Zambezia (2000), XXVII (i).STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBANFEMALE: SOCIO-L1NGUISTIC POLITICS OF GENDER INHARAREPEDZISAIMASHIRIDepartment of African Languages and Literature, University of ZimbabweAbstractThis article explores and describes the socio-linguistic and cultural featuresof street remarks that take place between unacquainted people in the streetsof Harare. Concern here is the male-to-female remarks. It seems that womenreceive more, and more vigorous, markers of public passage than men andthey are less frequently the originators of such communicative markers. Weargue that the markers are purposeful or intentional and that they aremotivated by linguistic, socio<ultural and historical gender stereotypes andideological constructs. The linguistic and communicative characteristics ofstreet remarks, the identities of the addressers and addressees, the women'sresponses to and the implications of the street remarks are also addressed.INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this article is to document and describe the oralcommunicative features of street remarks that take place in the streets ofHarare. A 'street remark', says Gardner (1984, 150) 'is a comment inpublic taking place between the unacquainted'. In Zimbabwe, as in othersocieties, those who are evidently different in appearance from theirfellow citizens Š the fat, the thin, short and tall, the handicapped, theugly, are often subjected to public remarks. Concern here is the male-to-female remarks. Women tend to receive more, and more vigorous, markersof public passage than men and are less frequently the originators ofsuch markers. The remarks may involve direct confrontation or 'veiledrhetoric in the form of indirection, metaphor, allegory, circumlocution,innuendo and related literary devices' (Yankah, 1998,26). We demonstratethat most remarks are stereotyped in nature and often refer to femalesexuality. Breaches of verbal taboos are common, and as is typical of amodern urban society, men seem to capitalize on anonymity and theabsence of institutionalized forms of speech censorship. The notion of'face' is important to this discussion. Brown and Levinson (1978, 66)succinctly define 'face' as 'everyone's public self-image'.5556 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALEIt is argued that women's general responses to street remarks aredetermined by their socialization, traditional gender-role constrains, ageand to some extent, social class. It seems that street remarks are typicalof men in general but the coarseness of the remarks, the persistence andfrequency of perpetration and the reaction to female responses dependon the setting of the remark, the age, the social class and status of theman. Men of the middle class and those with some status that is associatedwith 'gentleman-like' composure are less inclined to coarse and indiscreetremarks and violent reactions when humiliated than those of the workingclass. In fact, the former are likely to make only ambiguous remarks andin places where they enjoy anonymity. Not every contact, however,between unacquainted people in public has a spoken feature. There is apossibility of communication by extralinguistic and mechanical markers.Gardner (1994), commenting on the occurrence of this phenomenon inPhiladelphia, says that:There may simply be a breach of the customary pattern of gaze; this ismaking eye contact briefly from a distance, averting the eyes oncecontact is made, then raising them once more with a middle distancefocus to rest on a point slightly to the side of the passerby. The gazepatterns happen when eye contact is not promptly broken or whengaze lingers too long upon some part of the passerby (p. 148).Apart from these mechanical signals which show that another personis passing, there is a group of physiological signals that are usuallyconsidered to occur involuntarily. These also occur regularly when malepasses female and again the male is the creator of the marker. We arguethat the markers are purposeful or intentional and are motivated bysocio-cultural gender stereotypes, attitudes and ideological orientation.METHODOLOGYThe data for this article came largely from actual speech recordings ofnatural communication observed on the streets of Harare. Utterancesinvolving street remarks and the behavioural forms accompanying themwere observed mainly at the food cafes, bus and commuter bus termini,construction sites, regulated road junctions, markets and pedestrianmalls in the city for eight weeks. Initially, the researcher, while commutingto and from the University, observed interactions that include streetremarks. More systematic observations were made when the researcherspent time at the various places, particularly during weekends takingnotes and recording instances involving street remarks betweenunacquainted people. Some of the conversations, altercations and verbalexchanges resulting from the remarks were recorded on tape for closeranalysis and comparison of male and