[Civsoc-mw] Andrea Long Chu on Her Debut Book, ‘Females’

Thu Oct 31 04:37:20 CAT 2019

Libel (and slander) are pernicious and the majority of readers will take
the libel as truth and remember it long afterwards and pass it on and very
few will have read its rebuttal and pass it on. It was because of this that
I felt compelled to take the Daily Times of Nigeria to court when their
scandal week end paper The Lagos Week End published an article connecting
me to a non-existent sex scandal at Ahmadu Bello University in 1974 under a
front page headline "ABU Lecturer in Sex Scandal" clearly identifying a Dr
Louis Nthenda, a Malawian, etc. The Vice Chancellor set up a Commission of
Inquiry, only to discover (a) there was no sex with any student as
mentioned in the article and (b) I was not even resident on the Campus at
the material time as I had been away on 6 months' sabbatical 200km plus
away attached to one of a State Ministry of Planning and Economic
Reconstruction.

I had no choice but to take the paper to Court, The case was heard before
Mr Justice Mohammed Bello of the Kaduna High Court whose verdict in my
favour created a new principle / precedent in libel law:
3.2 Libel Actionable Per SayThis means that whenever a libel is published,
the law will presume that damage has been caused to the plaintiff’s
reputation and will award him by way of compensation.In case of NTHENDA VS.
ALADE reported in 1974, 4 East Central State Law reports (ECSLR) page 470,
the plaintiff brought an action against the proprietor, the editor and a
reporter of the Lagos weekend newspaper alleging that an article published
in the newspaper was defamatory of him. The defendants argued that the
plaintiff’s action should fail, as he had not proved that he had suffered
any actual damage
as a consequence of the publication. Judge rejected this contention saying
that in an action for libel, the plaintiff need not prove malice in law and
need not prove that he has suffered any actual damage as a result of the
publication.  Both malice and damage are presumed from the publication
itself, in the absence of lawful excuse. In case of WILLIAMS VS. WEST
AFRICA PILOT reported in 1961, NO 1, All Nigeria Law Report, Page 866 it
was held that once a publication has been found to be libel, the
acknowledges damages. See also the case of CARONER VS. lawSketch Publishing
Company Ltd, reported in 1979, 3 Law Reports of TheNigeria (LRN), pg. 276).
The plaintiff is entitled to recover a large sum if, in a libel action, he
can prove that he suffered actual damage.

On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 4:05 AM Maybach Woyee <mbchwoyee5 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the clarification Prof Muula. These stories just like Nsundwe
> Police sexual harassment cases need thorough investigations
>
> On Mon, 28 Oct. 2019, 13:42 Adamson S. Muula, <amuula at medcol.mw> wrote:
>
>> I will respond MB because wrt (with respect to) the recent social media
>> issues regarding lecturers at UNIMA-University of Malawi. The recent
>> stories were framed for God knows what reasons. The College of Medicine has
>> instituted an investigation on the matter and one hopes that the findings
>> of such investigations. My understanding now is that none of the "accused"
>> has been summoned yet. My understanding is that all of the accused want to
>> appear before the inquiry as they believe they were all framed.
>> I would add that due to the seriousness of the allegations, other CSOs
>> and governmental agencies do their own inquiries to come to a complete
>> conclusion.
>>
>> You may know I was mentioned. I do not set exams and have no marks to
>> give. The allegations wrt marks were therefore absurd as there are no marks
>> to trade. I assure you that the inquiry will come up with nothing. This is
>> not to say that these things may not be happening within the wider
>> institutions. I just do not know.
>>
>> adamson
>>
>> On Fri, 25 Oct 2019 at 20:46, Maybach Woyee <mbchwoyee5 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Stories of sexual harassment are rampant in Malawi, why? I am very
>>> disappointed to hear about Police harassing women in Nsundwe likewise
>>> lecturers at University of Malawi demanding sexual favors for Mark's with
>>> young girls. This is pathetic
>>>
>>> On Thu, 24 Oct. 2019, 07:39 Adamson S. Muula, <amuula at medcol.mw> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Sounds reasonable to me/ and if anything, everyone starts of pretty
>>>> much as a female when forming in the womb!
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 at 04:51, Tony Thontholani <tonytontho at yahoo.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> In her first book, *Females*, out later this month, she posits a new
>>>>> theory about gender and sexuality, starting with the contention that
>>>>> “everyone is female.” (“I get criticized for projecting a lot,” she says
>>>>> dryly.) In Chu’s usage, female is a “universal existential condition,”
>>>>> defined by submitting to someone else’s desires. For example, even if you
>>>>> conceive of yourself as an alpha male who likes to top in bed, the desire
>>>>> to dominate is ultimately its own form of submission. “A top,” says Chu,
>>>>> “is just a bottom folded into another shape.” So why does she insist on
>>>>> calling a universal condition “female”? “Because everyone already does,”
>>>>> she writes. Women are the “select delegates” of this state of being.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/andrea-long-chu-on-her-debut-book-females.html
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Adamson S. Muula PhD, MPH, MBBS, CPH, PGDip (Public Health Ethics),
>>>> PGDip (Global Health), PGD (Palliative Care)
>>>> Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
>>>> University of Malawi, College of Medicine
>>>> School of Public Health and Family Medicine
>>>> Department of Public Health
>>>> Chimutu Building Room 850
>>>> Private Bag 360, Chichiri
>>>> Blantyre 3
>>>> Malawi
>>>> Email: amuula at medcol.mw
>>>> Cell: +265 884233486
>>>> Skype address: adamson.sinjanimuula
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>>>> *orcid.org/0000-0003-4412-9773 <http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4412-9773>*
>>>> Webpage: http://biostat.maths.cc.ac.mw/people/staff/Adamson_S._Muula
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Adamson S. Muula PhD, MPH, MBBS, CPH, PGDip (Public Health Ethics), PGDip
>> (Global Health), PGD (Palliative Care)
>> Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
>> University of Malawi, College of Medicine
>> School of Public Health and Family Medicine
>> Department of Public Health
>> Chimutu Building Room 850
>> Private Bag 360, Chichiri
>> Blantyre 3
>> Malawi
>> Email: amuula at medcol.mw
>> Cell: +265 884233486
>> Skype address: adamson.sinjanimuula
>> Publications list: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Muula
>> *orcid.org/0000-0003-4412-9773 <http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4412-9773>*
>> Webpage: http://biostat.maths.cc.ac.mw/people/staff/Adamson_S._Muula
>>
>>
>>
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>
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