Problem of Premarital Sex in Kenya: Case Study of Kikuyu Tribe

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dc.contributor.authorNjenga, Philip Njuguna
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-24T08:49:58Z
dc.date.available2021-03-24T08:49:58Z
dc.date.issued2004
dc.description.abstractWhen we talk about sex, a question arises about who should be allowed to exercise this gift. The Church is often misunderstood and seems to be advancing the view that premarital sex is foreign to our society since sex was meant only for the married people and not for the young people. First, as we know, the church teaches that sex is a divine gift and is meant by the creator from the beginning to be for the married, that is, husband and wife. It is an act confined to the institution of marriage, in which two legally married persons living in love are permitted to use it for the good of marriage. Anything short of this is lust, abuse and misuse of another human being. Sexual activity outside marriage lowers the dignity of the human person, a situation where the individual person treats each other as object. This leads to promiscuity and sex becomes a thing other than an expression of love among married people. As individuals, young people need to ask themselves these simple questions: what are the consequences of their act especially premarital sex? What happens after one becomes sexually active? Premarital sex is an act of selfishness, because it is self-centered. There is no total commitment. It is used as a proof of love. True love does not call for a sexual act; it is more than that. The true meaning of the sexual act is usually veiled. It is capable of being understood beyond the superficial only by those who make the required effort and the required commitment. In African traditional society, taboos concerning sexuality were well known and often quoted. The two most significant were the taboos against sexual intercourse during menstruation and the taboo against incest. In African traditional society, there are certain times of the year when sexual relations are not permitted because it is deemed that they might interfere with the rhythm of nature and result in harm to the individual or community. Traditionally, the African was highly religious and religious rites and ceremonies permeated their daily life. The sexual act was sacred. Currently, there is a widespread neglect of religion, with some young people not professing a religion and others even professing atheism. The young people are full of energy and ideas but, find themselves victims of circumstance, lost between the traditional past and the present, developing more culture of their own? The generation gap has grown wider due to the advancement of technology. One author rightly states, "The young people are growing up in a world completely different from that of their grandparents, or even from that of their parents". Thankfully, the rites of passage are still taken for granted especially the rite of initiation. The initiation of both sexes was the most important among the "southern Kikuyu" (Kikuyu from Kiambu). "It was looked upon as deciding factor in giving a boy or a girl the status of manhood or womanhood in the Gikuyu community".2 The moral code of the Kikuyu tribe was bound up in this custom and it symbolizes the unification of the whole tribal organization. This was the time when a person was recognized as fully mature and became fully incorporated into the community. This was the principal reason why the circumcision of both sexes played such an important part in the life of the Kikuyu people. For young people today, traditional village life is a thing of the past. Most of the Kikuyu cultural values are lost and forgotten. Young people are a group in transition. They naturally find themselves assimilating the current influences of the society around them. Young people then are confused, at the beginning of the end and at the end of the beginning. In our society today, a lot of social and cultural changes have taken place transforming the attitudes and understanding of sexuality among the young people. In most cases, this aspect of the person's life has been distorted, abused and misused. As a result of this distortion, we see sex being confused with genital activity which is simply geared for pleasure. In our today's society, premarital sex is taken as a way of enjoying leisure time especially among our young people. During the day they are more occupied with studies or jobs. When they are free they spend leisure time discovering their bodies which seems different. This leads them to think about gender differences and causes them to the curious about their physical make up. When experimenting, they have to try new things. They cry when things go wrong as they must face the consequences of their own action. There are so many factors that contribute to premarital sex in our society. These are myths, competition from peer groups, and curiosity from a traditional perspective, that a strong young man is known from the time he is circumcised. Two or more boys would compete secretly sexual activities, to see which can show himself more active than the rest. In our modem society, there are many factors that contribute to premarital sex due to the new technology. These are highlighted in chapter two. All of this differs according to the environment in which one is living. Most of the young people in rural areas spend a lot of time watching television entertainment. It is the main source of information about their relationships. They believe that what they watch on television is publicly allowed to be seen. With young people, their attention initially may be drawn by the way a person talks, walks, wear shoes, writes or even limps. Their eye-sight is the determining factor who to relate with due to what has attracted them. The above factors can be grouped into two major categories; Body-centered, emphasizing primarily the physical aspect of sex and person-centered, stressing the relationship to the person with whom the sex act is performed.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12342/1268
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherTangaza University Collegeen_US
dc.subjectPremarital Sexen_US
dc.subjectKenyaen_US
dc.subjectKikuyu Tribeen_US
dc.subjectDealing with the Problem of Premarital Sexen_US
dc.subjectCauses and consequences of premarital sexen_US
dc.subjectex and sexualityen_US
dc.titleProblem of Premarital Sex in Kenya: Case Study of Kikuyu Tribeen_US
dc.typeLong Essayen_US
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