On the road quite a bit today so I got to listen to several public radio programs. Two seemingly unrelated programs came closer to being aligned then I ever thought possible. One was reporting on the findings from a recent study in South Africa with very disturbing findings: violent behavior as well as rapes are up in number and not just against women, but also men and boys. More troubling is that the numbers of boys and young men as perpetrators is on the rise. There was also discussion about Jacob Zuma who in his recent sexual escapades blamed the “culture.” He has since apologized and taken responsibility. Almost back to back with the S. African report was the subject of Mark Sanford and his shocking announcement yesterday about a having year-long affair with an Argentine woman. Individuals who see themselves as powerful, or feel the need to exert that power over others, or abuse what they think is their right to power do so at the expense of another human being often females. Although I initially felt that the South African story was far removed from American society–a more evolved democracy than Africa–I started seeing that there may not be such a wide gap as I one would like to think. As one commenter (male), an expert crisis management, pointed out a positive step in this case may be the fact that Mrs. Sanford let Gov. Sanford hang out there alone making his apology–no more stoic woman “standing by her man.”
