“Domestic violence can never be a woman’s fault,” Uche Ogbodo counters Monalisa Chinda

Nollywood actress, Uche Ogbodo has reacted to interview in which her colleague Monalisa Chinda said “women should also be blamed for domestic violence”.

Uche who slammed this claim in an Instagram post, wrote;

“First of all, society looks down on women who stay in abusive relationships and pities them for being “helpless” and “weak.” Domestic violence victims can’t be categorized into a stereotype, but range among all types of women. Yet society places a specific insecure, weak, vulnerable woman into the category of most likely to be in an abusive relationship.

Rather than ridicule or punish the man who commits the abuse, this wrong perception will fault the woman for putting up with it because she possesses these negative traits. Women are taught that it is our personality “traits” that got us into this problem, and therefore we feel we must solve it.

As a result, women are quick to blame themselves for why our significant other is acting so violently. We angered them, we upset them, we pushed their buttons — but none of this is true. It shouldn’t matter what you do or how you live your life, it is the man’s choice to react in a violent or physical way.

As little girls growing up, we learn fast to always be aware and to always be afraid. Girls are told to dress and act a certain way so as not to upset men, yet boys are not lectured on how to react when angry or treat women respectfully. A man’s anger is equal to his power, try and diminish it and you risk emasculating him. It is this gender stereotype that makes it easy for women to receive the blame for abusive relationships instead of the man. #mypointexactly #copied #domesticviolence #womenempowerment #youthempowerment”

Uche Ogbodo