A case in hand is the nude image caption “Sanyang Girl”, who according to sources is believed to be a native of Sanyang village. Although, the girl was not topless, she sat on the beach without wearing any under pants and widely opened her legs to reveal her womanhood in the picture. The photo, which has been circulated across the length and breadth of the country via Bluetooth is said to be taken with her consent by her white lover.
Another is a university student who sends naked pictures to her boyfriend in Germany via Facebook. Her boyfriend went on to post the images on Facebook but later on deleted them when some concerned friends sent comments condemning his reprehensible action and urged him to remove the photos from his timeline.
The posting of these naked pictures by social media psychopaths is also believed to be a quick-ticket to settling their scores with their onetime sweetheart. While some are taking or uploading pictures sent to them by their victims on Facebook as a way of seeking redress, others are doing so without the knowledge of the person(s) in those images.
A secondary school student in school uniform was recorded while making love with her partner in an amateur video. The camera was placed in a way that only the image of the girl is shown upon entrance into the bedroom, and her riding the guy who laid flat on his back revealing himself.
The above mentioned anecdotes are few examples we choose to bring to the attention of all who care about our girls and to justify our crusade in condemning this callous action.
The scandalous reality
Why on earth would anyone wish to see nude images of their daughter, sister, mother or aunty being circulated around? Don’t they have any morals to engage in such a crime? Society spoke to a married woman who narrates about how her ex-boyfriend threatens to expose some indecent pictures they have shared together when they were dating. “We have been dating for a period of two years here in The Gambia before he traveled for further studies in the UK where his parents were living at that time.
“We used to go spend most of our time together at his home. I even used to spend some weekends at his home because he was living alone at a boys’ quarters while his sister and maternal aunty occupied the main house. We have had our moments together and he now threatens to send some of those pictures to my husband and his family because he happens to be their family friend too”.
When asked what is the nature of the pictures that the ex-boyfriend is threatening to use to blackmail her. She hesitantly reveals that the pictures were taken at random places. “Some were taken during ‘Sunday beaches’ topless in the water, others in the nightclubs but the ones that scared me the most were taken during a trip he sponsored me to UK.
I was photographed naked in his shower, at the kitchen as I was pretending to be the sexy-cook. I willingly posed for the photos because I was lovesick and it was fun taking naked shots of each other on his camera” she further revealed. The woman who is a mother of a seven months old baby believes that her blackmailer is angry with her and wants to destroy her happy marriage. He said I betrayed him and married another man and vow do anything to rescind my marriage, he keeps telling me about how he toiled to sponsor my education and other needs. He was a good man but God didn’t destine us to be married”, she says.
According to the lady the husband doesn’t know that she has had an intimate relationship with her blackmailer in the past. “My husband believes we were just close friends as he (the ex-boyfriend) introduced us to each other for the first time at naming ceremony. I have secretly reported the matter to the police who gave me a reference number and told me to notify them whenever he is within the Gambian jurisdiction. I deactivated my facebook account and changed my mobile numbers but he always gets it from my husband or some unknown person. My life is now miserable as I live in constant fear for my nude pictures to be passed around the globe, I regret taking those pictures every day of my life”.
Never take nude pictures
Stop taking and sending naked picture or video online (especially to a stranger). This is not safe as it might land into someone’s hand or can be forwarded to a third party who won’t hesitate to circulate it further. You will lose control of a picture from the second that it’s sent to another person, And you could be blackmailed, who knows how long it will take you and your lover to recover from it .
Like you, Society also blames the persons who allow their pictures to be taken by a guy they met and dated. This however doesn’t give anyone the right to post a nude picture of themselves or another especially women on social media or another platform. Never take or send a bare photo of you to anyone even if you know them in person and trust them, it would only take a moment for them to share it tonight, tomorrow or next year, They could just hit ‘send’ by accident or in a state of anger.
It is noteworthy that these unclothed pictures or videos are usually prepared outside, and circulated on the internet. Standard society rebuffs this new form of slur to womanhood. We urge all concerned parties to bring to an end this nuisance. Society encourages women and girls to explore and make use of the diverse opportunities provided by the internet and to be extremely cautious of the friend they befriend and share personal information and images with online. Many are falling victims of such a disgrace. I wish the character Olivia Pope in the movie title ‘scandal’ would surface in Jollof and ‘Fix it’ (the photo scandals) like she does to very multifarious problems.
Taking uncovered pictures of your body and sending them to someone else is never a good idea. Whether it’s to your boyfriend or girlfriend or someone you’ve met online, a quick snap can have long term consequences. We urge all to join the crusade in condemning this disgraceful practice, by not sending, sharing or liking these videos and photos via the internet.
These scandals can have lifelong consequences on the victims and their families. Ladies you should always survey the environments you found yourselves within before having any intimate private moments with a man, which would show only your image in a public domain. To the victims we share your grief and learnt from your lessons as well. It is only ill-mannered person(s) who would post a naked picture of another man’s daughter, sister, Aunty, mother or wife.
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