STEREOTYPES: What The Lax Attitude Of The Nigerian Paramilitary Forces Towards Women At Checkpoints May Betray

The proprietor of the company where I'm currently undergoing my IT training took a long look at me. "Are you sure it's Web Development you're here to learn, or Graphic Designing?"

Well, female isn't equal dumb. I can't always be bothered when people dumbly forget this. "Web Development, sir"

Still, to this day, he seems to think I'll be better off tagging along with him and some other staff members to business outings, rather than staying back to learn and practice what I paid for. He doesn't know that I'm not here to play. 😂

Again, I'm not offended, and besides, that's just by the way. 

Now here's the real gist. 

Every day on my way to this training, I encounter a group of semi-uniformed men (and a woman or two) of the police force. Their battered van, parked on one side of the busy road, always, ALWAYS has a disgruntled male civilian at the back.

You're in soup if you so much as have a fine ride with a fine face to match, and you're a young man. Woe betide you if you also have a laptop in your possession at the same time.

 

On days when I walk to my training centre, I deliberately saunter through their midst with an air of defiance, hoping to trigger a look of suspicion with my laptop bag. But their unlocking game is strong, these policemen. 

The female sex must be soo weak. So weak as to be incapable of any crime. Much less cyber crime. I don't know if I can adequately explain how this makes me feel. But I know that it doesn't make me feel any more proud that people of my sex are truly that innocent. I know that's a lie. 

I know that evil isn't gender-specific. Rape. Theft. Murder. Kidnap. Cyber crime. Human trafficking. Fund misappropriation. Just name it. 

And so when news of a female found with body parts, or caught in other horrible crimes makes the round, and I hear people around me say things like "Imagine, a woman for that matter... How can a woman be so callous," I want to slap the misogyny parading itself as ignorance and naivety out of their heads. 

Ma'am, you really think they think you're too good to do crimes? 

You think that explains their "shock"?

No. They think you're incapable. Inconsequential in the scheme of things, good or evil. Wake up and smell the coffee. 

If you don't understand the forms of misogyny that exist: 

- That which believes that you are unqualified for some rights and privileges because gender, 

- That which believes you are incapable of some feats because gender, and the third and subtlest of all 

- That which refuses to acknowledge the capacity in you to be evil, stripping you of the privilege of proving your innocence in a society crawling with sickos, women inclusive... 

Then you're going to languish under the sick stereotypes of your society for long.

Have a pleasant weekend. 

Stay out of trouble. 

And remember, in crime, EVERYONE is suspect.

08.03.19