female remarks. The observationP. MASHIRI 57method enabled the researcher to gather data on the terms, jokes andother expressions that men use in addressing women directly or indirectlyon the street. Some of the terms that women use, especially whenresponding to street remarks and the other strategies that they use toavoid brawl, such as silence, were obtained from the observations.The observation method was supplemented by face-to-face interviews.Informants were picked from neighbours, colleagues, and career womenwhose work requires them to wear pants, housewives, women activists,university students and adolescents. Factors such as age, social statusand social class were considered in sampling in order to establish themotivation of street remarks, their characteristics and the nature anddiversity of responses involved. It is from both observations and interviewsthat we established that men are invariably the initiators of street remarks.THE CONTEXTUAL FOUNDATION OF STREET REMARKSBrown (1980, 125) defines a stereotype as 'a category that singles out anindividual as sharing assumed characteristics on the basis of- his groupmembership'. Stereotyping usually implies some type of attitude towardsan individual or individuals in question. Brown (1980, 127) asserts that,Attitudes, like all aspects of cognition and the affect in human beings,develop early in childhood and are the result of parents' and peers'attitudes, and interacting affective factors in the human experience.These attitudes form part of one's perception of self, of others and ofthe culture in which one is living.The fact that men are often the originators of street remarks suggeststhat these markers are derived from a culture that venerates malesuperordinacy and female subordination. In Shona society, men arecommonly stereotyped as fierce animals whose maleness is visiblyimposing, for example bhuru (bull), jongwe (cock), shumba (lion), and soon. The macho attributes are celebrated by society through such figurativeexpressions as; bhuru rinoonekwa nemavanga am (lit. a bull is seen by itsscars) and musha haukukuridze machongwe maviri (lit. a home cannothave two cocks crowing at the same time). There are no equivalentcomparisons for women. That gap is likely to be due to the assumptionthat 'fierceness and superordinacy presence are not feminine attributes'(Mukama, 1995, 379). This observation is supported by the fact that allother attributes associated with offensiveness and invincibility are allascribed to men. Women who are identified with these characteristicsare labeled manly. Being condemned to that bottom position, it is expectedthat women will not attempt to rise to claim fair play in verbal provocationembedded in street remarks.58 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALEWomen's public life is greatly different from that of men because ofthe manner in which the former are treated in public by the latter. On thestreets, men generally subject women to evaluative commentary. Commoncommentary has to do with women's appearance. Street remarks oftenaccuse women of inferior looks, improper attire, inappropriate actionand moral defects, among others. A middle-aged woman wearing a blousethat exposes her stomach, dubbed 'guvhu ouf (one that exposes thenavel) in Shona slang and a pair of tight jeans, enters a road-side cafe andtwo men exchange a joke meant to pour ridicule on her by speaking loudenough for the woman to over-hear their conversation. In doing so, theyconstitute the latter as the subject of the discourse without having toconfront her directly: 'Unoziva chikundyu here shamwori? Chinogara muviriuri pachena chichizviadhivhetaiza.' (Do you know a type of cricket-likebeetle my friend? It is bare as if to advertise its body). The womandecodes the joke and simply frowns at them as she walks out. Sometimeswomen who are caught out of role are reprimanded directly for it bylooks and comments. The singular, non-honorific pronoun of address andabusive terms are used as terms of address in such instances, despite theage and social status of the woman in question.. Disembarking from a bus from the University, the researcher sees ayoung woman wearing a mini-skirt crossing a street next to the commuterbus terminus and a group of bus touts shout, 'Hurellwe mira!' (Prostitute!You stop!). On another street a mother crosses a street during the eveningrush hour leaving a child behind on crossing the street, and one driverpeeps through the window and shouts, 'live unopenga here? Ndewakohere mwana iyeye? Vakadzi munodeiko mutown nguva ino?' (You! Are youout of your mind? Is that your child? What do you women want in town atthis time of the day anyway?). In both instances the women rush awayquietly. The use of the word hure (prostitute) and the second personpronoun together indicate the speaker's intention to offend or embarrassthe addressee. The remarks reveal stereotyped views about urban women.The myth of prostitution and that of African authenticity in both colonialand