Street harassment

One of the acceptable behaviours that frustrates me is street harassment. You can not walk down the streets of Blantyre or Limbe market without some vendor or worst still a group of them saying" chemwali koma ndiye mwatchenatu" sister you look great or they greet you in this rude sarcastic way and you are expected to answer. The moment you ignore their advances, they start calling you names and talking all these negative things about you mostly sexual. These vendors have no clue who you are nor do they remember your face after you are gone. To them you are just a girl clearly powerless. They live on the assumption that women's bodies are for their enjoyment or that girls choice of clothes is about their attention or satisfaction. I believe, some vendors who do this in their uncivilised state still represent a male dominance culture that has been
Socially accepted for way too long. It is characterised by disrespect towards women, intentional verbal and or physical abuse and the need to see a woman miserable. What sickens me is that it has become acceptable and nobody seems to talk about it in a way that would make daily life easier for  women and girls. There are so many irritating things that happen to young girls or women every day in the neighbourhoods, markets and schools that make life more difficult for them that are normalised as boys just being boys.  A while ago, I met a young man in his late twenties, "educated" independent,handsome,eloquent but a misogynist. The moment he started to open his mouth, I wished he had shut it. It was flowing with ego and disrespect. This made me realise how, so many men irrespective of educational background are disrespectful towards women in their words and actions but never realise it probably because they have no idea on how to act better because just like the obnoxious vendors, nobody tells them its wrong.
As a society we need to point out these wrongs in plain  truth. It doesn't matter if you think women enjoy those advances, trust me we don't. I believe mutual respect between men and women is very vital for the success of every family,village and country. Please don't tell women to adapt to these occurrences, its our society that needs to change for the better. Choose to act differently from what you were  taught to believe was acceptable. #SelfloveAfrica