Child sex in Kenya: Kenyans are the biggest customers.

THIS POST HAS BEEN MOVED TO : http://myafricatoday.blogspot.com/2007/05/child-sex-in-kenya-kenyans-are-biggest.html

Will Africans choose Ségolène Royal as France’s first female President?

Will Africans choose Ségolène Royal as France’s first female President? Since the 19th century, many African voters have influenced French polls, but in this year’s presidential elections, only inhabitants of the Indian Ocean islands Réunion and Mayotte are to cast their vote. Campaigning is already fierce. In the two overseas territories of Réunion and Mayotte, people are vigorously discussing who would be the best candidate for President of the French Republic. Should they vote for Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, socialist candidate Ségolène Royal or the centrist François Bayrou? They are the last Africans being able to influence whether Ms Royal will become the first woman to rule France.

Before decolonisation, inhabitants of France’s vast African empire were drawn to the French polls. Although their votes counted less than metropolitan French votes, the African quota of the Paris parliament steadily increased. Several West Africans served as ministers and deputy ministers in French governments, including Félix Houphouët-Boigny and Léopold Sédar Senghor, who later became the fist Presidents of Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

With the French colonial empire having shrunk into a handful overseas departments, African, Pacific and Caribbean voters have fewer representatives in the French parliament, but now at least, their votes are counted on an equal basis as those from metropolitan France. In the two chambers of parliament – the Senate and National Assembly – the two islands are even over-resented compared to their population.

With only 190,000 inhabitants, Mayotte sends two representatives to the Paris Senate and one to the National Assembly. The larger island of Réunion, with its 700,000 inhabitants, has three representatives in Senate and five in the National Assembly.

In the French presidential polls on 22 April, the two African overseas territories will vote as other Frenchmen. The 900,000 islanders of Réunion and Mayotte represent about 1.4 percent of the total French population, and their percentage of the electorate is about the same. In a close poll, therefore, the African votes could indeed make the difference between Ms Royal and Mr Sarkozy – if those two make it to the final round.

So far, islanders are ambivalent about the three top candidates. In the latest elections to the Paris parliament, right-wing and centrist candidates have swept the polls. Only one socialist sits in the Senate and another in the National Assembly, both from Réunion. On both islands, traditions are rather conservative and women have yet to gain their place in politics.

In a normal election, Mr Sarkozy would therefore have the best chances in both Réunion and Mayotte. But the rightist leader has been too tough on immigrants and non-ethnic French in the metropolitan territory, casting doubts over his ability to treat inhabitants from overseas territories as equals. Mr Sarkozy in February nevertheless visited potential voters in Réunion and managed to gather a crowd of 4,000 enthusiastic voters.

Ms Royal, who was born in Senegal, was the first to visit the French overseas territories, campaigning in Réunion in October last year and greatly improving her popularity. She gained big applause after strongly criticising the Paris government’s slow reaction to the chikungunya epidemic, which had jeopardised the island’s key tourism industry. Ms Royal in January also visited the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which have around 600,000 potential voters, and impressed islanders by addressing them partly in Creole language.

Also the centrist candidate, Mr Bayrou, who is closing in on Ms Royal, this weekend went on a two-day visit to both Mayotte and Réunion, where crowds of people listened to his election speeches in Mamoudzou and Saint Denis. Especially in Mamoudzou (Mayotte), large crowds gathered to praise the candidate. He is now headed for the French Caribbean.

In Mayotte, there are two pressing issues that interest voters – immigration and the island’s statutes. Mayotte has seen a surge of illegal immigration from the neighbouring Comoros islands, and by now, a quarter of the population comes from abroad. Islanders want a stricter immigration control and an improved coastguard – something all three candidates have pledged on a French national level.

Mayotte voters also want their island’s status to lifted up from an overseas territory to an overseas department – in line with the situation in Réunion. This would give them more political and social rights. Independence is out of the question for voters, as Comoros has historic claims to the island that are recognised by the African Union. But these claims also complicate a possible upgrading of Mayotte’s status as they could cause a diplomatic headache.