post-independence Africa was (is) aimed at perpetuating the controlof women. As Obbo (1981) observes:Women are viewed as the upholders of traditional ways of life and theyoften find themselves as scapegoats for society's confusion and conflictover what the contemporary role of women should be, and for thedilemmas produced by adjusting to rapid social change (p. 11).Society believes that as bearers of culture, women should beprotected, with or without their consent, from the corrupting influencesof Western culture such as wigs, cosmetics, short dresses and pants.People tend to,P. MASHIRI 59judge women especially by the way they dress, and can be heardexpressing sentiments that imply an assumed association between sex-work and certain type of clothes. Mini-skirts, tight jeans, wearing a wigor 'too much' make-up; and being on the street without beingaccompanied by a 'decent-looking' male, all add up to being a sex-worker in the view of the most conventionally minded people.Flamboyant, non-conventional dress is also often used to defend therapist where a young woman is accused of having 'asked for it'; havingbeen in the wrong place at the wrong time; having tempted the man(MacFadden, 1992, 173).In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Malawi, Tanzania and Ugandacontrolled immorality by regulating female attire. Mini-skirts were definedin Uganda, in 1971 as 'clothing injurious to the public morale' (Obbo,1981, 11) and were banned. In Zimbabwe, as Chitauro et al (1994) haveexplicitly demonstrated, a factor that relates to the 'prostitute' image isthe historic joint attempt by the Rhodesian government and the Africanmen to control African women and to exclude them from the urbanspace. A point that came frequently in our discussions with 'liberated'women was connected with notions of danger and power. As career andprofessional women, they suggested a kind of power. They were perceivedas dangerous and that is why men feared and wished to control them.They are perceived as 'dangerous' in that they might influence otherwomen to follow their lifestyle, as they were presumed to be single ordivorced.In all African societies, child-bearing is highly valued. Once the womangets a child, the child's name becomes her name so that her identity istotally subsumed under the child. A Shona mother would be addressedas Amai Vimbai (Mother of Vimbai), for instance. Variations to thatversion will be terms like Mai mwana (Mother of child), Mai Tombi(Mother of girl child), Mai Bhoyi (Mother of boy child), Ambuya (Mother-in-law) or Mai Matuwinzi if she has twins or triplets. All these are supposedto be a sign of respect for the woman as a mother. Once a womanneglects that child from whom she derives respect, she is perceived asdebased, hence deserving public humiliation of the kind cited above.Some of the street remarks concerning women's appearances pertainto the concept of beauty. At a shopping mall along Second Street theresearcher hears a man passing by calling some fat young woman loiteringat the mall, 'Hesi Madhuve!' (Hello MadhuveX) The woman does not respondand the man continues, "MafehlefehleP (The fat one!) Another slim, tallwoman wearing a track-suit passes two men and she overhears one ofthem say, Waiona here hwemisi iyoT (Have you seen that worm?). Theconstruction of womanhood in terms of sexuality and attractiveness isassociated with the woman's physical appearance. As McFadden60 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALE(1992,172) rightly observes, 'Size has always been a factor and numerousAfrican novels applaud the contours and sensuality of a large, well-formed African female form.' In Shona poetry and song, the woman'sbody is talked about 'in very powerful language of love, and sometimeslust and possessiveness' (Chitauro, 1995,44). The objectification of womenusing nouns of classes 5 and 7, with the syntactic features [+big] and[+short, +fat], but never those of class 21, with feature [+very big], iscommon in Shona poetry as well as in oral discourse. This shows that theAfrican people, men especially, admire large but not so large femaleforms and seem to deride model forms that are derived from Whitestereotypes of beauty and perfection. Remarks such as those cited above,therefore reflect the crude cartooning that women are subjected to onthe street and also reveals the objectification of women in Shona culture.It is not only the unattractive, sloppy women who receive publicremarks; the pretty and well-groomed ones too. The remarks are made byall classes of men, individually or in groups; sometimes they are spokenjokingly, sometimes with vehemence. These patterns of behaviour couldbe better understood by examining the gender-role prescriptions of menand women in African society (See Chimhundu, 1987; and Gaidzanwa,1985). In Shona culture, men have a built-in license to accost women andit is the women's prerogative to comply or to resist. When this happensin public, rejection is inevitable. Just as women are unlikely to respond ina