Three Ghanaian TV Stations reported for broadcasting porn after 9pm

Pornography is among things that anger many Africans despite the fact that it is consumed in private. Africans are quick to claim porn and nudity are not part of "our culture". In Ghana, two broadcasters have made a complaint against three television stations for showing films with pornographic scenes on their channels. Is it not hypocritical that Africans condemn in public what they watch in private?

Nudity is one of the things that many Africans are quick to claim is not part of “our culture”, all the while wearing western clothes. The issue of nudity is one so many Africans are concerned about such that it’s become a major issue across the continent. When women are raped, it’s blamed on the fact that she was skimpily dressed and exposed her body parts, thereby justifying sexual violence.

In 2014, Kenyan women took to the streets in demonstration against a mob of men that assaulted and stripped a woman claiming she was indecently dressed. The Twitter hashtag #MyDressMyChoice trended with many women wearing miniskirts during the protest. It is illogical and preposterous for men to claim a woman is skimpily dressed and yet go ahead to strip her. It’s basically counter-productive, not taking the fact that men are so concerned about policing the bodies and dressing of women. 

But that aside, the question of nudity has been closely linked to morality and for many Africans, morality is something that members of society always try to defend. It is therefore not surprising that in Ghana, two broadcasters have made a complaint against three television stations for showing films with pornographic scenes on their channels. Messrs Tommy-Annan Forson and James Kwasi Oberko sent their complaints to the National Media Commission and the Ministry of Information against TV XYZ, Ice TV, and Thunder TV.

Forson and Oberko would later give copies of their complaints to the Chief Justice and Speaker of Parliament.

The broadcasting of pornography is said to be against the broadcasting standards for television stations in Ghana. In a world where pornography isn’t far from a click on the phone, one wonders if censoring explicit content for adults is possible and justifiable.

In a continent where the imitation of western values and concepts is highly imbibed one wonders why pornography and nudity is still considered a taboo.

Universities and other institutions of higher learning are not left out of this clamour to enforce decent dressing. The exist rules on many universities on the continent about how students, particularly women, on how they should dress, what the female students should wear and not wear, the latest being the University of Lagos.

The condemnation of pornography and nudity in public tends to go in contrast with the reality that goes on in private. Google revealed that Nigeria is one of the few countries with the highest number of gay pornography searches this is despite the anti-gay bill that was passed during President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. The rate of searches surpassed the United States and other western countries which are liberal on LGBTI issues. The reasons for the high number of searches is of course open to interpretation. - This Is Africa