A sense of outrage.

There will be no citations; this is my opinion of the thing.

Do you get a sense of the outrage?

Sex tapes and the sexualisation of everything are all the rage these days. Two events last week should have pricked our consciences; instead, we are left to wonder whether Kenyans truly understand what consent is or what a sexual offense looks like.

I have not listened to the “Mollis” audio recording; the moment I had that it had something to do with rape, I was not putting myself through that. That is not what many of its listeners felt. Twitter timelines were filled with the titillated and the voyeuristic.  There was very little outrage.

I have not looked at the photographs of the schoolgirl accused of hiding wed in her underwear. I see no reason to look under a schoolgirl’s skirt. No right thinking adult should be okay with the thought of a schoolgirl being exposed to the public in such a manner, even if the one doing the exposing is a policewoman.

Both events, I believe, are linked.

Mass media play an oversized role in our lives today. Television, FM radio, the internet, mobile telephony – these loom large in our lives. Of the material that is published or broadcast, especially to young people, a vast number contains sexually suggestive or explicit material. The sexulisation of many things was accepted a long time ago as part of marketing strategies; sex, after all, sells. But this sexualisation was usually confined to things that were often targeted at adults: cigarettes, alcohol, cars. That is no longer the case.

More and more teenagers are being exposed to sexual content on an unprecedented scale. Many television programmes that are popular with children are chock-full of sexual innuendo. Young people are expected to discern the nuances of sexual relations from these programmes. Few are guided by their parents or other caregivers in these matters. Few, then, have skills to cope with peer pressure, as I believe was the case of the schoolgirl and her schoolmates, and the boys who were with them.

It is these boys and girls who grow up to become Mollis and his victim. Sex is no longer an intimate act between consenting adults; it is a transactional act to fame or glory. It is probably why Mollis recorded the rape. It is also probably why his victim, even though, as reported, she said that he was raping her did not report the offense to the police. I believe that neither the schoolgirl nor Mollis saw the risks or the danger of what they were engaged in; after all, from what they have been exposed to, sex is no big deal and if anything goes wrong, someone else can sort it out or you can say the right words and all will be forgiven.

When it comes to sex for Mollis’s generation, there are no bad consequences. There is the possibility of fame and wealth. Sex tapes, after all, have become currency. Sexualisation of one’s image is a passport to the high life and the trappings of wealth. Being sexually active, whether or not one has attained the age of consent, is part of being a member of one’s social group. No doubt Mollis is now a hero among his peers; his sexual offence has been fudged, rationalised and lionized. His victim will remain a conquest, never a victim. In their minds she should be grateful Mollis made her famous.

Mollis’s victim likely started out as a victim of sexual violence when she was in high school, like the schoolgirl cruelly exposed by the policewoman. This is not the first time schoolchildren have hired a party wagon in which they had sex and used drugs. This is not the first time that adults have witnessed these goings on without intervening. If they do not know that it is wrong, if they do not understand the risks, there is no way they will appreciate that “No” actually means “No” and they will never know how to say “No.”

Mollis’s victim kept repeating that she had surrendered. You and I are sophisticated enough to know that she wanted him to stop. You and I are also sophisticated enough to know that inebriation is no defense; whether Mollis was drunk or not, when she said that she had surrendered, he should have stopped. But, I do not believe Mollis knew what he was doing was wrong; and I do not believe that his victim sees herself as victim. How many young people live the lives of Mollis and his victim? I fear that the number is large. I fear that it is getting out of hand.