I remember the intrigue of sweet stolen imaginary kisses, explosive sex lives, and the magic of endless happily ever afters that gripped many many curious teenage minds courtesy of Mills & Boon. Ah yes, I remember them naughtily replayed in hush-hush chit chats and mock displays with besties and fellow sinners, but, that was where it ended- the imagination! Except, for a daring few who saw it as their life’s mission to escape to the wild, ruining whatever moral dictates and set reputation their parents and guardians have slammed upon them in utter rebellion.
Although while hearts reveled in the escapism of the imaginary world, back then for most, it felt like it was almost forbidden to lock eyes, let alone embrace the opposite sex, on the flip, then again having attended a girls-only school for a bit I vividly recall countless escapades and tales of lesbianism and promiscuity as evident in painstaking prepping BIG when the boys from neighbouring schools would do us the honours of gracing our inter-house sports or contest in mind juggling competitions: lost bras, panties, condoms, permit me to stop, I know you get the drift.
Fast forward to today, while we might somewhat grudgingly admit wrongdoings featuring untold sweaty, dim light and bedroom escapades, tending to wipe our slates clean as compared to the many atrocities brazenly carried out today, feigning amnesia, fact is, back then, even without the luxury of smartphones and the so-called luxury of technological advancement gracing today, chastity wasn’t guaranteed. Mills & Boon, porn stacks, and sexual predators very well existed! And no, it wasn’t about locked doors, eloquent threats of hellfire or even a parent’s hawk watch on a child – as we’ve seen one too many times, the unthinkable still manages to creep in.
So then, through the jarring dreary haunting overview of the present state of affairs, it, therefore, begets the dire need to ask ourselves the big question – How the hell did we get here?? How did we come to a point where lost innocence is unabashedly paraded like a badge of pride without the slightest bit of remorse or timidity just to rub shoulders with the tag “Cool”?
It’s a vicious cycle that keeps replaying before our very eyes, but, let’s not be too quick to exonerate ourselves. While we have obviously hit the judgemental gravel indicting or vindicating the influence of pop culture in moral decadence one too many times, truth be told, we ourselves must do better!
“It takes a village to raise a child.” It takes you and me to create a more beautiful and enabling environment for us all to thrive!
What do you do when you stumble upon your neighbour’s “untamed” teen doing the deed behind her parents’ back? Shake your head and turn up your nose in huff disgust? Raise your hand in absolute gratitude that yours is nothing like her? “Ah, thank the heavens for not giving me brats as children!!” Simply turn a blind eye and move on like nothing happened, because lord knows you’ve got enough problems on your hands to deal with! Or perhaps stoop to the all-time low, heady with self-righteousness and take it upon yourself to castigate and therefore spread word of the “abomination” to willing ears?
Glaring condemnation piercing mercilessly through the eyes of the average human shouldn’t be the de facto attitude. Castigating the victim and casting stones at an obviously broken family who already has to deal with the trauma alongside the victim obviously causes more damage and is certainly not the way to go; suddenly, the woke mother of the victim, clad in the trendiest of ensembles irks society and is sadly tagged as rather obviously lacking in morals as compared to the au naturel “chase” “naive” mother decked in the most basic of archaic outfits. We must come down from such blatantly erroneous misconceptions! For haven’t we all seen it over and again – the ones with the tightest of veils being the baddest of them all!??
We all have a part to play! The government who pushes the people to work ungodly hours just to make ends meet hence depriving families of the joy of togetherness and shield of protection thereby opening children to all manner of predators. The government yet again who drives vulnerable souls to a life of crime, depriving depraved souls of the shield of busy hands and armour of time and availing the mind to play host to endless sick thoughts, or how about the perpetrator himself who wouldn’t call self to order but rather play victim and rob others of their essence or is it the lone partaker who stumbles on the scene and does absolutely nothing! Shall I go on? How about the parent who hushes the victim out of fear and stigma of being shamed so they rather take cover of the sick act with their “good hearts” and endless sermons of peace love and karma, or shall we take on the ones who somehow cook up untold fallacies, outrightly cursing the child, calling her unpredictable names saying she must have been whore from the womb! Yes, the society is ENABLER.
Until we do more than point holier than thou fingers, until we do more than look past, until we do more than preach forgiveness for the perpetrators of evil and wholly take accountability as a people and a nation, fact is, this ugly cycle will continue and yes, WE ALL ARE TO BE BLAMED.
- Tags: Moral decay, Opinion, Rape, Sex, Sexual assault
