By Evelyn Lirri
Jan 16 - 22, 2004
|
Last year was a year of many events on the political, social and economic scene. On the social scene, we saw the rise of strip tease shows or better known as ebimansulo in our country. It was also rated one of the worst events of the year 2003. Well, I guess when I talk about strip shows, I am not sounding strange. Most of you must have heard about ebimansulo and perhaps many have also visited nightclubs where these sordid pearformances are staged. The rise of strip shows took Kampalans by storm. While many of the so called moralists including the president and other religious leaders condemned ebimansulo, others like Dr Sylvia Tamale, a senior lecturer at the law faculty at Makerere University saw no problem with this kind of strip show. Many of these moralists are scared that ebimansulo are the main cause of HIV/Aids. In a country where morals are on the decline, the rise of these strip shows is just an accelerator to HIV/Aids prevalence. The closest I have been to a strip show was seeing them in pictures and a few strip show goers telling me stories about the show. From what I gathered, it is mostly middle aged men of all classes who make up the real audience of these shows while the women do the stripping and entertain them. Now, what drives men to strip tease shows...and how far do women performing them actually go? Do men go for strip tease shows for the pleasure of watching women naked or are they putting women in their sex object role while keeping the mother of their children at home, safely occupied by thoughts of what she's going to cook for dinner? Here at these strip shows, patrons usually enjoy their beer while admiring breasts, thighs and pubic hair. One strip show goer warned me: "this is no place for the faint hearted and sensitive." According to them (strip goers), surprisingly people who visit these shows are ordinary looking men, fathers, husbands and businessmen. On the onset they are utterly respectable people- certainly they don't look perverted. Though I would imagine finding drug addicts and rapists among them. No doubt. At these bimansulo, we see women with no morals to lose but lots of money to make. And believe me they do. It only takes two things: courage and losing your reputation to be part of the show. While many have argued that it could be one way of earning money and making a living, it has its pitfalls too. There is no job security and most importantly there's no future. Most people around town whom I talked to claim that women who participate in these strip shows are just being exploited, period! However others said it was one way the ladies were making money to earn a living. On another note, some people lashed out at the fact that these ladies were idle and disorderly. "They are entertaining people; that's not being idle. They are always busy'', one man said. |
� 2004 The Monitor Publications
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now
