CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

It’s always said of we women that “our power lies in all the endowment God has given us” - the right curves at the right places. We get attention wherever we go especially if you are hot, good looking and have a very good command of English and a very classy dress. But on the long run it has been our worst nightmare when we are judged by our body parts not our intellect and this can be very humiliating.

Esther graduated with a 2.1 from a prestigious university and was so excited to be out and moving on to the workforce and looking forward to soaring in her career. On a rainy Monday, Esther was on her way for a training she started a months ago at Ikoyi, so as to get a well paid job, she normally board a bus to Mushin from Isolo and then to Obalende, unfortunately her dress was wet as a result of the rain and she didn’t carry an umbrella because she always forgot it in a bus any time she went out so she stopped taking it out, but see the results on that fateful day as it revealed all her endowments as a top Executive was driving out from his street to get to the major road, look and behold this tall and sexy lady all wet as a result of the rain and he liked what he saw and driving to reach out to Esther he almost hit a passerby. “Woman wrapper” the passerby said as she started laying insults on the top Executive.

As he finally reached Esther, good morning he said - lady you are wet! Where are you headed to? If its island then you are lucky because I’m going same route darling. Esther didn’t respond and kept walking towards the route for her to take Obalende bus but after some minutes the bus is yet to arrive and she was already getting frustrated on a Monday morning but what if the man was a kidnapper she doesn’t know - the man still parked in front of Esther and as she looked as she had no choice after all the whole drama and shakara, she entered the man’s new latest Jeep model.

From the way he dressed, the fragrance of his perfume - it was obvious the man was educated, probably on his way to work or had a meeting. As he drove they got chatty and she realized they went to the same university, right there Esther gave him her number and on the long run found out he is a matured man and single and that made her relax a little, no wife wahala. At least, the long run he started making sexual advances on Esther, it wasn’t like Esther wasn’t interested totally he is marriage material but the way he demanded sexual advances from her was like he was talking to a call girl.

And he had opening from his friends for top jobs in which Esther could easily get, but Esther realized he was resisting but why so? Those things put her off completely. He started getting aggressive when she said no to his inviting her to his house while she suggested cinema to watch a movie. He gave her a choice - have sex with me and I get the job for you…. not will you marry me. the rest is history. Some ladies are in this situation and those who succumb move faster in the ladder of success. it’s a capitalist society…that’s the way it is.

Nobody wants to be on the hot seat. So, we all sit dead silence to this situation. When you see a young girl she already feels since men want sex, women want money and some don’t even see it as sexual abuse anymore. Even when we don’t like the experience we just live with it in dead silence. It’s a different ball game when a woman wants a man sexually. Using it as bait is the issue. For us women, our body is our powerhouse - we choose who we want in there. Fear to speak out is being termed as honorable because speaking out can bring mixed reactions.

A story been told of a lady who met a widower and they got talking and even if she was considering the widower she needed to know whom he was and if he is someone she can actually marry. When he invited her to his house she never imagine he would turn out to be an animal after making sexual moves towards her she said no - not now. To cut the long story short he brutally raped her… so sad! Since she was working in a mentorship establishment, when they realized she was pregnant, she was sacked and her family said she should go ahead and marry the widower who is already begging for forgiveness and her family are like “keep it a secret, don’t spoil the family name by broadcasting it, marry the man”. We live in a society which judges fast without knowing the real story. We see it in the way comments are made on social media on situations this people don’t really know deep about.

Is silence really the new loud, can this ever end? Send your comments.