Culture Of Nudity: A Celebration!
African culture, especially fashion or mode of dressing, has until now resisted the ravaging encroachment of the nude culture of the western world. It has, as a matter of truth, become fashionable for some of our women and young ladies to go half-naked in the name of modernity. In many cases, they display with reckless abandon, what ordinarily should be kept secret for the admiration and pleasure of their husbands or would-be husbands. It is therefore not surprising when, recently, The News magazine and some Lagos evening newspapers published nude pictures of Anita Hogan, a Nollywood "star".
The pictures assaulted our collective psyche. Her action is repugnant to decency and sound up-bringing. It is the more embarrassing when realized that this is coming from an industry that is supposed to be at the vanguard of our culture. I am worried because Anita is not alone in this show of shame. There are lots of others like her. She did not wake up one morning and start going naked. Definitely, she learnt it from among her peers. The situation is disturbing because it is the Anita Hogans of this world that our children especially girls in our institutions of learning look up to as role models. It is tantamount to loss of sanity for an African lady, nay Nigerian with her education, to agree to strip herself naked.
I will not be surprised to hear that the publication of the obscene pictures was the handiwork of her ‘enemies’ who are envious of her laudable achievement and therefore wish to pull her down. If she calls the publication the handiwork of her detractors then, she is her own enemy. She initiated the publication. The press only came in to help its circulation. If she did not herself go naked before clicking cameras, the media would not have done abracadabra to conjure her nude poses. I am informed that her sympathizers (count me out) claim that the pictures were meant for her boy- friend’s consumption. Balderdash!
It is said that the guy in question comes from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Does it then mean that the Nollywood star, despite her exposure and ‘stardom’, did not know that Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands, has the hottest red light streets? In Europe, sex and its accoutrements are displayed openly as far as tax is paid by porn and commercial sex barons.
Perhaps, these people who pose nude before their foreign boyfriends are oblivious of what obtains in the western world. Porn promoters see them as mere objects of commercial sex. These ladies, most times young girls, are kept naked in heated transparent glass cage. It is in this cage they conduct their indecent, God-forbidden business. Western culture accepts it. In fact, such red light streets have become centres of flourishing tourism. In these cities the sight of a woman in her nudity does not provoke their psyche. It rather creates a sense of fun. Tufiakwa! It is their tradition. So shall it remain!
So many porn magazines are published in Europe. Who will vouch that the pictures in question did not end up in one of these magazines. Protesting the publication cannot help matters. ‘She ain’t seen nothing yet’ as Americans would say. He who fetched ant-infested wood has extended invitation to lizards. Man is born free. He has inalienable right to choose what he does or does not do. This is freedom of choice. This freedom is not absolute. It stops where another’s begins and begins where another’s stops. Because man is a moral as well as social being, his actions are limited by culture, limited by law and limited by moral inhibitions.
Man, therefore, cannot run away from the principle of freedom, choice and responsibility. The action as exhibited by Anita is immoral because stripping naked before a man with camera in his hands, cannot be adjudged as a norm in our society. There is no contesting the fact that she is free to dress decent or go the whole hug naked. It is also incontestable that she is held responsible for her action - posing nude. Unlike European culture, ours abhors pornography and nudism. Both are illegal and therefore unacceptable.
I would not know exactly what she is thinking about the publication, but the little I know is that she cannot institute any legal action because posing nude is itself illegal. Therefore, her basis for any legal action is void. Nudism does not only irritate, it is an eyesore in this part of the world. It amounts to inexcusable, indecent behaviour which must be condemned and sanctioned by all and sundry before it infects our children.
It is our psyche, our decent culture which has suffered from the invading indecent display.
He who has danced naked at the market square does not have the effrontery to complain about the invasion of his privacy. If he does, he is either mad or drunk or both. The injury is self-inflicted. It is grossly damaging. Even if it heals, its scar will endure. Meanwhile, let the drums roll out as we celebrate the ‘star’s culture of nudism.
•Ezeh is a freelance journalist
culled from independent newpaperonline
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