THE Masvingo Mirror of August 5 -11 2016 reports that ‘A’ Level students from Thornhill High School, a Government school, ‘starred’ at the recent Gweru Agricultural Show with the one who won the Miss Gweru title also winning the Miss Sexy Prize?
What does it mean when a schoolgirl wins a Miss Sexy prize?
What it says is that you have a body which men lust after, your body is irresistible to men.
Note that this has nothing to do with the inner person, her character, her manners, her spirit.
How does a man feel when another says of his wife: “Isn’t she sexy?”
It might actually spark a fight because the statement is full of sexual innuendo.
Is there any father who would feel good if his colleagues were to say: “You have the sexiest daughters my man!”
Pakuvaka rudzi, mai ndivo vanokosha.
When someone is ‘Miss Sexy’, tinotarisira chii paumai hwake?
Can we put a billboard with something that says: “Mothers of Zimbabwe are sexy?”
Can a son feel good if his friends were to say: “Hey, your ma is the sexiest?”
Kumusha, if a boy wants to spark a fight with the other, he puts up two mounds of soil, representing the breasts of the other’s mother and then kicks one or both, destroying them; a fight inevitably erupts.
School years are a time of character-building and consolidating.
These are formative years and children need to be protected instead of being exposed to something so debased before they are emotionally strong enough.
What remains of the child’s moral defences after they are declared ‘Miss Sexy?’
And if someone accosts them on the basis of this title, what can her defence be?
It makes them feel too cheap to be at peace with God.
When a schoolgirl is publicly declared the object of men’s pleasure and desire, have we not killed the soul of this child?
Tobva tadzoserwa zvakare kucapitalist ethos which we have long-rejected; to this ethos in which the human is not of intrinsic value, for in capitalist culture typically the female body is an object of man’s abuse, for sexual exploitation.
These are not our values.
Our values honour the woman in ways that are far superior to the eternal poverty of capitalism.
Among our people, a woman is:
Mai: Mother and nothing is greater than this; she is tete, the female protector of the dynasty, the guardian of the males in the family, muchengeti nomuvaki wemhuri; she is Mbuya, the source of all maternal succor, the protector and teacher, the permanent rock of the family; she is aunt, mainini, maiguru, the extended net of mothering, the one who never lets you down, your permanent safety net, the one who never fails to make you feel special.
She is sister, the friend, the advisor, the confidante, the one who will permanently watch your back, the one you will always know is correct in your life, the one who will always be there when all have gone, when all else has failed.
This is the womanhood of our people, the precious heritage that holds us together as a people, that has held us together, the society of our ancestors, together for centuries and this is what will still protect us as we go on.
In the Bible, Christ says to those who were about to stone a whore: “He who has not committed this sin, should be the first one to throw a stone.”
Those who sponsor and promote these activities are culpable.
The girls are minors and should be protected and not exposed to such abuse.
There is no trace of unhu/ubuntu in such pageants.
These children are still under the protection of the state and should not be thrown out of the net prematurely and so ruthlessly.
It is still the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education that should protect and ensure our children are not exposed to such filth, such sepsis.
Vanamai nanambuya vakabikira vanamukoma never did it so that one day their Zimbabwe would celebrate such.
Kana vanamukoma vacho, this was never part of their dream for dying for Zimbabwe.
The spirituality of our liberation struggle was against anything morally decadent.
So whose legacy is this yavana Miss Sexy?
NdeyavanaSmith nanambuya vake Elizabeth, kwete yanaMbuya Nehanda.
Vanamukoma gave their all.
They did not avoid the ultimate sacrifice because they wanted to hand over back to us the precious jewel, Zimbabwe.
Those who the Lord God spared for his own purposes, watch, sometimes silently, wondering where we are taking the Zimbabwe for which they sacrificed everything.
Let us not let them down by desecrating the young.
We do not build Zimbabwe by sacrificing our young on the altar mammon.
As females in the liberation struggle, we never struggled to have a Zimbabwe in which the young are schooled into immorality at a tender age.
That was not our dream.
When we sang ‘Beautiful Zimbabwe’, we envisaged something truly beautiful.
What do the young ones in the lower forms and grades learn from the award of Miss Sexy?
What do they aspire to be when they see these pageants on television?
Children know these things are wrong, but when they are exposed to such filth over and over again, their moral defences are eroded, or they get too hurt and something does not work too easily in them.
What is the process of winning the Miss Sexy prize?
What do you have to look like and what do you have to wear?
They sometimes say: “Show a leg,” yet some say: “You are usually willing to share what you are willing to show.”
Is this what it is all about?