Pornography in Mablauwuni Community

A few years ago, one would never have dreampt that pornography would be spoken about in rural Kezi, let alone be watched. Times are changing fast and the rural areas are picking things up from the city........the good, the bad and the ugly!

It has been interesting chatting to men and women of different ages in Mablauwuni community on pornography, including a community leader. It seems that pornography has escalated in the community 2 years ago when mobile phones were accessible to anyone and network coverage reached the rural areas.

Sexual activity is already high in the community and porn seems to have exacerbated the problem. The young adults said that people look at pornography in order to get sexually aroused and then put into practise what they have seen. Some young men said the trend is to see if the ‘feelings’ from looking at porn match up to the actual sexual act and visa versa.

Girls as young as 12 years and 13 years are already sexually active and some are getting pregnant at 12 years old. There has been a rise in women prostituting themselves for money and for popularity and this has also given rise to HIV/AIDS.

Who looks at/watches porn in Mablauwuni community? Is it only the young men? Both men and women are affected. Young people in primary schools are engrossed in watching pornography either on mobile phones, looking at magazines, DVD’s and/or, it is spoken about openly at the local beerhalls or ‘bottlestores’. Porn seems to be coming from the City of Kings – Bulawayo and brought back into the community where it spreads around quickly. The majority of the time, porn is looked at in ‘secret’.

What are the community leaders doing about it? Unfortunately, the community leaders are ‘far’ behind due to the generational gap. The community leaders are ‘older’ people who may not have access to mobile phones and if they do, they need to be taught how to use them. Some are actually ‘clueless’ when it comes to pornography and the effects on individuals or families. One community leader suggested that they have a meeting to get taught about the effects of pornography. They also suggested that the church speak about it in order to be relevant in the community. They felt that the Church too was left behind in this area.

Much work is to be done in the community and reaching people where they are at. 

Compiled By Molly Manhanga