hostile way, they are unlikely to respond positively. Verbal innuendoes,including street remarks are regarded as part of the organic malecommunicative devices. Most of the men interviewed in Harare do notseem to realize that street remarks are offensive to women, although theymay not always be so. Many women, especially those with raisedconsciousness, find male street remarks offensive and intrusive.Some women do not always seem to take offense at male-to-femalestreet remarks. They believe that some street remarks are innocuouslyintended and flattering. Similar findings are reported by Gardner (1984,151) in her study on the Black community in Pennsylvania. She observesthat street remarks 'are the rewards due to the woman who fulfils herfemale role requirements or they are the playful patter of the men shepasses'.The whistle or hissing sound is an extra-linguistic form of streetaddress or remark that is quite common in both rural and urbanZimbabwean communities. There were mixed responses to the question,'Do you like to be whistled to?' depending on age, social class and socialstatus. Most of the married women and professional women who theresearcher talked to say that they are generally offended and embarrassedby the whistling behaviour. These responses were confirmed by manywomen's reactions that the researcher observed on the streets. The mostP. MASHIRI 61common reaction to whistling was inattention. But many of the teenagegirls that were interviewed are rather indifferent to it. It seems thatwhistling is not uniquely Zimbabwean. Goffman (1963,144-145) analyzedthe positive possibilities of street remarks and whistles in Westerncommunities. He writes:In some Western communities there is the practice whereby a malecommunicates regard for attractiveness of a passing female with whomshe is unacquainted by whistling at her or greeting her with some otherexpressive sign. What follows is up to her. She can elect to act as if norelevant communication has occurred. Or she can elect to turn andratify the comment by a friendly or hostile comment, in either casecreating a momentary face engagement. (Apparently the moreimpersonally appreciative the whistle, that is, the more it can beconstrued not as a pickup, the more accepting the girl will be of it.) Butin addition, she may visibly smile (so that the whistler knows that themessage has been appreciatively received), and at the same time lookstraight ahead so as not to allow for the collapse of the separatenessand the formation of an engagement. This latter tack represents ineffect, the collusion of both individuals against the rules ofcommunication Š an unratified breach of communication barriers.The breach is a slight one, however, since the person whistled to hasbeen on the move away from the whistle and will soon be out of therange of engagement.Goffman's analysis is moralistic and seems to place the responsibilityfor the breach on the woman. In Shona society the man is invariably thefirst mover. The women's responses are not as simplistic as Goffmanobserves of Western communities. They depend on a number of variables,including the setting of the communication. In addition, as our data show,these patterns of remarks are not necessarily motivated by the woman'sappearance.Many men can state street remarks so as to neutralize offense. Ayoung woman crossing a street in Harare hears a male voice call out,'/we!' (You!) from behind her; she says nothing but the man calls again,'/we!' The speaker catches up with her at last, and says plaintively, "Urikuramba kucheuka hako, but wakachena wena.' (You have decided not toturn, but you are certainly well dressed). Again a woman walks down astreet in a high-density suburb in Harare. A middle-aged man approachesher and looks at her appreciatively: 'Ambuya hindava kunakasol Murumewenyu anombokuudzai here kuti makanakaT (Lady, do you realize howbeautiful you are? Does your husband often tell you that you arebeautiful?). The woman simply smiles as she walks by. In both thesecases the men have included 'self-serving mitigating devices' (Hung andBradac, 1993, 92) or 'redressive strategies' (Brown and Levinson, 1978,74) that defuse the possibility of offense of the remark. Mitigating devices62 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALEhave been discussed extensively in (Fraser, 1980) and Brown andLevinson's (1978; 1987) work on politeness. Hung and Bradac (1993, 93)define mitigation as 'an attempt at reducing the harshness or hostility ofthe force of a speech act'. In the first case, the man, although persistent,used a sincere tone and in the second case, the man addressed thewoman by using a term of respect, ambuya (lit., mother-in-law), andincorporated reference to the woman's husband.Street remarks can take the form of asymmetrical teasing. This usuallyhappens when a lone woman passes by a group of men and finds herselfin a momentarily peculiar physical position, as when the slit of her dressis blown by the wind, she trips or slips. A woman walks