Porn in Zimbabwe a sign of cultural erosion

By Roselyne Sachiti

Every woman is attractive in her own way, so is every man. Many women take pride in their slim bodies, others love their onion shaped bottoms others just are fascinated by the upper bodies and will wear clothes that bring out their most valuable assets.

While some women show the love of their God-given assets through wearing these perfectly fitting clothes and leaving their admirers with a wild imagination others have just decided to go nude and opened up their bodies for the world to see. Some men and women are also finding gratification in filming themselves being intimate.

While they do these acts behind closed doors, windows and curtains, it becomes taboo when the images and videos end up in the wrong hands and are leaked to the world to see.

The number of women and couples who have been appearing in newspapers either nude or filming themselves in sexual acts seems to be on the increase in Zimbabwe and this is becoming a societal thorn.

Just last week, a Chitungwiza nurse intentionally took nude pictures of herself and made it to the front page of one of our sister papers.

Despite the pictures being so explicit, the nurse who seemed not bothered by the fact that whole country saw her naked, went on to say that she did not regret parading herself in her birthday suit and even challenged the newspaper to visit her and get more pictures.

In yet another incident, a high school student from a Harare institution also had her nude pictures leaked to the media making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

A male and female student from the Harare Polytechnic also got naughty and filmed themselves while being intimate only for the video to land in the wrong hands. Popular urban grooves artiste Stunner’s leaked a self- made sex tape with socialite girlfriend Pokello raising many questions in social networks.

Some accused the musician of attempting to boost his popularity by deliberately leaking the pornographic tape. This is a popular tactic among celebrities, notably Kim Kardashian (2007) and Paris Hilton (2003).

Two Bulawayo artistes who also recently filmed themselves while being intimate also made headlines in that city after the video was leaked. Such cases seem to be on the increase and those captured in the media are too many to mention individually.

This has raised many questions amongst them whether such acts, which are forbidden in our culture, are the final stage of our cultural erosion?

Is this a sign of insecurity or a matter of getting too excited? Is it for the love of money? Is it okay to do it privately and later face the embarrassment once the pictures or pornographic videos have been leaked?

According to wikipedia, pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter.

Pornography may use a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, and video games. The term applies to the depiction of the act rather than the act itself, and so does not include live exhibitions like sex shows and striptease.

Sekuru Dhauti Moyo of Harare’s Mabvuku high-density suburb says it worries him that young Zimbabweans no longer view sex and nudity as a private matter to be shared by married couples, but more as a way of fulfilling one’s wild imagination.

“I am angry. I am disappointed. Our children are behaving like animals and our culture has become saturated with nudity and pornography, especially since the advent of the internet. Some of our children are not embarrassed to publicly do what we used to classify as sacred during our youth,” he said.

Madzibaba Joshua Marange of the Johane Marange Church said there is need for prayer to cleanse the minds of people who find fulfilment in either taking nude pictures of themselves or filming themselves while being intimate.

“The world is certainly coming to an end. People should start fearing God and praying or they will turn this country into Sodom and Gomorrah,” he said.

Social worker Musekiwa Makwanya said in the absence of research, it is difficult to say exactly what is the cause of this increased interest in pornography is. He, however, links the increased interest to the weakening of the moral and social fibre.

“Generally, human beings have a natural interest in sex but pornography is a social unacceptable expression of sexual behaviour in our Zimbabwean society.

“In some Western countries pornography is a lucrative business and their pornographic material has found its way into Zimbabwe and it appears our people are fast learning these anti-social behaviours.

“It is also possible that the law, which outlaws the distribution of pornographic material, is not being enforced effectively,” he said.

Makwanya revealed that most adolescents are naturally experimental and if they were to lay their hands on pornographic material would be tempted to imitate what they see in pornography, some of which are performed under drugs unknown to some naïve adolescents.

“Those whose photos are leaked to the Press or internet face rejection by their peers and families, as well as humiliation, which can lead to low esteem. There are cases where some young people can be expelled from school or college. So, yes, there is a risk of emotional and even physical harm,” he added.

Makwanya pointed out that such behaviour is certainly a sign of cultural erosion.

He said the challenge for those who participate in pornography is that their behaviour is potentially criminal and the law may look at them differently unless it is clear that the pictures were taken without their knowledge and did not understand the risks.

“Those who find their pornographic video or nude pictures leaked may find that it difficult to face society and there is very little help that they are likely to have because they attract negative attention,” he explained.

According to Mr Makwanya, every society has people who take risks, in a way to attract negative attention. “Even if there is something lacking it should not lead to people engaging in such behaviour,” he warned.

He said people involved in pornographic activities come from backgrounds of poor supervision and weak moral boundaries. “Both the rich and poor can be attracted to pornography,” said Mr Makwanya.

He also said pornography would harm society if children are exposed to it because it can lead to sexualised behaviour at a tender age thereby making them vulnerable to child sexual abuse.

Delta Ethics Anti-Pornography Campaign/BOOST SIFE UZ leader, Ms Tariro Madzorera said the increase is caused by young people being increasingly overtly sexual, encouraged by what they watch.

“Familiarity with our current sexually charged environment where sex is perpetrated in music, books, television and porn especially on the internet, reduces the shock effect and normalises the unnatural or bad things and soon people start practicing what they see,” she said.

She revealed that when couples are together and are sexually active, they are now (because of what they see) more willingly to take videos and pictures of each other and claim this is normal, but the relationship usually ends leading to the distribution of these pictures often on porn sites or public media channels.

She said BOOST SIFE UZ launched a safe surfing campaign to discourage the viewing of pornography and raise awareness of the dangers that it causes to businesses, society and on a personal level, targeting all people who have internet access with a special emphasis of how a porn watching generation can destroy the future of Zimbabwe.

“We have a page on the UZ website http://www.uz.ac.zw/index.php/sife-uz-anti-pornography-campaign.html hosting our online campaign to inform people of the dangers of porn and to inform stakeholders, parents, educational institutions and businesses on how they can block pornography,” she added.

She also said it seems that such an increase is both a sign of cultural erosion and insecurities by the people involved.

“There are some Zimbabweans who own and or host porn sites. Our culture would have shunned this on a personal level but because it can be done secretly and privately, these things are happening.

“This is a sign of cultural erosion where modesty and the sexuality of our brothers and sisters is not only being taken lightly, but we seem to be encouraging of such acts. For those who supply the photos, it is sometimes as a result of past sexual abuse hence a mental insecurity that they cannot be worth anything if they are not performing or sexually providing pleasure to men,” said Ms Madzorera.

Another simple cause, she pointed out, is financial motive where those who are financial challenged will seek to get videos taken of them in porn for the financial benefit. “Parents and guardians also seem not to be taking an active interest in their children’s lives and providing a dynamic advise according to changes in the environment that their children are involved in.

“Our Zimbabwean Christian environment that has been part of our culture is also showing signs of erosion where people are being sexually active outside the context of marriage,” she noted. She said some participants who get their photos or videos taken are often convinced that it is a norm by their peers and sexual partners.”

Out of fear of losing someone you have been sexually active with, most of the people comply to get them taken after a promise of trust, which is later violated at a usually inevitable breakup of the relationship. Only time will tell if such acts can be managed before they completely chew into the societal fabric.