A Cameroon TV show that featured a demonstration of how to physically abuse your wife has sparked outrage and calls for an end to impunity in a country where violence against women runs high.
The presenter of the show, on the privately owned Vision4 channel, demonstrated how to “calm” a woman by squeezing her neck.
“Grab her by the neck and press on it,” Ernest Obama told viewers as he flexed his hand, to on-air laughter from fellow journalists. “The more she talks the more you press.”
Cameroonian activists said Obama’s comments on the show, broadcast last week, contributed to a culture in which violence against women was seen as acceptable.
“We say no to violence,” said Cathy Aba Fouda, a spokeswoman for RENATA – a network of more than 21,000 volunteers who help victims of sexual abuse and violence rebuild their lives.
“Violence is not just sexual, it is also physical, moral, economic, but it starts with words,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.