past a group offruit vendors and her skirt is blown up by the wind exposing herunderwear. She tries to keep it down and she hears one of the vendorsshouting, 'Siya zvakadarol Rega tinyatsoona Africa yose.' (Leave it! Allowus to see the whole of Africa). The rest of the group laughs. In this casethe remark takes the form of sexual slang. The word 'Africa', in thiscontext, is used euphemistically to refer to the female genitalia. Initiallypositive and neutral words like 'Africa' acquire negative (and often sexual)connotations through semantic derogation. This language transformation'occurs more frequently for words referring to women than men' (Schulz,1975). According to Johnson, (1977, cited in Grossman, 1997, 110), thetransformation results from men's tendency to view women as sexualobjects and to control women's sexuality.Zimbabwe's patriarchal culture also produces a preponderance ofpejorative terms to describe women. In fact, the terms are ephemeral,elusive and epitomize the city culture. It is not uncommon to hear men,particularly the younger generation, addressing younger women as 'chick','hwaga' (from whore), 'chibhurari', and 'bhebhf (lit. baby) on the street.'Chick' infantilizes women and reduces them to animal status. 'Hwaga'and 'chibhurari' suggest sexual promiscuity and 'bhebhf alludes to child-like attributes such as sweetness and tenderness and, when intended asa compliment, focuses only on a woman's physical attractiveness. Termssuch as ambuya Oady) that appear to be polite are sometimes usedeuphemistically by men to make covertly insulting references to women.The preponderance of sexual and derogatory slang aimed at womensuggests that women in our society continue to be defined by theirsexuality. Following the Sapir-Whorfian hypothesis that language is animportant determinant of people's cognitions and behaviours (Lucy, 1992),the use of derogatory sexual slang reflects the existing socio-culturalbiases against women and may lead both sexes to view women morenegatively.Street remarks also involve men motorists-to-male motorists, male-to-female motorists and motorists-to-pedestrians. Goffman (1981, 108)P. MASHIRI 63says that, 'drivers of buses, taxis and private cars can shout unflatteringjudgements of other motorists and pedestrians when they have passedout of range'. However, the researcher observed that the motorists andpedestrians shouted at more frequently in the streets of Harare arewomen. Remarks to female motorists such as 'Iwe buda muroad mhanikana usingagoni kudhiraivhaV (You get off the road if you cannot driveproperly!' 'Unoda kutiitisa ngozi here iwe? Zvevakadzi vakomanal' (Doyou want to cause an accident? Women behave quite strangely?) andmany others are common on the streets of Harare, particularly duringrush hour. Male bus and commuter bus drivers who consider the followingof road rules religiously as frivolous make most of the remarks. Thenegative attitudes towards women drivers reflected' in the insultingremarks derive from the general belief by many people, both male andfemale, that women are not assertive, muscular and expeditious enoughto be drivers. These attributes are culturally associated with maleaggression. Throughout childhood, aggression is strongly disapprovedof in girls. Furthermore, in the colonial era there were very few sociallyapproved public roles for women in the urban areas, and driving was notone of them. Driving was a symbol of freedom and audacity. In fact, asMhlabi recalls,If you allowed your wife to drive, everyone, including your wife's parents,would blame you for urging her into promiscuity and exposing her todanger. The women themselves were not eager to do that sort of thingeither (Interview, 1999).The remarks against female drivers result from some such perceptionsinternalized even by the women themselves. Although there are numerousindividual women drivers in post-independence Zimbabwe, those thatdrive public transport are still quite few. Those women who have crossedthe stereotypical boundary often receive remarks like, 'Uyu murume chaiye'(This one is just as good as a man).CHARACTERISTICS OF STREET REMARKSNoting some attributes of male-female street remarks makes it possibleto understand why women generally construe these remarks negativelyand why most men interpret them positively. Gardner (1984,154) stressesthat street remarks make women feel like objects and that 'receiving theremarks constitute a landmark experience in their coming of age; thathaving male re-narks may be the most memorable feature of some periodor place in their lives.' In Shona culture, street remarks symbolize a riteof passage for young women from puberty to adolescence. This transitionaffects the young women's strategies of responding to and countering the64 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALEstreet remarks. It seems that, at adolescence, women are less constrainedby cultural role expectations than at adult stage.While most women are perplexed by street remarks, men generallyconstrue