Let's talk about it!

This morning, I read a very shocking news article which talked about how pornographic movies were being sold in the streets of Harare and anyone, regardless of age could buy them as they were clearly labelled and being sold openly and with no age restrictions.

What was sad however was the comments which followed that article. One particular comment caught my eye. It stated that the reporter was wrong in putting this information out in the papers because they had actually informed more minors where they could access this explicit material. The comment further read: "Stop promoting immorality by pretending to be exposing it" (http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2011-08-22-pornographic-discs-hit-harare-streets).

To me, this reaction was unfortunate as it continues to show that many people still believe that by not talking about sex and sexuality with our children we will be actually protecting them. Whilst it is true that this article could have brought awareness to those young people in Harare who did not yet know where to find the pornographic material, I believe that this journalist should have been applauded for being a whistle blower to parents in and around Harare as well.

Statistics in sub-Saharan Africa have shown that our failure to talk more openly about sex with our parents and our children played a major role in the spread of Aids. Even after preventative methods  such as condoms had been discovered, parents still found sex a touchy topic and preferred not to discuss it with their children. I will not go into the impact this has had on our society as I am sure we all know very well.

Instead of us trying to run away from the reality, which has been presented by the journalist, which is that explicit content is being sold freely on the streets, shouldn't we instead be focusing on how we can protect our children from this content as well as teaching them why it is wrong for them to expose themselves to such content? If we want to be honest about this issue, our children are probably more aware of where such things can be found, even if they are not on the streets! Is this not the role the media is supposed to play in our society, to educate, inform and raise awareness? Will this article not lead to the relevant authorities taking stricter measures to ensure that this content is removed from the streets? I believe that it is immoral for parents  to try and hide behind silence when it comes to issues related to sex! The more these issues are raised and more parents are aware of where their children access to some of these potentially unsafe things, the better our society's chances in the many struggles it faces with the future generation!

This is once again me, thinking aloud...