The gender imbalance in our society should come to a stand still at this point, as the society we live in focused more on empowering the girl child, in pursuing this, we forget the plight of a boy child. In a situation where the boy child is molested, people hardly take it serious nor talk about it, because, it is something unusual and mostly unheard of in the society. This make the boy child feel insecure and afraid to talk about it due to the stigma attached to, “if I talk people will not believe me,” “I am not a girl,” “my voice won’t be heard” and many other thoughts becloud their minds, which is capable of causing depression, low self-esteem, fear of the unknown and so on.
Without trying to dismiss the voice of a female child in my opinion both gender should be given equal attention. According to Kabelochabalala, “an ignored boy child is more dangerous than an ignored girl child, once the boy child becomes more ignored he becomes even more dangerous to society,we feel so unsafe, so we need to correct this injustice, that we want to help the girl child be empowered and independent because of the injustice of the past, not just go about it and leave him out.”Kabelo is one of the founders of the young men movement which has observed that the boy child who has experienced some sorts of abuse will more likely be subjected to delinquent activities than his female counterpart, who has experienced almost the same kind of abuse.
Most gender equality campaign focus on protecting the female gender of both adult and children, forgetting the insecurities which a male child faces. Parents and guardians are concerned of the whereabouts of their female child or ward than the males, thinking that the boys are stronger and can take care of themselves. This course has led many of these boys to drugs, join gangsters, become violent, aggressive and defensive as well breed other vices such as crimes and criminality. And this shows in a way that the world at large is being hypocritical on their bid for equality.
Conducting a random interview to get the perspective of both gender, male and female, on why they think a boy child is more or less neglected in a family, and if a boy child comes to them to voice out on being molested will they take the matter up?
Miss Beatrice opinion points that the society has placed certain functions on a boy child of protecting and grooming himself to walk into adulthood, and if a boy child comes to me to talk about being molested she said and I quote “I will take the matter to court and if possible fight tooth and nails for that child to get the justice that he deserves.”
Mr. Samson Kingsley’s opinion to this view is that societies have soft spot for the female gender, that is why they are more guarded than the male counterpart, and he believes that base on the sentiment placed by the society about the molestation of a boy child he will only take the matter up if the person is a minor.
Mr. Samuel Alabuja, on the other hand, puts it that the boy child is never neglected, he only need to raise himself to become a man and he goes further to say, society will see it as an unusual thing if a boy child voice out on being molested so he does not think he will fight for that child.
All these shades of opinions, point to ”the society” and we should not forget that we make up the society, so, there is still time for us to change this stereotype. We should not turn a blind eye to such situations anymore, let weigh the cons of this neglect, abuse and molestation of a boy child, and make a change because I for one WANTS TO FIGHT FOR A BOY CHILD.
– Salami Joy
Prince Abubakar Audu University [PAAU] Anyigba, Kogi State.
