situations, Mrwetyana became an involuntary face of the movement, a face that is often plastered across headlines, news bulletins and marches that aim to address any other case of GBV.
This becomes an important stance with its own double-edged sword. There have been many high-profile cases, even in the States where victims' names are mispronounced or erased, which desensitises crimes against them.
Take the #SayHerName movement that brought to attention the violence faced by black women in the US under the perception that it was majority black men who did it. Saying the victims' names was able to erase this perception to an extent, and it was through the same movement that there was more pressure around the murder of Breonna Taylor who was killed by cops in civilian clothing during a rushed police raid.
While Karabo Mokoena’s death at the hands of her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe ignited the flames for the birth of #MenAreTrash hashtag, it was quickly trivialised among posts on absent fathers and cheating boyfriends.
Mokoena’s face was quickly seen on reports for the likes of Tshegofatso Pule and Leighandre Jegels. All of whom were strapped onto other women who also never made it out alive.
When looking at vile killers like Richard Ramirez who earned themselves a very worrying fame following their arrest, there runs a risk of glamourising their actions. However, if families of all these women we have lost are given painful reminders every time they log onto social media, switch on the news or turn pages of a magazine, why must perpetrators run the advantage of not living with the vilification of their faces being the poster material of what they have done?
When victims and their families cannot escape this fate, what does it say for those who are living – can survivors truly come out about their hidden stories without being subjected to the abuse that many have faced coming out about their stories.
When those who have died are absolutely not able to control how they are portrayed, it leaves those who are living with the impossible public image of being a survivor while their perpetrators are “cancelled” on social media but get to enjoy a prosperous career behind closed doors.
It’s high time that the entertainment industry starts to prioritise the safety of women so that their careers aren’t left with an indelible scarlet letter that reminds everyone that they will speak out should anything happen to them.
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