them as playfulness, flattery and motivated by women'sprovocative behaviour. One University of Zimbabwe male student relatedan incident where he 'playfully' commented to a female student at thecampus commuter bus terminus referring to her hair as resembling thatof a White person but the female student remained quiet. When herepeated the remark, the latter broke into a song to reinforce her disregardof the comment. The male student, like his counterparts who were presentat the interview, reported that he felt provoked by the lady's response.Some men believe that street remarks can have a corrective value.Some of the examples cited by men are those involving African womenwho wear tights and hot pants. Culturally women are open persons andare always accessible. The stereotype of women as accessible persons isunderlined in proverbial expressions such as: 'Mukadzi muzhanjewepanzira apfuura anotanhawo\ translatable as: (A woman is like amuzhanje tree, any man who passes by can help himself). Women inpublic are therefore obliged to show that they can be approached by anymale but they can only be won by some male.Remarks are either direct or indirect. Indirect street remarks arerather ambiguous making it quite disconcerting for women. Men whomake indirect remarks are usually in pairs or in groups. Some commentsrefer to or make props or actual or elaborated characteristics of thewoman. One woman reported that on one occasion while crossing astreet in the Kopje area she heard male taxi drivers talking in loud voicesabout the round and good looking legs they saw; another saw three mengazing at her and heard one of them comment: 'Apa chero zvikanzi iripondinosua ndafa zvangu ndakaguta.' Qi this one has it (AIDS) I would preferto have sex with her and die contented). The effect of introducing topicstaboo in polite conversation in public conversation is to embarrass thewoman who over-hears them. The woman is expected to remain quietand disinterested because she is only an over-hearer and not a ratifiedspeaker in the conversation. In traditional culture, ignoring malecoarseness is a gender-role requirement. Situations-based control onwomen's speech, particularly within the public domain, appears to bewidespread.In Zimbabwe as in several other African societies, one of the virtuesof ideal womanhood is abstinence from dominating men in speakingwithin the public domain. In some African societies, unlike Zimbabwe, asYankah (1998,17) observed, women wear various types of lip plates, notonly as decoration, but also as instruments of speech inhibition of certainsituations. An attempt by a woman to reply to a public remark would,P. MASHIRI 65therefore be a violation of her feminine role and would expose her toopen criticism and sometimes to heavier insults, especially when theremarks involve sexual matters, which they almost always do.Some street remarks are often evaluative in a positive way. Middleclass or professional men who often use subtle strategies to avoidaltercations and consequent embarrassing moments often make suchremarks. These remarks are generally interpreted as compliments. Inmost cases, however, public comments to the unacquainted areambivalent. A colleague reported that, in a banking hall in First Street,one man said to her, 'Sisi makachena chaizvo' (Sister you have a niceattire). When she remained quiet the man repeated the same compliment.But when the woman responded with, 'Mazvita zvenyu' (Thank you), theman hung around repeating the same remarks in different ways and thenfollowed her, perhaps attempting to establish an acquaintance. Manywomen perceive such situations as potentially violent. If a woman ignoresrepeated evaluations of a man, he might embarrass her by makingcontemptuous remarks in public. Most women say that they only welcomeevaluation remarks as genuinely complimentary if they are made by welldressed and attractive men of their own social class.Some evaluation remarks are negative in the sense that they arejudgemental and sometimes moralistic. The researcher observed a youngwoman with a child crossing a street at a pedestrian crossing and hearda man behind her saying, 'Mwana uyo anotsikwa ambuya. Muri kutadzakumubata zvakanaka here? (That child will be run over by a car lady.Can't you hold her properly?). Another woman ran to catch a bus and thebus conductor said, 'Musamhanye ambuya. Munodonha mukanyara.' (Donot run lady. You might fall down and be embarrassed). Some of theseremarks debase women by regarding them as irresponsible, irrationaland vulnerable.It seems that almost every woman who passes down a street alone,particularly on the periphery of the Central Business District, is open toremarks. Even those accompanied by a man, a child or those who arepregnant are not exclusively free from remarks. A rather ugly womanaccompanied by a handsome man passes a group of construction workersand one of the workers, looking at them shouts, 'Zviuya hazvidondanivakomanaf'(Good spouses seldom marry each other). Another youngwoman