Black women explore sexual oppression

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Cult Clit, by the Rhodes University Drama Department, Drill Hall, tonight at 8.30pm.

Six black women occupy the dim, sparsely set stage and break out in song while on their knees, their hands tied.

This expression of their oppression and objectification is their introduction to Cult Clit, a play exploring the silence and stigma clouding black female sexuality.

The play tells the story of women from different walks of life, whose paths all cross because of their personal tales of abuse, sexual violation and the objectification of their bodies.

The women also stand accused of the murder of Peter Frederiksen, a man charged with sexual assault and domestic violence after the genital parts of 21 women were found in a freezer in his Bloemfontein home (a real-life person who is currently standing trial in South Africa).

As the women are charged, they interchange to depict police officers who rub their bodies against them as they are being searched.

Three big zinc slides are used to change scenes and roles.

A big black box in the middle of the stage is another important element as this is where flashbacks are shared, with the women narrating their stories and living out the horrors each has encountered.

Following their arrests, the women form a movement and gather at a salon in town to share stories and take their power back.

The main aim of their “cult” is to step in where the justice system has failed them.

The controversial cultural practice of genital mutilation is also addressed in the play. – Nonsindiso Qwabe

Source: http://www.heraldlive.co.za/my-heraldlive/2017/06/30/black-women-explore-sexual-oppression/