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Opinions of Monday, 9 May 2016

Columnist: Kwamina Tandoh

The era of sex tapes, who is to blame?

Sex tapes have emerged in the past six to seven years in the Ghanaian society and most often within tertiary institutions.

Some are deliberately leaked and others slip through unknowingly due to random acts of carelessness.

Sex, which should be done in private and in holy matrimony, is now shamelessly practiced and recorded on tape and has now become a fashion, which shows the moral decadence the society is going through.

A couple may record their sex scene out of love for each other, however there could be other reasons for such behavior.

But whatever the reason is, I do not think the reason is enough to justify it.

Technological advancement makes it unsafe to keep such materials on electronic devices, which could easily go loose in the public domain.

Females are often the victims when sex tapes leaks, because, in the videos, one hardly sees the faces of the males as compared to them.

The leaks have continued for some time and it implies that the youth, who are often the perpetrators of such acts, have not learnt from past situations to make better decisions.

Consequences of such acts bring shame to the family, friends and anybody in relation to the victim leaving the sufferer traumatised and sometimes with the temptation to commit suicide.

At the national level, it informs the world that the Ghanaian youth are treading on dangerous grounds.

If leaders of the future are morally corrupt to find pleasure in recording sex scenes, then what happens to the younger ones looking up to them.

In an interaction with Miss Belinda Akpene Deke, Women's Commissioner of the Ghana Union of Professional Students, she suggested the need to sensitise Women Commissions of institutions since the scandals are usually from tertiary campuses as well as all other women associations.

Individuals found guilty of such scandals should be punished to serve as deterrent to others as continuous punishment would serve as a wake up call against future acts.

That notwithstanding, she said the culprits found in such leaked tapes should be stronger focus on making something meaningful from their lives although their reputation have been ruined.

Ms Akpene Deke observed that the effects of this should serve as prompt to all who post nude pictures, masturbation and sex videos of themselves to their lovers, be rest assured it would go viral at the least negligence and this could bring untold sentiments.

She advised the society to delete and not to share sex scandals because the victim could be “your sister et al”.

She urged women who find themselves in such acts to remain strong, turn blind eyes to stigmatisation, perception and avoid the blame game.

Stakeholders, women empowerment organisations must hold counselling workshops to counsel the young ones to desist from such behaviour.

The public must be informed that once the scandal hits the internet, it would be difficult to erase the shame brought unto them.