standing at a robot crossing with a child on her back hears a manstanding besides her say, 'Mwana wenyu here uyu sisi? Akanaka samaivake:' (Is this your child, sister? She is as beautiful as her mother.)Street remarks can be meant to test the woman's self-control. Suchkind of remarks are attention-getters. Traditionally prescribed femalerole behavior forbids women to speak to male strangers and to respondto whistles or verbal remarks. Yet in reality there are many circumstanceswhich require the women to break the frame. The stranger may be in66 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALEneed of help, may be sounding an alarm or the woman might havedropped something. Whether they respond or not they are still likely tofind that they are the butts of a street remark.Faced with varied situations involving street remarks women saythey react in various ways. One strategy is to act as if nothing is happening.The researcher confirmed such a reaction at a bus terminus where oneman used a smoking gesture for provocation. The woman remained silent.On further provocation, she avoided confrontation by moving to anotherposition. Many women reported that they try to avoid the street or placewhere a particular remark occurred or activities that intrigue remarkssuch as loitering, running and cycling. The researcher observed thatwhen some women are walking alone, they wear dark glasses. Manyprofessional women reported that they avoid wearing either too'provocative' or too casual dress, and usually walk in a business-like way.Another way of diffusing the possibility of remarks that women adopt,particularly when passing a group of working men is to greet them or topretend to ask for help or directions. In most cases the woman is treatedpolitely because she has placed the men in a position of power anddeclared herself helpless and subordinate.Some street boys reported that women who answer back angrily tomen who make street remarks, either walking alone or in a group, oftenbecome victims of heavier abuse. Some working class women, particularlythose under thirty and adolescents in general, are less constrained bycultural role expectations. They answer back using their own derogatoryand/or slang terms used by men to demonstrate that they are equallyinvincible and they are not worried about status or being 'lady-like'. Infact, their counter-remarks can be more offensive than those made bymen. The researcher has, on several occasions, heard some workingclass women using as counter-remarks such extremely insulting andobscene terms as 'musatanyoko' (one who has sexual intercourse withhis mother) and 'zimbwa' (a big dog), particularly in the streets of Mbareand Mufakose Š high density suburbs in Harare. But, it is likely thateither men or women in other contexts also use these words. Somewomen go to the extent of picking up fights with the men. Theseobservations conform to the results obtained by De Klerk (1992), basedon South African data and that by Risch (1987), based on North Americandata. Both studies have demonstrated that 'females do use derogatorylanguage and appear to be doing so in increasing numbers' (De Klerk,1992, 278). Most women in our society have been silent victims of streetverbal abuse because they 'internalized the patriarchal ideology whichdefines them as subordinate to men' (McFadden, 1992, 157). Retaliationis not considered feminine behaviour.P. MASHIRI 67Retaliation can lead to verbal altercations and then these may resultin physical wrangle. The type of socialization that women generally receivetraditionally does not encourage or equip them for violence andaggression. If the remark is sexually humiliating, traditionally, women arenot expected to utter such remarks either in private or in public. In Shonaculture, as in other cultures throughout the world, the strongest linguistictaboos apply to words associated with sex. Studies in the psychology oflanguage define taboo or dirty words by their affectation, the reactionsaroused by the word, instead of the word's denotative meaning (Paivioand Begg, 1981, cited in Risch, 1987, 354). Compliance with verbal taboois part of the ethnography of communication. But, women certainly havea lexical set for referring in an overtly derogatory manner but 'such a setof terms would be considered to be taboo, and perhaps such languagebehaviour in women is merely too "unladylike" to mention' (Risch, 1987,354). Women are generally perceived as being more status consciousthan men are and are thought to be restricted to more 'standard' forms ofspeech. 