UKZN student reveals impact of fear and the feminine lived experience in SA

GENDER-based violence (GBV) is widely described as a national crisis in South Africa, and has compelled a UKZN philosophy graduate to study the pervasive fear that shapes the lives of women and other feminised individuals.

- WENDY JASSON DA COSTA

Kayleigh Timmer explored how fear of sexual violation informs the everyday lived experience of those deemed “feminine” in society’, and includes non-binary individuals, trans-gender men, homosexual men and any-one who is feminised under patriarchy.

She unpacked how “feminine subjects” are often hyper-aware of their surroundings, try to make themselves physically smaller, or change their routes and routines to minimise risk.

"Fear is in the way women sit on public transport, how they navigate space, how they’re constantly calculating the risk of being harmed,” she said. “It’s a bodily experience, not just a mental one.”