In The Name Of Common Sense, Would Someone Stop This Please!

What is it I hear, that some empowered women wanting so desperately to empower the rest of womanhood are going ahead with plans to celebrate a so called world V-day?

It has become the case now that any filthy dream is being shoved down our throats in the name of women's empowerment. How on earth will the popularisation of the V-word empower women? Are men so empowered because they have the P-word popularised or what? What is our society coming to?

The fact is that there are too many media corporations in the system who just haven't a clue what to do. Contents are either lacking, or where they are quality is a byword. There is no originality and we find our selves watching archaic soaps and listening to programmes long consigned to the rubbish heap of some company's archives. It is ridiculous enough showing soaps that have no cultural connotation with us. Whatever happened to our own creativity is a matter for an inquest.

Few years ago, hardly anyone knew much about Valentines day. It came and went quietly because it was only known by the people to whom it mattered. In other words, 'Valentinos' observed the day quietly without disturbing the rest of the public with it. Then came the FM stations which simply had no content and so started popularising Valentine's day. Today it has become the single most promiscuous event on our national calendar.

Because of the way the day was popularised in Ghana, I thought I would see a mega version of that when I got to the UK but instead, got a culture shock. There were no funfairs, cross-dressing, media hype and open mating, as happens in Ghana. The day is seen as very private between lovers and that's it. It's not a public jamboree.

This V-day thing is a movement founded by Eve Ensler and to suggest that it is a global celebration is ludicrous. As a matter of fact the V-Monologue has been banned in a number of places. In 2005 Ugandan authorities banned the V-Monologue. In their ruling, the council said; The play promotes illegal, unnatural sexual acts, homosexuality and prostitution; it should be and is hereby banned." Source: BBC

It has also been banned in numerous other places including the southern Indian city of Chennai and Shanghai in China. Some Catholic colleges in America have also banned the performances saying it is inappropriate.

Even in the UK the media are circumspect and very professional about events they popularise. I am yet to hear of this so called V-day in UK.

But now thanks to Dudu Communications we are on another illicit campaign drive on a second V- celebration. A communications company, in this era that does not even have a website, is busying itself popularising a lurid celebration in the name of women’s empowerment. Without any sense of shame, Linda Nutakor, the stage and production manager for the event said ‘The Vagina Monologue’ is a charity event which will be used to raise funds for those who have been sexually abused. Source: MyJoyOnline.

This is utterly disgusting and a complete insult to womanhood. May I remind all these berserk feminists that they have no more legitimacy over women’s issues than the rest of us do. I am male but have a mother, a sister, a wife and daughter. I care so dearly for them and would fight to the hilt in their defence. I am therefore not going to be a bystander for someone unscrupulous persons who have no sense of dignity and appreciation for womanhood to set the agenda simply because they're female. Womanhood is more than gender, it is an institution and a calling.

The idea of raising funds from the V to support people who have been abused through the V is just unthinkable. The real deal for people who have been abused is not raising money for them through their ordeal and in the process rehashing the suffering. What they need is justice and rehabilitation to further integrate back into society and in the process assisting with all their needs including financially.

I am waiting eagerly to hear and see what the women empowerment groups in the nation would say and do on this occasion otherwise they are next in line to come under my microscope.

In conclusion, let me point out emphatically, that our African women with their proud record of upholding the dignity of their womanhood, a legacy handed down to them by their parents through their ancestors; do not need an American bisexual, divorcee and budhist, to teach them about their V.

ISAAC SIMPSON (UK)

CONQUEROR80@ROCKETMAIL.COM