Of The Nudity Spree, What Storm Is Breaking In Our Digital World?

GHANA is seemingly thrown into a pool of “nude memories” in recent times, as if the country is gradually on a nudity spree in a digital era.

There have been series of media reports encircling gang-rape cases and some individuals engaging in sexual activities and arguably, without a sense of nationalism, video of these activities have been finding their ways in social media pores.

Many of these stories have been aired by radio and television stations whilst they are published by newspapers and online portals, placing Ghana in a kind of arguably ‘nude-facelift’ at the global arena a time Ghana is yearning to overcome its up-to-neck setbacks by meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a developing country in Africa.

But watching from afar, the first question I ask myself in the atmosphere of these stories is that: “what storm is breaking in our current digital world”?

Other rhetorical questions too would follow: were these things happening even before Ghana advanced in digital age? Is it that the media is raising its attention on sex-tapes released in social media?

These and many come to bear in the array of rhetorical questions but the guess of readers could relatively be as good or bad as mine.

Most of these sex-tapes have been common in WhatsApp, an ubiquitous chat App more than sister Facebook and Instagram.

Current figures show that there are more than one billion active users of Facebook worldwide with more than 100 million people using Instagram every month.

As of the end of fourth quarter of 2017, Facebook had 2.2 billion monthly active users worldwide.

WhatsApp, the mobile messaging App, as of December ending 2017 had more than 1.5 billion monthly active users.

And for internet users in Ghana, it is likely 90 per cent are WhatsApp users and this smells the stench that emanates from nude pictures and videos going viral in the Ghanaian public via WhatsApp.

SERIES OF TAPES OF GANG-RAPE/SEXUAL ACTIVITIES

It could be recalled that before the Christmas celebration last year (2017), news reports were rife that some seven teenagers were suspected to have raped an 18-year-old girl at Bantama, a popular suburb of Kumasi city.

Video of the act showed some of the suspects trying to force themselves to have carnal knowledge with the girl and this video had gone viral for some days even before it got the attention of the media.

However, it was reported on December 18, 2017 that the police in Kumasi, Ashanti Region had been successful to arrest three of the boys as suspects and later arresting the fourth and fifth suspects. They were arraigned and are still in custody for the law to take its full rigours on them.

Recently, later in January this year, another gang sexual activity was reported by Peace FM to have taken place in the Assin area in the Central Region. This time, it was not rape but three school boys who slept with a Junior High School (JHS) 2 girl. In that story, listeners were told the boys sought the consent of the girl but the girl could give-in only on one condition: If the first boy who made the sex proposal could buy her an iPhone and a cash of 500 Ghana Cedis (approximately US$114). The boy informed two of his friends (accomplice) and agreed to share the cost of the iPhone and the cash among themselves which made them able to get into the girl.

Another gang rape incident, latest, occurred at Ellembelle in the Western Region and it was reported by the Daily Graphic and the Daily Guide newspapers, also published online. In this story, readers are told four members of the Ellembelle community had conspired to gang-rape a 14-year-old Primary Six girl. The Ellembelle District Security Council had to announce a bounty of 2,000 Ghana Cedis to any informer who helped in arresting the suspects on the disapproved behaviour.

Before then, one story which had taken the centre stage of media discussions was a sex tape that went viral on WhatsApp, showing headteacher of a JHS at Breman Edumanu in the Central Region in sexual activity with a Senior High School (SHS) female student. This had since been discussed extensively in mainstream media, possibly, because the headteacher happens to be an agent of socialisation and members of society would not expect him to get his nude video out in social media. He was reported to have been sacked by his employers, the Ghana Education Service (GES) while the SHS student was left to suffer public jeopardy. Teachers Association, GNAT, had to fight the GES to rescind its decision because both victims were adults and did not release the video to the public themselves (( https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/headteacher-in-leaked-sex-video-did-no-wrong-gnat.html ). But some public members have argued that so far as the video has been in the public, the teacher must be penalised while others feel, those who released the video must rather be chased for, to aid security personnel in investigations.

At Ejisuman SHS at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, one of the chiefs of the Ejisu Traditional Area had hinted or alleged that he had in his custody sex videos showing that some teachers of the school “sleep” with the female students of the same school under the pretext of aiding the students in paying their fees. Though the school authorities have denied the allegations at a press conference, the era of sex videos could half-way make the story believable and worrying.

We have not forgotten the wife of a Church Pastor who also mistakenly posted her nude video on church WhatsApp group platform.

Another sex videos which have still been fresh on WhatsApp and in discussions, are a nurse showing herself in nude activity and in a related one, a nurse student in Kumasi also doing same.

There could be more to come but all these are arguably, an indication of moral decay that is gradually becoming a ‘normal’ dictate of society. This is as if both the old and the young, do not care of the dire consequences involved in “diffused” sexual activities, hence their nudity in public by themselves or others.

SELF-CENSORSHIP/STATE INTERVENTION
This somewhat, nudity spree, calls for some amount of self-censorship on every Ghanaian individual – both the old and young – especially, social media users in this digital age.

Harlan Spector, a Writer, Editor and Communication Consultant based in the United States (US) in his “Practising Self-Censorship in the Digital Age”, explains how important it is for us all to keep “impulses and raw emotion in check when composing a social media post or e-mail”.

He quotes Dr Laura Markley, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Akron Children’s Hospital as saying that “Even before children are on social media, let them know what they post could affect their future, their friendships and their safety, depending on who sees it”.

Should we as individuals, begin to understand the effects of what we publish or post in social media, there would be enough sphere for us in weighing the effects of these nude pictures and videos on WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook.

Another writer, Von Peter Galison in his “Self-Censorship in a digital age: We won’t be able to recognise ourselves”, also explains how social media users in digital age should be cautious of what content they produce.

“In the age of digital mass surveillance, we are facing self-censorship of a different dimension. We are more cautious, warier. Our behaviour is changing drastically”.

Yes, we are the owners of our smart phones, iPads, tablets, laptops, etc. and it is not too late to assume more pragmatic ways of being the true inventors of our posts in social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp among Ghanaian social media users in this digital age.

The state can intervene by stepping up education on the use of social media and how individuals could censor whatever content they produce.

Government could place premium on this and it would nip in the bud, at least, reduce the psychological carnage for this spree of nudity.

MOVE BY PARLIAMENT LAUDABLE
Parliament must be commended for attempting to brainstorm on this canker and possibly, enact laws on public censorship, considering punishable offences for recalcitrant social media users in Ghana.

Parliament is however, challenged to revisit the existing laws on invasion of privacy (in relation to those who post nude photos or videos of others in social media without their consent) and as well, make new laws (looking at both those who release others’ nude photos/videos and those whose nudity have been exposed).

( http://mynewsgh.com/parliament-to-ban-nudes-revenge-porn-and-secret-recordings/ )

The writer is a Journalist & Communication Consultant currently based in Norway