Also voters in Réunion are concerned by immigration, but their remote island is still much less affected than the French mainland and Mayotte. The most important issues in the campaign there have therefore been economic development, social services, education and infrastructure.

So far, Ms Royal seems to have gathered most sympathy in France’s last African territories. According to a telephone survey made among 786 potential voters in Réunion by the journal ‘Ipsos Océan Indien’ one week ago, Ms Royal can expect 44 percent of the Réunionaise vote in the first poll round. Mr Sarkozy stood at 34 percent and Mr Bayrou at 10 percent. In a hypothetic second poll round between Ms Royal and Mr Sarkozy, the socialist candidate would beat Mr Sarkozy by 57 to 43 percent.

But Ms Royal’s position is getting steadily weaker among Réunionaise voters. The same survey was also made in December last year. At that point, Ms Royal would have beaten the rightist candidate with an impressive 70 percent of the vote. In that case, African voters could have made a real difference in French politics.

Uganda legalises extra-marital sex

Thursday becomes a day of victory for women in Uganda after the Constitutional Court in the capital Kampala quashed a law they claim discriminates married men and women. The court ruled that cheating is no longer a criminal offence in Uganda. “From today, the laws are null and void. They have been inconsistent with the constitution of Uganda,” read a judgment by a panel of judges.

With effect, any spouse that catches his/her partner committing adultery can either seek redress for compensation or file a divorce. This implies that the police do not have the powers to arrest or imprison anybody for committing adultery in the country.

The Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda challenged the marriage laws at the Constitutional Courts last year, arguing that they were unfair to both women and men.

The women activists have been crying foul that the laws penalise adulterous married women while allowing married men to go scot-free with similar crimes. Uganda’s marriage laws do not punish unmarried men and women who commit sex with married men or women. .

While women activists see the scrap as a victory for justice, the Attorney General said it will succeed in encouraging immorality and promiscuity.

Activist lawyers also called for the amendment of certain sections of the Succession Act, which unequally share the wealth of spouses when they die. This law permits a husband to take all the assets or wealth of his dead wife but is not the case when it is otherwise.

The law allows a father to choose a carer for his child after death, which disqualifies the widow’s right to own him/her.

Africa : sexual growth among NYAKYUSA of Tanzania

Wilson (1951a [1963])[1]: “It is in conversation and play with village contemporaries that some knowledge of sex is acquired” (p88). “[…] [I]n spite of her mother’s responsibility for her [virginity], a girl learns nothing positive from her mother about sex, but from her own slightly older friends; with them she discusses the technique of love-making in detail, but never with her mother” (1936:p264). More clarity is gained at puberty initiations, although “[f]ormal sex instruction” may precede puberty initiation (cf. Stephens, 1971:p407)[2]. The basis of Nyakyusa sexual morality is the separation of the sexual activities of successive generations (particularly mother-son), hence the so-called age-villages, where age-segregated groups of the same gender life together. Adults rationalise this with the danger of a growing boy hearing lewd talk between parents or seeing parental nudity (Wilson, 1949:p22, 24-5[3]; Wilson [1964:p82-3, 159]). In line with this organisation, “[t]he Nyakyusa believe that the sexual fluids are extremely dangerous to children [[4]], hence (they say) the restrictions on the parents of a young child sleeping together [sic]” (Wilson, 1936:p262 / 1951b:p262; 1950:p126-7[5]). “Except in some wealthy Christian families, men rarely marry before 25, and commonly not until nearer 30, while the girls are betrothed [at] about [age] eight, and go finally to their husbands when they reach puberty”; the men also marry junior wives. Hut building is practised by small boys, but this becomes serious business among herdboys at age 10 or 11. Homosexual play is common among boys herding cows, beginning at age 10 to 14 (1951a:p196[6]; [1964:p87-8, 196-7]). According to “an exceptionally reliable informant”, the older ones may “persuade the little ones to lie down with them and to do that which is forbidden with them between the legs”. “Contrary to general belief about “primitive” societies, homosexual intercourse is common in the boys’ villages, between close friends, but there is no real perversion; homosexuality is said to be always faute de mieux. The older men in discussion dismiss it with the tolerant word “adolescence”, it is never continued after marriage, and all except the feeble-minded get married sooner or later” (1936:p273). Indeed, later, because the older men are polygynists so that the younger age group cannot marry (Wilson, 1959:p197)[7]. In the boy’s village, sexual matters are freely discussed and the younger ones listen to older ones (1936:p272-3): “[…] that is how children grow up”. Affairs with girls begin before puberty. Childhood elongation of the labia majora is practised (Wilson, 1957:p87)[8]. Girls may be betrothed well before puberty (8 years, opposing an average age of “puberty” of 15-16; or even in infancy; Wilson, 1936:p257)[9], and they may live with their “husbands” for some time before they grow up,

