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CITY GIRL: On women, Kenyan men are no different from Donald Trump

By CITY GIRL October 21st, 2016 3 min read

Donald Trump’s latest scandal is a leaked recording of him making some very lewd comments about women.

I am not one to dignify the words of an old fool by repeating his vulgar remarks in this esteemed family newspaper but to sum it up, Mr Trump thinks that women are like objects that a man can touch, kiss, caress or grab at his pleasure.

See, Donald Trump is not alone. In fact, he is in very good company. What Trump said and his attitude towards women is not unique to Trump.

A lot of Kenyan men are like Donald Trump. That “locker-room talk” — where men talk about women as if they are objects to be used, pushed and tossed around is in fact very common to Kenyan men.

Kenyan men don’t talk about plots and cars while perched on sina tabus at the bars. They talk about women in the same way Donald Trump was talking about women with Billy Bush (who by the way is a first cousin to the Bushes).

This objectification of women by Kenyan men happens every single day. In fact, where two or three Kenyan men are gathered, there will be massive disrespect of a woman. Kenyan men might not disrespect their women in their presence, but this is how they talk about women in private.

A woman, according to a Kenyan man, is to be “eaten” because to a typical Kenyan man, she is like a piece of meat, to be chewed upon and then spat out like a bitter piece of lemon.

RICK KENYAN MEN

Kenyan men think of women as chattels, you know, as material possessions in the same league as the Land Cruiser VX you park outside your rented apartment. And  this why Kenyan men will say “hiyo nimepita nayo” or “hiyo ni kitu ya (so-and-so).”

Kenyan men have been known to call Kenya women “toto si toto…ni totoise”. No, they are not referring to an actual tortoise, they are referring to a woman. A breathing human being, a creature created in the image and likeness of God.

It gets worse. The richer a Kenyan man is, the more Trump-esque he becomes. And this is a no brainer. Donald Trump thinks he can tramp all over women because he is rich.

This is no different from the so-called “rich” Kenyan men who think women are like a pair of socks that you use today and dump tomorrow.

Italian musician Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo called Donald Trump “The Blonde Berlusconi” after former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

In Kenya, we have our own version of Berlusconis — dirty, rich old men whose behaviour would make Donald Trump blush with pride.

Who does not know of an octogenarian business tycoon who masquerades as a disc jockey and has an insatiable appetite for young women?

RAPING WOMEN

Haven’t we all seen those cringe-worthy videos and photos of him groping, hugging and kissing his young female employees; young enough to be his grandchildren, but we do not complain about it because he is rich and is “creating jobs”?

Don’t we all know of these MPs who are walking scot-free despite being accused of raping women? Why are we pretending that we do not know the things that go on behind closed doors in lofty government offices after a high-ranking officer invites a young woman there for a “job interview”?

It is only in Kenya where we hurl insults at Donald Trump and act as if we do not remember that recently, a sitting governor was magically absolved of all blame in the death of a young woman who died coming from a party he had hosted.

Nobody knows if it was a replication of the famous bunga bunga parties popular with Berlusconi but what business does a 50-year-old man have throwing parties and inviting twenty-something-year-old girls?

The problem is, this bad behaviour will go on because women are too timid to speak out when a man treats them like a used-up carton of yoghurt.

This problem starts and ends with Kenyan men; so next time you want to refer to a woman as “hiyo kitu” ask yourself what you would do if the woman being talked about in such a manner was your daughter.

Have a respectful weekend!