The Slightest Push of a Button: 'Sex' - A Commodified Female Body on Display

Tendai Mbofana's article today was a masterstroke. He is a shining star among gender critics - far surpassing many others we know but won't name. The title of his piece on BYO24, "Can it truly be called empowerment if women still believe their worth lies in pleasing men's desires?" is provocative and essential reading. Yet, curiously, it did not attract much attention. Women are deeply consumed by their physical appearance, perfectly illustrating what Mbofana critiques. Articles like his deserve recognition, especially from women, and must remain relevant in our social development for years to come.

African women are casualties of globalization - an ideology blind to skin color but ruthless in exploiting vulnerabilities in fragile communities. Some African women loathe their skin tone, their short hair, and turn to social media to showcase their bodies. The consumption of images glorifying physical beauty is a growing trend. Instagram and Facebook have become curses for Africa - spaces where the commodification of women thrives under the guise of self-liberation.

In a remote Ugandan village, a white, heterosexual tourist seeks out poor young girls for sexual exploitation. They are instructed to perform the Ancholi dance, traditionally used to initiate girls into womanhood. Videos of them dancing, shaking their backsides, are produced and uploaded to Instagram - because they trend commercially. Facebook and Instagram revenues soar from such exotic, erotic African content.

Tendai, your article is lengthy and overflowing with facts - too many to adequately address in a single response. I recently listened to Joshua Maponga lamenting similar issues. We spend time growing long nails, wearing long hair, and searching for skin-lightening products - as if black skin is inherently dirty. Worse still, young African girls lack role models. Who will teach them to embrace African identity and love themselves as they are?

African governments offer little support. The emancipation from mental slavery has yet to begin. Youths are lost, struggling for identity without a compass. Women's organizations are caught in the same trap - wearing Indian or blonde hair while proclaiming advancement, self-empowerment, and self-determination. In truth, it's self-deceit and an identity crisis in dire need of redress.

Social media has eroded many positive aspects of African culture. Videos that trend are often explicit, while thoughtful pieces like Tendai Mbofana's go unread. As he writes, "The digital age has made visibility and virality synonymous with value." Sex videos generate billions in revenue and are easily accessible, posing a grave threat to future generations. Their globalized nature makes them nearly impossible to ban. Children consume these videos early, often daily, at the push of a button labeled "sex."

In these videos, women are reduced to sexual objects - graphic and dehumanizing. Ironically, the men who frequent brothels and sex video cabins claim to respect their mothers. Yet the female body is on display for their desire. Even in developed countries, sex shops are widespread.

Germany, currently governed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), faces a dilemma. Criminalizing sex shops, brothels, and prostitution could cost them votes. Prostitution is embedded in the German system, raising questions about how a Christian and democratic nation can condone it. The arguments to preserve it are often confusing and contradictory.

As Tendai notes, "Choice is never made in a vacuum. It is made within a system, and our system, for all its progress, is still wired to reward conformity to a patriarchal standard." Patriarchy manifests deeply across societies. Gender equality is fluid and difficult to define in today's world. Material poverty compounds the issue. Legal debates are fierce. Prostitutes argue for bodily autonomy - a stance that resonates in many first-world countries.

The so-called "Nordic Model" criminalizes the purchase of sex, not its sale. Simplified, it suggests: no buyers, no prostitution. Yet this model downplays the dangers of an industry that attracts millions - including underage girls.

Despite the progress of postmodernity and enlightenment, prostitution continues to serve patriarchal interests - even in the global north. The "Nordic Model" deserves condemnation for the humiliation and commodification of women. The prostitution industry is a marketplace where women are traded between money and men - poor, exploited, and naked.

Tendai writes, "It is a cultural water in which we all swim, and we have absorbed its toxins and nutrients alike." Black people inherited coloniality in full, internalizing its toxins. The loss of identity through the adoption of other cultures - many of which are themselves in decline - was completed long ago. In the UK, for example, the monarchy remains the last vestige of cultural identity. Zimbabwean symbols of Africanness are hard to identify. Without them, people look elsewhere for meaning.

Culture is dynamic, not static. Absorbing other cultures isn't inherently bad - it can enrich us. But it should never erase the beauty of our own.

Mbofana's question - "Can it truly be called empowerment if women still believe their worth lies in pleasing men's desires?" - deserves to be exalted across all social science disciplines. His article should be posted widely so that youth - girls, young women, and men - can read it, appreciate women, and help rediscover true African voices and identities.

The youth have the power to create just societies. The future is in their hands. People of my generation are shadows of ourselves. We created this mess. We lied to the youth, telling them life in first-world countries was superior.

We fail to see how foolish it is to abandon Africa for developed nations that don't need us. Around 90% of Africans living in the global north hold jobs their citizens reject - slave-like occupations.

Tendai's article offers multiple dimensions for understanding its context. It will occupy academic spaces for years to come. I close with his words on what emancipation should mean for young African women:

"True empowerment should mean a world where women are celebrated for their leadership, their inventions, their ideas, and their courage - not merely for how well they can pose for a camera."

Kudos to you, Tendai Mbofana, for your enlightening article. It is a treasure - an African anthem.