Cape Town Series: Male Privilege

Lion's Head to the Right of Table Mountain

There was a full moon while we were in Cape Town, and a friend recommended doing a night hike up Lion’s Head. Lion’s Head is a relatively small mountain adjacent to Table Mountain. The hike up it is pretty cool. The trail is easy to follow most of the way up. (It’s actually big enough for a 4X4 to drive up part of the way. Paragliders have a launch on one side of the mountain.) There’s a fork about three-quarters of the way up the trail, giving hikers the option of continuing along a trail that’s more of the same or climbing up chain ladders to bypass that section. The best part of the hike is the route itself. The trail wraps its way around the mountain, lending a 360-degree view of Cape Town, the Atlantic Ocean, and surrounding area. The experience of hiking by the light of the full moon was really cool (mind you, Michelle and I had headlamps for the darker sections of the trail).

A View of Lion's Head from the Top of Table Mountain (midground, left), with Joe in the Foreground, Cape Town below, and Robben Island in the Background

In addition to the excitement Michelle and I felt while hiking up Lion’s Head, she and I were both scared that something would happen to us. Back in our village, we’ve grown accustomed to being indoors after sunset. This is because Peace Corps asks volunteers to stay in their homes for their safety. (Disclaimer: in all the time we’ve been at our site, nothing bad has happened to us. However, harm has come to other volunteers around the world, including South Africa, during the night.) We developed a plan in case we ran into trouble and we had phone numbers for taxis programmed in our phones. Our fears eased a little as we made our way up the trail because we saw other hikers. (We later learned that full moon hikes are one of the busiest times on the trail.) However, we remained vigilant just in case.

A Panorama of Table Mountain, Chapman's Peak Drive, and the Atlantic Coastline

After hiking for about 30 minutes, we turned a corner and I saw two middle-aged women sitting on a bench. It looked like they had been watching the sunset and were now enjoying some conversation. Seeing these women, I felt immediate relief about Michelle’s and my wellbeing. The thought that went through my mind was, “Well, if there are two middle-aged women still here and it’s getting dark, Michelle and I will be fine.”

Initially, I didn’t think anything more about having that thought. Well, as anyone who has spent time on the trail knows, there’s lots of time to spend in one’s head because there’s isn’t much to do while hiking other than to hike. Letting my mind wonder, I came back to that thought about the women and my own safety. Something wasn’t sitting well with me, and then it donned on me. My perceived safety was based on the assumption about the presence of other people who were more likely to be a greater target of harm. Phrasing it another way… there’s NO WAY any HARM will come to ME because it isn’t likely someone would try messing around with a MAN.

Cape Town Nestled beside Table Mountain

Same View, but after the sunset, and with the City Lights and Full Moon

In my experience working in higher education, and, more specifically, as someone who has been working to improve social equity in society, I have found that the idea of “social justice” is difficult for people to understand and accept. I admit that it has taken me a long time to understand the ill-effects of biased treatment of one individual or group over another based on their gender, skin color, socioeconomic standing, sexual orientation, and other identities, and I’m still learning. Even more, I’m still learning how to break down social inequities and increase opportunities for restoration, growth, healing, and understanding. (This may be heady, but it’s my personal philosophy that what I have just described is a practice that takes people their entire lives “perfecting”.)

A Bench with Table Mountain in the Background

The reason I’m telling the story about the thought I had about my own safety is that I’m still discovering the depths to which my own biases are buried. Since coming to South Africa, I have been challenging gender stereotypes; not only through my words, but also through my actions. For example, the teachers at my school were incredulous when they found out that I liked to bake. They’ve come to like it, though, because they like when I bring cookies to school.

Michelle and Joe Getting in a Photo as the Sun Sets over the Atlantic

I admit that I’m not constantly digging into my subconscious to see what prejudices come out, but what I find is that my biases and prejudices show themselves sometimes when I least expect them. For example, as I was hiking along a trail, thoughts like the one I described above come into my head.

But I don’t think I’m alone in this. Now, there are lots of people who are vocal about social justice and equity and can be seen on the “front lines”, if I may, in advancing causes associated with them. But there are also people who have thoughts like the one I described above but aren’t sure what to do with them. For me, when I have thoughts like that, I’ve made it part of my own self-discovery to find out what doesn’t sit right with me when I do. (Largely, it’s that my desire is to see people treated fairly.) 

Chapman's Peak Drive with Warm Lighting from the Setting Sun

I’m also writing this post because I want to encourage you to do the same. Sit with the thoughts you have, ask yourself, “What is it that seems 

off?”

If you need a little push to get started, think back to a time one of your family members or friends told a story about a time s/he was treated poorly because s/he was a woman, black, brown, gay, poor, or something similar. I guarantee that if you devote even a couple of minutes to thinking about it you’ll begin asking, “Why does stuff like that happen?”, and you may begin seeking an answer.