TENDAI Govere (not her real name), in a blue pin-striped night gown, rolls out of bed in the morning, rubs her eyes, picks up her phone.
Loverage Nhamoyebonde
She picks the phone from her dressing table in a bedroom of her parents’ home in Harare’s Kuwadzana 2, a sprawling township west of Harare.
Tendai gets on Facebook and starts checking what her friends are up to. She finds nothing amusing and quickly switches to YouTube, Whatsapp and other online sites to download videos.
Unlike teenagers of years gone by, who would look for pornographic magazines and view them in secrecy, in alleyways or back rooms, for Tendai it’s so much easier to do online than to hide or travel some distance to get some sex materials.
At the touch of her smart phone, she can get everything on orgy sites where she can openly swaps tips and tricks on how to do it “better”. Group sex videos from various parts of the globe are awash on the Internet.
Tendai can view live group sex videos or even film herself with her friends and upload on the Net.
On YouTube, a search for the name of any group sex orgies or clique, one can quickly find himself on just about any block of sex videos of any kind. In these videos, girls and guys in wild sex orgies use vulgar language to describe sex acts, bragging about the joys of group orgies.
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Selling sex to teenagers like Tendai and many others in Zimbabwe is getting easier due to the widespread Internet access.
Just about any teenager in Harare and most other parts of the rapidly urbanising country can tell you about the group sex orgies known as “Brotherhood” — where more than three boys can have sex with a single girl at the same time.
The practice is prevalent in schools and tertiary institutions as well as colleges, universities and most other spots frequented by teenagers.
“I learnt of the practice from the Internet,” says a student with a local university. “The more I watched porn sites, the more I feel the urge to experiment with the practice. I managed to convince four of my friends and we approached a certain girl (name supplied) who accepted to have sex with us.”
Group sex has become a buzzword and anthem among teens in the capital, Harare.
Young people here are like teens everywhere, using technology to co-ordinate with friends and chronicle their every move. But the use of online tools has turned hazardous as gang sex is now openly advertised and instigated online.
The digital revolution has ensured smooth flow of information and enhanced communication among people from different parts of the world. But it has its downside. It has exposed teenagers to inappropriate behaviour, substance abuse and violence.
“Some of our friends are shy and lack confidence to propose love from girls, as such they are willing to be part of the group,” says a university student.
These teenagers indulge in the act without protection, which in some cases has led to unwanted pregnancies.
“We also protect one another in the case that a girl involved falls pregnant,” he says.
When asked why she engages in gang sex, Tendai says: “I did it several times, just for fun. It is adventurous and an opportunity to discover new things about sex. Most of my boyfriends could not satisfy me as they were not yet mature and lacked experience. The only time I got satisfied is when I had sex with a group of guys.”
Another girl from Tynwald South, a suburb to the west of Harare, admitted taking part in such acts, but denied being drugged and forced into sex.
“My boyfriend once invited me to his friend’s house whose parents were away and I complied as it was the only chance for us to spend quality time together. After having sex with him, he requested me to have sex with his friend as a way of thanking him for accommodating us. I complied because that time I did not see anything wrong with the arrangement and the guy was very handsome too,” she says.
Gang sex is addictive
“Since that day, I became a member of the local ‘brotherhood’ group and started having sex with four or five guys at the same time just for fun,” she said.
Every day on Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and YouTube, teens can watch gang sex orgies unlimited. Youths lack sex education and few appreciate the dangers of gang sex which are unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases.
An elderly Harare woman Sarah Muoneka confirmed that she had heard about young girls and boys engaging in group sex.
“Our children have already accepted this heinous act as a fun game,” she says. “As a mother I view this act as gang rape that has been given a new name to cushion it and make it appear as a fun game. Our children have normalised it despite the dangers it poses to their health.”
Marriage counsellor with a local church and radio social commentator Lucia Gunguwo says the act risks the girl child’s well being, physically, mentally, morally and socially.
“I urge the girls involved in this act to respect their bodies and never participate in the practice,” Gunguwo says. “Women should have one sexual partner, but in today’s era it is no longer taboo for a girl to be in a relationship with more than two boys, worse still having sex with them at the same time.”
The social commentator who is popularly known as Mai Gunguwo says history was bound to repeat itself because what was taking place now once happened in Sodom and Gomorrah before the two cities were destroyed by God.
“Youths must know that they are growing up and when they are elders they will be expected to give advice to the young generation. What advise will they give if they were engaging in such heinous acts in their teens?” she queried.
Some teenage girls do not understand the process of growing up and parents, due to economic pressure no longer have time to nurture their children.
“Teenagers need parental advice on what to watch on television or the Internet because they are not able to separate fantasy from reality and they always try to apply fiction into real life situations,” Gunguwo says.
More than 15 000 cases of sexually transmitted infections were recorded in Harare during the last quarter of last year, according to reports.
STI cases are on the rise and the HIV prevalence rate for Harare has since risen to 13% from 12% in development that is worrying the National Aids Council.
Analysts are now questioning the effectiveness of government and NGO sex and reproductive rights campaigns. Despite the known risk associated with the acts, teenagers say they are pushed into such activities by lack of employment.
“We spend the whole day sitting on road sides doing nothing productive and end up getting involved in these acts as a way of drowning our sorrows,” said an 18-year-old school dropout.
About 53, 5% of the people that are unemployed are youths and aged between 15 to 24 years, according to the 2011/12 Poverty and Poverty Datum Line Analysis in Zimbabwe report.
Some economic analysts even say the unemployment rate is much higher and estimate it to be more than 90%.
Padare/Enkundleni Men’s Forum on Gender’s Walter Vengesai said there was no justification for exploitation.
“We advocate for equality and mutual respect between men and women, boys and girls. People should report such activities to the police because they involve sexual exploitation.
“More than three boys having unprotected sex with one girl is not only disturbing, but puts the teenagers at the risk of contracting HIV and Aids,” Vengesai said.
