admin
Opinion Vaidah Mashangwa
The hearts of some Zimbabweans must be bleeding because of the time and resources they invested in support of the colourful event to select Miss World Zimbabwe recently. The sudden turn of events is unbelievable, bearing in mind that this is the second time around that such an event has been marred by negative outcomes.
Last year, Thabiso Phiri the Miss Zimbabwe winner stepped down upon her own request though the public strongly believe that it was over leaked nude pictures.
According to Tendai Chirau, the Miss Zimbabwe Trust spokesperson, when Thabiso Phiri resigned the reasons why she resigned were best known to her and up to now it is not known why she resigned.
This time around, the fate of the newly crowned Miss World Zimbabwe Emily Kachote, hangs in the balance as the Miss Zimbabwe Trust investigates allegations of leaked nude pictures circulated on a Harare WhatsApp group Boyz Dzetonaz.
There are mixed feelings as to what constitutes nudity. The respectable art world who practise naturism and intellectuals have long assumed the respectability of the nude human form. Long before the liberalisation of censorship laws in some western countries, the display of the nude form in art galleries, in magazines and in medical publications has been legally acceptable.
One Art expert pointed out that the term naked suggested embarrassment and shame while the term nudity has an educated edge to it and carries no uncomfortable overtones. For women in the Middle East for example, to be without a veil in public is to be naked. The concept of nakedness and nudity differs therefore from one society to the other and from country to country.
While this might be the case, it is suffice to say that it is high time women assign value to their bodies as women’s bodies continue to be positioned in terms of men’s sexual desire and patriarchal imagining of power and control.
It must be noted that the legal and social liberation of women has not protected them against the beauty economy, which forces women to engage in impossible images, cosmetics products, nudity, breast augmentation, facelifts and so on.
Besides other negative results of such actions, this has also created serious harm to women’s bodies. The side effects of skin lightening creams such as skin cancer, depression and kidney failure for example are highly documented yet women continue to use these in most parts of Africa including Zimbabwe.
According to the book, Cultured Studies, women have historically mutilated their bodies in order to satisfy the standards, normality and beauty set by men. Most women who are interviewed always cite enhancement of beauty as the main reason of such actions.
That is the other reason why women continue to be engrossed with new fashion trends including stiletto shoes, push up bras, hip enlargement pants and wild hairdos just to mention but a few.
While this is accepted as women’s control over their bodies, the worst scenario is when men use technology to denigrate women’s social standing especially through nude depictions.
While it is pleasurable to share photos and videos with friends online nowadays with the sole idea to entertain, educate, shock and rock each other, nude pictures must not be part and parcel of this technological upheaval. Nudity should be a preserve of a marriage institution.
Computer technology has changed our lives in numerous ways and it is the negative impact of Information Technology that we should do away with. There is need for us to have maximum control of these new technologies if we are to be fair to our youths and children.
Women should not give away their individuality to social contagion to the extent of becoming irrational. If women are at liberty to share their nude photos with their intimate partners, why can’t the men be at liberty too to share their nude photos with their intimate partners? The impression is that women are the only ones who give away their nude photos.
Women ought to examine the implications of such designs and engagements. The reality of such actions is double-edged, that is, it brings pleasurable moments and ecstasy at that particular moment but has long term effects if there is a leakage.
Our actions should be subjected to scrutiny including the way we eat, dress, experience sex and sexuality, our shelters, our relationships, our definition and responses to beauty, our desires and needs must somehow confirm to our norms, values and culture.
Apart from all this, women should refuse to be part of the pornographic market as this is fundamentally dehumanising just as it relates to striptease and night clubbing. In most instances this is expressed through various forms of nudity and erotic dances. This is the reason why there is heightened debate over formal and informal art.
The nude female body has been used in advertising, television, cinema and video production more than the nude male body. It is high time women interrogate all this and come up with a position as it regards their sexuality.
In most night clubs the strip teasers permit an intimacy that is not bound by commitment, permanence or on-going responsibility and it may lead to prostitution though most dancers and club owners would reject this observation. Pole dancing also falls into such classification. It attracts a variety of participants and many derive innate sexual pleasure.
Viewers have also demeaned the various forms of sexual engagements in reality shows such as The Big Brother. This has brought a new dimension of sexual expression into domestic living rooms across the globe.
Sexual intimacy has been linked to and limited to the confines of the bedroom between two intimate partners; however, modernisation has resulted in the expression of sex in the public arena. This has threatened the taboo and value attached to sexual contact between two consenting adults.
While bodies are clearly designed to experience sex and sexual pleasure, the meaning, management and expression of these experiences are supposedly to conform to our culture and values.
The youthful female body is more vulnerable to abuse than ever before. It is high time women and girls refuse to have their bodies taken for granted through commodity branding, celebrity and advertising.
Some men also use the nude photos for their own sexual gratification, including lust and libido. Some older men also take advantage of the young female body to get sexual pleasure and suddenly dump the young girls once they fall pregnant.
The other emerging problem is that individuals no longer value the marriage institution and consequently do not value their bodies any more.
A long time ago every bride and groom would look forward to that night when both would avail their bodies for the first time.
Unfortunately, the marriage institution is being regarded as a redundant social ill that has outlived its usefulness. However, this does not sanction nudity but rather condemn it.
Women and girls should therefore say NO to nudity as we look forward to the 2016 Miss World Zimbabwe pageant
l Vaidah Mashangwa is the Provincial Development Officer for Bulawayo in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. She can be contacted on 0772111592 email [email protected]
Online Reporter