'Non-standard forms of speech are considered to be associatedwith masculinity and toughness' (Trudgill, 1974, 191).The type of speech event in street remarks depends on whetherthere is one man, two men or a group of men involved. Chances of a fightensuing between the man who says the remark and the woman whoretaliates, or the latter being assaulted are greater if there is one maninvolved. The man's hostility is aroused by the fear of rejection andpublic humiliation. If two or more men are involved the woman'scounterstrike is diffused by laughter from the men.CONCLUSIONWe have demonstrated that male-to-female remarks are several types ofspeech act that occur in the streets of Harare. The remarks take manyforms depending on whether there is one male or two or more males or agroup involved. The characteristics of the remarks have been examined.We have argued that the nature of the speech act, the men's dominantand offensive role and the women's general responses are determined byand reflect the gender and cultural stereotypes that are inculcated duringthe process of socialization. Women are generally regarded as 'openpersons' and their appearance as a ready resource for public comment.Most of the remarks focus on the women's attire, stature and behaviouror presupposed behaviour. Depending on the social class of the malespeaker, the setting, the perceived personality of the addressee and theaddressee's response, the remark range from general teasing to coarseverbal taboos.68 STREET REMARKS, ADDRESS RIGHTS AND THE URBAN FEMALEThis study has indicated that men can be categorized according tothe types of street remarks that they make, their persistence and thefrequency of perpetration and their reaction to female responses. Aboutfour categories can be adduced from this study. The first category is thatof working class men, who include commuter touts and public transportdrivers; those that work at public sites; vendors, etc. These often makederogatory, sarcastic and insulting remarks, depending on whether theyare in groups or individuals. The second group is that of street teenagers.Street teenagers normally live in groups. They are generally indiscriminatein their verbal attack and like those in the first category, inclined towardsslang and sex taboos. The other category is that of students. These arerather polite and complimentary when individuals, but rowdy and coarsewhen in groups. The last category is that of middle-class or professionalmen whose status is associated with 'gentleman-like' poise. These areless disposed to crude and indiscreet remarks and violent reaction whenan altercation occurs. They tend to make ambiguous remarks that areoften interpreted as genuinely complimentary by women of their class.However, most women feel that, although the immediate impact of streetremarks differ with each category of males, the values embedded in theremarks, the stereotypes perpetuated and the overall gender implicationsare negative and undesirable. The cultural gender relationship of man assubject and woman as object gives the former address rights towards thelatter. Sometimes remarks, accompanied by involuntary mechanicalsignals are motivated by gender stereotypes and men's tendency ofregarding women as objects of amusement and 'beasts of prey'.It was mentioned in the introduction that women who try to copewith changing realities by asserting their sexual and social choices andidentities are regarded as a 'problem' by men, and a betrayal of traditions,often confused with women's roles. Cultural distinctiveness has becomemore closely identified with the arena of gender relations and theappropriate conduct of women. Women's conduct is perceived as crucialto the constitution of identity because 'women are considered theguardians and symbols of cultural particularism' (UNESCO, 1995, 114)and mediators between the past and the present. They must be protectedfrom Western influence while men see themselves as mediators betweenthe present and the future. African women are, therefore caught betweentwo opposing forces: between a practical pressure to change, and amoral pressure not to do so. This is part of the motivation for streetremarks by men on women. Remarks are used as a form of direct socialcontrol. They have moral overtones. Those women who are perceived asresisting the traditional gender roles and challenging the status quo areconsidered as deserving public embarrassment. Remarks are thereforeP. MASHIR1 69used to change non-conformist behaviour through ridicule, reprimand,or even more direct physical attack. Breaching of verbal taboos by usingsex-related insults is often a deliberate way, by men, to de-face 'deviant'women. Women who retaliate by also using insults, perhaps, do it in anattempt to protect their self-image or simply out of anguish of publicembarrassment.Most women are disturbed by street remarks because such utterancesunduly evoke human emotions and often stir altercation. This is based onthe presumed potency of the spoken word. Zimbabwean women oftensuffer quietly the consequences of street remarks, some of them quiteviolent, debasing and abusive. Because of their occurrence between theunacquainted, the unpredictability of the consequences ensuing from theinteraction and their abusive nature or potential, street remarks could beclassified as a form of verbal abuse and a breach of civil inattention.ReferencesBROWN, H. D. 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