“for the view of most Nyakyusa is that a girl should become accustomed to her husband gradually and that it is good for her to visit him from time to time, sweeping his house, cleaning the byre, drawing water and cooking for him, and learning the art of love-making with him and no one else. While she is still very immature it is insisted that he should only have intercourse with her inter crura, but when she is approaching puberty he often has full intercourse with her. No legal case can be brought against him in court if he does so, provided that he has not forced or frightened her, but his friends may tell him he is foolish, and is “teaching his wife adultery”, since now he can have no proof, in the physical examination at puberty, that she has not slept with other men”[10] (for an historical analysis, see also Wilson, 1977:p111-8)[11].

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In the seclusion hut/ bride’s hut, a “centre for sex play”, “[…] intercourse inter crura is permitted, and no “husband” can claim damages if his betrothed wife lies with another young man there, unless penetration has taken place”. The girl receive advise on sexual mores and menses, and are examined for virginity (p96-9). Wilson (1936:p258) states that in some families the girl’s mother inspects the hymen after each visit. If she is found to be deflowered, a father may do nothing at all, or sends her off to her husband: “You have made her a woman yourself, you must pay the rest of the marriage-cattle quickly”.

Ngonde boys from age 10 to marriage live in separate villages, and homosexuality was condoned provided it was mutually agreeable; polygyny would have facilitated the practice, and there are no observations on the equivalent in girls, who marry early (Wilson, 1957).

Nice guys vs jerks

Nice guys vs jerks

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The debate of “nice guys vs. jerks” has been raging for quite a long time. The nature of being a “nice guy”, however, is commonly misunderstood. It is believed that being polite, considerate, friendly, tender, romantic, etc. is what being a “nice guy” is all about and thus those qualities should be avoided, as it is the “jerk”, the rude, the inconsiderate, the impolite, the rough guy who always gets the girl while the “nice guy” is waiting outside in the pouring rain with flowers in his hand.

It doesn’t mean that women prefer rude over polite, inconsiderate over considerate, etc. It all becomes clear when we look at a very important issue often overlooked when trying to define what makes the “jerks” beat the “nice guys” when it comes to getting the girls. It is sexuality – the “jerks” are not afraid to show that they are sexual beings, while the “nice guys” hide their sexuality as a part of their agenda of being friendly, polite, and courteous towards women.

