LOUD WHISPERS: Malaysia Airlines
This is going to be a long read, so get a drink ready as we begin. I have had many interesting travel adventures in my life, but none as traumatic as this one. I had been looking forward to my recent trip to Malaysia. The last time I visited was in 2008 for a conference. […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Womanity Index Report
On December 4th 2023, I attended the launch of the Womanity Index Report, a project of Invictus-Africa in collaboration with Budg-It. The report is an attempt to assess sub-national responses to the fight against Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV). The findings of the report had both good and bad news. The bad news first. In […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Heaven for Little Girls
Every year we commemorate the Global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, November 25th- December 10th. This global campaign is really a local one. It is about what we can all do about the pain of women and girls. Sadly, too many girls and women end up where they are not supposed to be. […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The ‘Motifaketional’ Gang
‘Motifaketion’’: The manipulation of vulnerable and gullible people under the guise of motivating them to greatness. Motifaketors are usually devoid of integrity, common sense and accountability. There have been a number of videos in circulation recently that I have found rather disturbing. I will start from the one that was sent to me by a friend. […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Color Pink
It probably all started with an innocent fondness of former US First Lady Maime Eisenhower for the colour pink. It was said she loved pink so much that she wore it at every opportunity, including a pink gown with 2,000 pink rhinestones for her husband’s inauguration, and he in turn sent her pink flowers every […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Kolostica
I watched a video recently There is this Auntie I do not know her name So, I will call her Kolostica She has a husband – she is not a widow She has children – she is not on praying mountains begging God She has a house to live in – she is not homeless […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Sheila’s Blues
Years ago, I coordinated a documentary project with five other people. It involved shooting footage in six African countries over a period of two weeks. One of the crew members, let me call her Sheila, was married to another member of the team, I will call him David. Obviously, something was wrong with their marriage. […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Alhaja Bucknor @70
There was a video in circulation recently, about Alhaja Oluwatoyin Bucknor in London who was celebrating her 70th birthday. At some point during the celebration, Alhaja took the microphone and bemoaned the fact that there were a number of guests present who had defied her wishes with regards to the purchase of her Aso Ebi for the […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Koro Syndrome
A few days ago, there was a video in circulation. It was a recording of a woman who had been stripped naked by a baying mob in Abuja, and was being paraded. Her alleged offence was that she had caused the penis of a man to disappear. If not for her rescue by police, she […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Mohbad – We Heard But Did Not Listen
In 1991, the film The Five Heartbeats, directed by Robert Townsend was released. I enjoyed the film so much I cannot count the number of times I have watched it over the years. It is a story set in the 1960s USA about how five poor black teenagers found (and lost, then found again) fame […]
LOUD WHISPERS: A Mother’s Lamentation
(For Modupe Deborah Atanda) Ikunle Abiyamo (The kneeling of the mother) That is what the Yorubas call it when women prepare to give birth It can be literal or figurative Whether the birth takes place as you push on your knees yelling yourself hoarse Or you lie with your feet spread wide apart while a […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Library Card
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi It has been thirty-seven years since I borrowed a library card At the Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library at UNIFE (OAU) From a shy, handsome, gap-toothed classmate He came to my University for a degree He left with his degree and something else Three years later we walked down the aisle A simple beautiful ceremony […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Maputo Protocol At Twenty
Recently, I was invited by the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) to give a Keynote Address at their Africa Regional Congress which took place in Abuja. The theme was ‘MAPUTO PROTOCOL AND WOMEN IN AFRICA: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AS A VITAL TOOL FOR ACCELERATION’. This is an abridged version of my speech. In July 2003, the […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Bras and Panties
There is a message from the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State. If you are a parent or guardian of a female student at the Polytechnic, please pay attention so that you can understand the message, ‘it is absolutely essential that you wear pants and a bra while on campus. […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Misogyny and Gynophobia
‘A hatred of women’ ‘Strong dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women’ ‘A form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men’ These are some of the definitions of the word Misogyny that can be found in dictionaries. The origins of the word are from Greek ‘Misein’ […]