I INVENTED A TSWANA SEX TOY
Batswana are tired of having to sneak sex toys into the country. We are abused by toxic relatives whom we cannot escape because apparently blood is a bond. We are angry that AIDS is still killing us. We are daily frustrated by the heavy- handed limp leadership. The least we could be afforded by at least the universe is pleasure. Leadership, you are out of step with the desires of people as usual. Me, I am just here wondering what kind of sex toys, we Batswana have created, using what is around us, through the ages?
I am not going to waste time on Section 178 of the Penal Code because it needs to be revisited. I mean, of course it forbids “obscene objects” and “objects tending to corrupt morals in Botswana” which apparently include sex toys, at least in how the police enforce it. Whether it is right to interpret these two phrases I quoted, to include sex toys is up to us as Batswana voters; I am not a lawyer. What I know is that there are many Batswana who wish they could walk into a sex shop in a mall and legally buy a sex toy. Forget sex toys, what we need in this hellish Botswana of today is sex shops full of sex toys. To our ( mis) leaders, please don’t create dangerous underground markets by being oppressive to our sexualities.
There is nothing new about sex toys. We humans have been crafting them from whatever resources were around us, such as bones, wood and bread. I just wonder who it serves for us to pretend to be sexually unimaginative. We all know that a Motswana is a full human being with all capacity to flourish as a sexual being. Otherwise, what are we? Sub- human? There are many ways to decolonize our thinking and one of those ways is for us to free ourselves of colonial Victorian morality of sexual purity. Me, I encourage the youth to invent the sex toys of their time in a safe and legal way. The time has come to let Batswana own and sell sex toys without fear. Leadership, you have already oppressed us in every aspect of our lives. At least allow us to have pleasure in the privacy of our rooms with a toy if that is what makes us forget that Botswana is being led by a clueless cabal. In future, people will be talking about the right to orgasm and here we are working so hard to look like we don’t have sex. Drop the act. Legalize sex toys in no ambiguous terms. By the way, the title of this article is tongue- in- cheek, it is a window into the future. In years to come, we will be exhibiting our home- made sex toys at Gaborone International Trade Fair with no shaking. I cannot wait until we are that free but sorry, I have not invented a sex- toy yet. When I do they will be patriarchy- free sex toys. Feel free to look those up. From stone butt- plugs and bronze strap- on penises in ancient Asia to latex sex dolls and double- sided dildos in Botswana households today, sex toys have always been part of human sexuality and continue to be. In ancient times, the Araucanian people in South America used horsehair to make dildos. Thousands of years ago, Burmese Balls, tiny metal balls were invented to be put inside the penis to stimulate pleasure. All of these toys and techniques exist today in various forms and it is time Botswana Law caught up in writing and practice to the truth that sex toys are not a threat to Botswana. You know what is a threat to Botswana? The cabal that is ruling Botswana so sadistically in 2022 is a threat to Botswana because they are busy whipping and choking and smashing and spanking our futures.
* Donald Molosi is an awardwinning actor and author. Molosi is President of the Upright African Movement. He stars in the upcoming film, Station Road which is currently filming in Kingston, Jamaica.