Rooted in the nucleus of a raging epidemic is the gradual encroachment on the psyche of some section of the female gender (definitely not all) that promulgating nudity is the newly found channel at attaining stardom, fame, followership and most recently endorsements. Being an ardent reader of Linda Ikeji Blog, I recently read about Amber Rose’s Slut Walk which amazingly had lots of people in attendance. Maybe I need to be educated on the positives that are inherent in this filthy campaign other than the fact that the femaledom is being encouraged to aspire to be sluts, whores, strippers and sex workers in alignment with singer Eldee’s assertion on same issue. Giving young girls the illusion that there is nothing wrong in aspiring to be “sluts” or engage in demeaning sexual activities is worrisome. An annual event which surprisingly had lots of people in attendance. Now I risk being misconstrued for apparently judging someone else’s choice, lifestyle or sexual orientation but truth must be said, my concern isn’t for the veterans of this act, the almost irredeemable ones but the budding African girl growing in a society where she begins to see professional whores as role models.
For starters, “slut shaming is the act of criticizing a woman for her real or presumed sexual activity, or for behaving in ways that someone thinks are associated with her real or presumed sexual activity” and that’s according to google. Wikipedia elaborated by stating it to be a form of social stigma applied to people, especially women and girls, who are perceived to violate traditional expectations for sexual behaviours. These includes but not limited to violating dress code policies by dressing in perceived sexually provocative ways, requesting access to birth control, having premarital, casual, or promiscuous sex, engaging in prostitution etc. There is also a silent connotation to it in that it also makes it rational for people of same sex to “get down together” and boldly profess love to one another.
Society today is morally bankrupt as it constantly lends support to the apostles of nudity and its variants. There seems to be a paradigm shift from exhaltation of academic excellence and enterpreneurial breakthrough to the glorification of curves, cleavages and edges. Most ladies are so desperate for likes on social platforms that they have themselves cladded in handkerchiefs, fishing nets and the likes to post erotic poses that leaves nothing to the imagination. It’s almost like the female gender is truly living up to the notion that they are sex symbols and they have accepted what they can’t change so to say. There is a growing campaign at making sure this trending craze seals a mainstay in our social life, especially with the constant barrage of our timelines with sexual contents and to what end…..get likes.lol. Our penchant for usurping the proponents of any negative imports into our clime spells doom if care isn’t taken.
Hardly can a music video be shot, regardless of the message being conveyed without having females whining, grinding and gyrating their waist in erotic manner to the often times ‘stupid nonsense’ being blared. Bunch of men gyrating their waists (as forcefully as Iyanya and Flavour does) evidently don’t create as much enthusiasm as when done by females. Visual connections often generates eventual acceptance of an otherwise bad music and it’s no surprise that those in the business of music making quickly shoots the accompanying video. At the core of this often times is the hunger to have ladies expose their dignity because it appeals to the senses of the maledom. In some quarters, you can’t have a commercially successful song without spicing it up with vulgar words and lurid display of nudity. Some started out by churning out good music with deep lyrical content but gave it all up as they had to succumb to the dictates of their consumers. Need I say so far so good, it has worked perfectly well, no thanks to those whose livelihood and survival depends on shaking their half-cladded behinds and bosoms to the beats of a headless song. However, commendable is the effort of the adversaries of these trend.
Truly speaking and admittedly, sex sells. Anything capable of arousing sensual and sexual sensation is admired by the larger part of the society I must confess and evidences to its testament abound wherever you turn. Most of us try to maintain a calm mien when we are faced with such images in public domain but right in the corridors of our mind, we have undressed and embarked on an expedition of sexual fantasy. It’s almost like there exists a cerebral linkage between the male senses and the female ‘anatomy’ by default when mildly wrapped up albeit there are exceptions to the rule which still proves the rule though. Around last month on my way home, just when I was about boarding a BRT bus at Fadeyi, almost everyone of us on the queue including ladies were obviously transfixed when we saw on the opposite side of the road, what in our clime could be referred to as a richly endowed lady. That she was endowed wasn’t the highlight of that scene but rather how ‘insane’ she had appeared perhaps in the name of fashion. Even one of the ticketers almost issued tickets without collecting money. Such was the indignity of her dressing.
The issue of rape is at an alarming rate and granted a lady doesn’t need to dress seductively before being harassed by a chronic rapist but still, more often than not, this vice is often times conceived as a result of what a man who lacks self-discipline sees. It is often the same thing with a stalker or a sexual predator whose own obsession has perhaps emanated from the seductive sight before him. A lady once ran into a police station to file a report that she was being chased by some men, apparently they were going to rape her. Even the officers on desk had to resist temptation due to what she had on.
How do we support and advocate for gender equality when we have women selling the perception that they are nothing other than sex symbols. That they are okay with being objects of sexual satisfaction. That a lady can only be relevant when she has her body parts exposed especially on social media platforms. That there true essence is in being seen as sex symbols, a bizzare mindset proving to dwarf the efforts of some truly African women of virtue who by their own midas touch and intellectual excellence has shown that all there is to the female gender isn’t body exposure.
The media I believe has a role to play at making sure relevance isn’t given to the antics of these marauders who by their own deliberate doing influences the psyche of the young innocent girl and gives her the false impression that there is nothing gratifying by aspiring to be an unsung hero in a chosen field. If less attention is paid to this desperate wanna-bes cum cyber sociopaths and their cronies and news and stories of female ingenuity are pushed to the fore, I believe it would lessen the prevalence of this acts. We, users of social media platforms also needs to stop encouraging the disciples of this cooperate stone age revivalists. When we don’t like provocative pictures, we discourage them. You need not condemn a person who has sworn to go about naked both in public and on social media but when you simply ignore, you send a message with your silence. It amazes me when I see over 500+ likes for a single picture which shows nothing but exposed boobs with guys cheering on.
There is more to the African woman than being perceived as sex symbols. Fellow women needs to start shutting down their peers who indulges in such immoral acts which relegates the African woman to the background. We have stories of women who got to the top, built a large user base without as much as exposing a flesh. Those who tells the story of the African woman as resilient, independent, hardworking, beautiful, self-reliant, contented, industrious, supportive, intelligent, creative and above all, CLOTHED.
A word is enough for the wise.
Written by;
OKUSANYA, Afolarin T
arc.afolarin@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment