because they have things tying them down into the household. they have children, for instance, who they cannot leave behind with a violent man. they have had their economic prospects limited severely, and so they do not have any other options for themselves, their own well being, and that of their children. and then also they have their families, who are pushing them to stay in this marriage so that they can say that they are married, because married people gain kind of social status and standing. so there s a lot of stuff going on there. how far should yourfilm, the feminine and the foreign, tackle issues like this to say, look, come on, men, you can t go around slapping your wife left, right, and centre? i think my film, and my film, together with my co director, mars maasai, i think ourfilm kind of moves into a space that increases the voices that are speaking about these things. i think there are some films that have done really well in speaking exactly specifically against dom
well in speaking exactly specifically against domestic violence. for us, we took a much more wider context, understanding feminist activisms in different ways, from an ecological perspective, from a chance perspective, from a queer perspective, and we took a much more wider engagement. i do think, though, zeinab, that the question that you re asking is about why. you re asking why artists are not taking better care of battered women. and the question i m asking back at you is why that responsibility has been left to artists, when the people who have dropped the ball. because you said to me. ..and dropped the ball significantly. our law enforcement, the state, our society. of course they play a role. but you said to me at the beginning of this interview, yeah, iagree with the chinese artist ai weiwei that art has a social function. i do. so come on, i m saying to you, where s your social function in tackling a problem that you say is endemic in kenya? absolutely.