"The Cleanser..."

[lizard]

[font=Arial, Trebuchet MS, Helvetica]Francis Akacha, the ritual 'cleanser' of his local village, has been accused of spreading the HIV virus to the widows he sleeps with.[/font][font=TIMES NEW ROMAN, GEORGIA, TIMES]Kenyan women reject sex ‘cleanser’[/font][font=Arial, Trebuchet MS, Helvetica]Traditional widow requirement blamed for aiding HIV spread[/font][font=TIMES NEW ROMAN, GEORGIA, TIMES]By Emily Wax
[font=Arial, Trebuchet MS, Helvetica]THE WASHINGTON POST[/font][/font] [font=TIMES NEW ROMAN, GEORGIA, TIMES]GANGRE, Kenya, Aug. 18 — [/font][font=TIMES NEW ROMAN, GEORGIA, TIMES]The women of this village call Francise Akacha “the terrorist.” His breath fumes with the local alcoholic brew. Greasy food droppings hang off his mustache and stain his oily pants and torn shirt.[/font]

[font=TIMES NEW ROMAN, TIMES]HE’S ALWAYS the first one in line for the village feast, tucking into a buffet carefully prepared by the women of the village like he’s diving into the ocean, no restraint. He’s too skinny and has, as the women point out, terrible taste in clothes. His latest hat is a visor styled from shabby paper stolen off a local cigarette billboard.
But for all of his undesirable traits, Akacha has a surprisingly desirable job: He’s paid to have sexual relations with the widows and unmarried women of this village. He’s known as “the cleanser,” one of hundreds of thousands of men in rural villages across Africa who sleep with women after their husbands die to dispel what villagers believe are evil spirits.[/font]


full story: http://www.msnbc.com/news/953815.asp?0cv=CB20

 

[minxnim]

nice fuckin visor pal.

and screw culture. that whole post-dead-husband plan is fucking wacked.

 

[xfer]

i am the first proponent of smashing the retarded elements of any culture, sensitivity be damned. and i hereby dub this element "retarded".

 

[minxnim]

i would like to borrow my dad's baseball bat and go to africa and crack some fucking heads.

 

[xfer]

you're like the U.S. armed forces, but microcosmed in the body of a teenage-lookin' girl.

 

[minxnim]

pretty much. but i'm smarter. and i have a lot less money.

 

[goatschool]

on the other hand, this dude is just doing what his culture raised him to do.

msnbc and all other media outlets should be bashed to bloody fuck along with archaic mentality, as they now list character assassination as an integral part of journalistic excellence.

 

[xfer]

yeah, but, see, the thing with culture is, you have the choice whether to follow its individual practises or not. culture isn't race.

 

[minxnim]

i can understand just not realizing your culture is doing messed up stuff. but there are like, women protesting his coming around... like, maybe that should clue him in.
this makes me think of FGM.

 

[goatschool]

yeah, but, see, the thing with culture is, you have the choice whether to follow its individual practises or not. culture isn't race.

but it is inclusive in "underdeveloped" areas.

i'd think it all depends on levels OF oppression.

 

[minxnim]

but at the same time... i remember this woman coming to my school (umass) to discuss FGM and a man stood up and asked her basically if she agreed that it was wrong for outside people (especially white people) to interfere with these (even if they are dangerous and/or outdated) cultural practices simply because we may be oppressors or we may be too judgmental. her response was 'is that the new excuse for not helping us?'

 

[goatschool]

you're both right, i shouldn't be defending this guy. i guess i'm thinking that it is easy to get confused by things that are ingrained, but i guess you have to realize at a certain point.

 

[minxnim]

i mean, i see your point and it's totally valid. but at the same time... nothing would ever change if we protected someone who hurt people, just because we felt sorry for their predicament.

 

[xfer]

right, yes, i think you do have a point and i realise you're trying to suggest alternative views rather than defend this AIDSed-up rapist.

i think there's a balancing act that has to be performed; you have to understand where people are coming from, understand the "why"s, and not write them, individuals, off as simply villains; but at the same time you can't ever tolerate evil shit with a shrug that "it's their culture". i mean, slavery was American (Southern) culture for a very long time, and that didn't mean it shouldn't have been addressed or wasn't wrong.

 

[minxnim]

treating women like crap is still pretty 'cultural'.

 

[lizard]

I wonder if any of them widder womens felt their heart skip a little tra la la beat of joy at the visage of the drunken, food encrusted Cleanser stumbling down their cottage pathway.


doubt it...ugh. gross.