Dear Friends:
I said I was just going to ignore the videos and the posts and maybe it would all go away before I got the urge to give my two cents, I was wrong.
I understand that everyone has an opinion and rightly so, what kind of society would we be if this incident didn't generate some discourse.
I would have been more worried then. But as we famously do as a people when things like this happens, we point a finger, playing the blame game. Instead, as a society we should be looking at ways to curb this behaviour, identify warning signs and create help-desks for people who have been victims or even perpetrators of such crimes.
It is clear that these young people were taken advantage of, victims of their own naivety or eagerness to please. But just how do we ensure that these incidents don't arise again.
Is enough being done in terms of sex education and protection (I didn't see any condoms in the videos) and in terms of teaching moral and ethical values to our children. It is one thing to engage in sex (even making a video), it is a totally different ball game when you distribute the videos. It then becomes pornography (child porn in this case) and a cyber crime of international proportions. Once these things hit the internet then it is no longer a local issue. The ramifications are endless.
I say all this to conclude that we as a society need to address sex and sexuality in more palatable ways so that the message in driven and form part of the knowledge, attitudes and practice of our people. It is one thing to know about the dangers of something and a totally different thing to put what you've learned into practice.
Where do we start? At schools? At Churches? At Clubs? No, we start within the homes. Parents should be willing enough and open enough to "discuss" sex and sexuality with their children. And I put discuss in inverted commas because a lot of what we think is discussion in Caribbean families is actually a shouting, blaming game.
I can say more and I hope I get the opportunity to say a lot more and even help out if the need arises but our young people, our future deserve more than what we are giving them.
Thank You
Delroy N. Williams
Youth Activist
There are news stories of the incident here:
Dominica News Online
Dominica Vibes
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