The feature film, Difret, produced by Angelina Jolie, portrays the real-world court case defending the Ethiopian girl Hirut
from a murder charge when she killed the rapist who abducted her. The film brings to light the ongoing issue of child marriage in many parts of the world. This custom of abduction of young girls disrupts their education and chances for a better life, leading to early pregnancies, poor health outcomes and continuing poverty for them and their children.
Advocates for change in these customs realize the need to understand and change male attitudes and cultures of masculinity. What varying models and representations of masculinity do you see in this film? How do you think these models will continue to strengthen or change in the aftermath of Hirut’s case? What would you recommend to try and change these cultures of masculinity that perpetuate child marriage?
In Difret I noticed that there were a few different types of masculinity other than the traditional, angry men who wanted Hirut killed. For example, her former boss was very supportive of Meaza and the work she was doing. Hirut’s father was also different in that he supported his children going to school and did what he could to help during Hirut’s case, the DA was different in that he was official and by the book by he wasn’t outright rude because Meaza was a woman. I think as time went on after this case more of these models would become more prevalent and branch away from tradition, especially due to the abduction portion of tradition becoming illegal and with women becoming educated as men have been. Change is inevitable. I think the ways to change the toxic masculinity that tradition has caused can be righted through education on how men’s actions can do more harm than good, I would also push for legislation against child marriage under a certain age (I know underage marriage is common in many places but some protection for young women is better than none).
I also wanted to add that did some research on the film and saw that it was banned in Ethiopia for some time and it’s Wikipedia page said there were some untruths into the amount of credit Meaza received for her work on the case. Whether this is true or not I don’t know but I think that if it is it could do more harm than good for feminine advancement in countries such as this.