NJUGUSH UNDER FIRE

On Saturday night, comedian Njugush published a video that glorified date rape. He has since taken the video down, but not after the damage had been done. In the video, Njugush is seen to insist that the lady he took to watch Sarafina goes home with him because he’s invited her out plenty of times and still gets nothing in return. Here’s why the internet is mad at him – this is actually promoting date rape. The number of girls and women who are forced into compromising situations that lead up to rape because a guy took them out is alarming, and Njugush, as a leading public figure, should have known how crass, callous, careless and tasteless this piece of “content” would be.

Date rape is actually a frightening thing – you trust a man enough to go out with him only to be forced to have sex with him because he feels entitled to your body as reparations for a few pennies spent on a date. I need not even emphasize how wrong this is; if there is no consent to any sexual activity of any kind, it’s rape. Plain and simple. If a guy invites a woman out to a social event, at no point is sex supposed to be expected as reparations unless both parties are into it. It’s really as simple as that. If any man feels they must be paid in sex for buying food / drinks / tickets to shows and events, they need to learn the entire concept of consent. We can’t keep talking about the same things over and over again; come on guys!

No, you are not entitled to anyone’s body but yours. No, taking a woman out does not immediately translate into sex. No, dates are not paid for by sex. No, there is no hidden meaning or innuendo in a woman trusting you and honoring your invitation to an event / social gathering. No, women do not ask for sex by honoring invitations to social gatherings. And no, women do not cause rape! Men do, and behavior like what Njugush portrayed is one of the reasons why victim blaming and shaming still occurs. Check yourselves before you wreck someone else’s life – living with the trauma of rape is the worst nightmare anyone could be put through. Njugush ought to have known better, and I hope he has learnt from his gross trivialization of rape.