Peta, Clifford’s Seduction Newsletter: “It dawned on me as it has, that the androgyny is key. Women fall for bastards because they don’t turn off the sexuality.. “nice” guys think women will be terrified of their sexuality, so they turn it off and all they get is women responding to their androgyny

Africa : sexual growth among LUO of Kenya

Blount (1973:p325)[2]: “Young Luo boys begin to experiment with sex when they are four to six years of age, but their behaviour is severely criticized and restricted. As mobility is limited, boys are first interested in girls who reside in the immediate vicinity, and due to residential patterns, these girls are close relatives. Sexual relations with them are incestuous and although this concept is not immediately understood by a young boy, he quickly learns that they are not “available sex playmates”. If need be, a young boy will be sent to stay with a relative to remove him from temptation of nearby female cousins or sisters. Only after a boy becomes a youth, at the approximate age of 13 to 15 years, is there opportunity for considerable contact with members of the opposite sex”. Luo boys are said to practice a preputial conditioning at the age of 10 to 12 (Parkin, 1973:p335-6)[3]. Schoolgirls begin to take a great interest in romantic aspirations, and eagerly await thelarche (Ominde, 1952)[4]. The marital cycle “proceeding” to the act of childbearing, is imitated (p31). Genitals are compared, and “something approaching a crude sexual intercourse” takes place when older members of the family are absent. During the period when the crops are ripening these older children, sometimes accompanied by younger ones who act as sentries, disappear into the cornfields to carry out this practice”. The parental reaction is one of reproach and restriction. Before age eleven, restrictions of exogamy are suggested to the girls. The girls learn from the coquetry and customs of more mature girls with whom they sleep. Sexual instruction for girls took place within the swindhe, a form of communal living (Cohen and Odhiambo, 1989)[5].

Child betrothal (p92) or marriage (p117) may take place (Wilson, 1961)[6], but this seems a peripheral custom. Child marriage (nyar osiep) includes marriage ceremonies without consummation (cf., Kyewalyanga, 1977:p24)[7].

Africa: Highest Ranking Tanzanian Woman in the UN System

Born in western Tanzania, Tibaijuka is proud of her village origins. Most of all, she is grateful to her father for having offered her an enabling environment to go to school.

“I come from a conservative society where customs and tradition are still held highly and I am very lucky to have gone to school during my time,” she says. “Actually I am a typical village girl.” However, Tibaijuka a strong advocate of women’s rights, something that she has been doing even in her country, says girls must be taken to school.

Prior to her work at UN-Habitat, Tibaijuka was an associate Professor of Economics at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. During this time she was also a member of the Tanzania Government delegation to several United Nations summits.

” I will not just be sitting. I will be working with the community back in my village to see how we can improve standards of living,” she says with a smile.

“It is not only the process of facilitating passage of the process. I went to good schools. Good Catholic schools. Schools must be good and the system must work on quality education for girls, which will expose them to face the world,” she says.

Africa: Growing Up Sexually , The Chagga of Tanzania

Chaga children are told that babies come from the forest (Raum, 1940)[1]. Precircumcision intercourse is forbidden and punished by staking the lovers to the ground in the forbidden position (ibid., p182; Dundas, 1924:p296[2]). The operation took place nominally at puberty, or rather, together with the chief’s son’s puberty; so some were operated upon at a younger age.

Childhood family or house games provide opportunities for sexually tinged games (Raum, Raum, 1938:p219[3]; 1940 [1967:p252]; 1973:p35)[4]. Sibling marriage play in huts is met with prohibitions referring to the incest taboo (1940:p180-1; cf. Raum 1938 [1954:708][5]). Night time sex instruction (menstruation, interfemoral intercourse, contraception) for girls occurs in the initiation period (Raum, 1939)[6]. Although girls are told to “watch their bodies” and not to lie with their boyfriends, they are actually encouraged to “laugh, be happy, make yourself pleasant! If you withdraw into yourself, you will not get a husband!” Extensive education in sexual mores was given at pubertal rites (Raum, 1940:p330; Moore, 1977:p62[7]; Gutmann, 1932 [I]:p44-54[8] [see also p24-5]; Swantz, 1966:p150ff). The use of riddles in this respect is noteworthy (e.g., Kamera, 1990)[9]. Girls “use wish-magic to make their breasts grow […]” (R., 1938:p221).