Do we actually know the roles sěxual rascality plays in the collapse of a culture and its people?
What we read in the Bible about the collapse or destruction of Sọdọm and Gọmọra because of their sěxual immorality simply refers to what would happen to any nation that turns sěx into a free-for-all "fight".
No society understood this better than our Igbo ancestors. Their system of protecting sěxual morality was top-notch.
According to Mazi Mbonu Ojike in his book My Africa, in Africa, especially in Igboland in the precolonial/Christian era, "virginity was 'the noblest of feminine possessions.'"
He said further, "It is most scrupulously guarded and protected by the mother."
"Before and after great dances, all unmarried girls have to undergo strict biological examination by a board of old women whose sole interest is not to embarrass the girls but to ensure that the virginity of the future breeders of posterity is not being tampered with."
"Infidelity is severely punished, while chastity is lavishly rewarded. If after her wedding a girl is found to be a virgin, her husband gives her mother a special gift.” Culled from Mbonu Ojike, My Africa (London: Blandford Press, 1955), 136-137.
Using today's standards, one might ask why the laws were centred on girls rather than on both sěxes. The reasons were simple: if the girls are controlled, the boys have no choice.
Our boys were so controlled that girls would run the streets, farms and bushes almost naked without fear of being molested or arousing any man.
When St Paul was writing and warning Oyibo on the dangers of sěxual immorality, our ancestors had better things to talk about because their cultural laws had taken care of such problems.
When we eventually became Christians, we began to battle with the Oyibo problem of sěxual immorality. If our early Igbo Christians hadn't seen culture as an enemy of Christianity, they wouldn't have destroyed the cultures that protected our sexual dignity, in a bid to become good Christians.
Today, see where we are. It is as if we are in a free-for-all sĕxual ring. STDs everywhere. Pr0stitution, something that our ancestors did not hear about, has become a household name. The crown of womanhood has vanished, and the society is nearing a collapse.
We need to go back to our roots. We need to use the knowledge and resources we have today to find out how we can reconnect to the values that will keep us on the path created by our ancestors. We need to get back our crown.
Fada Angelo Chidi Unegbu
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