Paedophilia: A Ghanaian Perspective

In 1993, the late pop singer, Michael Jackson, was accused of child molestation. Actually, Michael was on his Dangerous World Tour, when the allegation of child molestation was brought against him. A fourteen-year-old boy accused the late pop singer of touching him inappropriately. At that time, those who were with Michael said that the late singer was stunned by the allegation. He couldn’t understand why a boy whom he had grown to love could accuse him of such indecency. As usual of the media, they went wild and crazy with the news of the late pop star’s alleged paedophilia. All over the world, people started talking ‘bout it. As a result, Michael’s hitherto immaculately kept image suffered severely. Also, Pepsi Cola, which was sponsoring Michael’s Dangerous World Tour, pulled away. As if this wasn’t bad enough, his Dangerous CD, which--at that time, was number one all over the world, fell off the charts. Undoubtedly, something needed to be done. So, what did Michael do?

Well, he went on the air to confess his innocence. Later on, he and the lawyers of the alleged victim reached an out of court settlement. It’s reported that Michael paid an estimated amount of ten million dollars to buy off the case. Eleven years after this particular incident, Micheal was, once again, accused of molesting a child in 2004. This time, however, the late pop singer decided to fight the case in court. Luckily enough for him, the verdict fell in his favor. He was exonerated. His public image, on the other hand, was seriously tarnished after that. Today, there are some who still believe that Michael was a paedophile, who should’ve been locked behind bars. Others believe otherwise. Of course, Michael isn’t the only celebrity, who had a brush with the law due to paedophilia. Whilst in Vietnam, British glam rocker, Gary Glitter, was also accused of committing obscene acts with two Vietnamese girls aged ten and eleven. As of the moment, he is serving time in prison.

Folks, I have often wondered what makes paedophilia so wrong. Is it the age difference or what? Because if it’s, then society must decide at what age a person should have sex, not our bodies. Just last week, Ghana-web posted an article, which got everybody talking. The article was ‘bout a primary class six boy who had impregnated three girls.For those of you who don’t know, class six pupils are usually in their teens. Therefore, this boy must be eleven, twelve or thirteen years of age. The girls whom he impregnated are probably in the same age category. My initial reaction upon reading the said article was; are kids supposed to have sex at this age, let alone impregnate other kids? Naturally, I was expecting the said article to say something ‘bout the boy going to jail for having sex with those little girls. However, there was absolutely no mention of jail time for the boy. Immediately, I said to myself, wait a minute. Something is seriously wrong here. How come that this kid could have sex with these minors and get away with it?

As an adult, if having a sexual intercourse with a minor is wrong and punishable, then minors having a sexual intercourse with other minors should be wrong and punishable as well. But the question is; as an adult, why is having a sexual intercourse with a minor wrong? Better yet, what makes it so wrong, when all around us minors and other minors are having sex with each other? In Ghana, teenage pregnancy is nothing new. Strangely enough, it’s children who are impregnating other children, not adults. In general, society doesn’t forbid teenagers from having sex, no. Even if it does or try, these children would still do it in secret. So, why bother? Their bodies are already programmed to procreate. That said, if the act of teenagers having sex with other teenagers is considered normal in society, then, why are adults who have sex with teenagers treated like criminals? Better yet, why are they thrown into jail? To me, this doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. In my view, the question, which paedophiles seem to be posing to society is; if age is nothing but a number, then, is there an age to love? Please, your views on this issue would be appreciated. Thank you!


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Source:
The Emperor