Pornography in Zimbabwe
Pornography is something that is treated as a taboo in Zimbabwe due to the criminalisation of pornography in the southern African nation.
At the Zimbabwe Internet Governance Forum (ZIGF) conference held in Harare on October 8, 2018, it was revealed that pornography was consuming a big chunk of Zimbabwe’s Internet data, which could point to addiction to eroticism on the part of users.[1]
Legislation
Possession of pornographic material is outlawed under section 13 of the Censorship and Entertainments Control Act.
The law forbids importing, printing, publishing, manufacturing, displaying, selling, offering, keeping for sale any publication, picture or record or playing pornographic material in public.
Child Pornography
A person in possession of child pornography may be charged with public indecency; convictions result in a small fine, imprisonment for up to six months, or both.[2]
Revenge Porn
Revenge Porn is a form of image-based sexual abuse involving the creation and/or the distribution of nude pictures or videos without the consent of the participant. Usually, the videos or images are made by the victims themselves willingly for private consumption with or for a lover. However, when the relationship breaks, those contents are leaked to the public through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter.
For revenge porn, the intention of the bitter ex-lover is to humiliate, blackmail, or shame the victim, either as a way of negotiating for acceptance back or as a way of inflicting vengeful pain to the ex-partner.
Some scholars prefer the term non-consensual pornography (NCP) because "the name revenge porn doesn’t accurately reflect the damages and implications of NCP. In most cases, revenge is not the motivating factor."
Scholars argue that the narrow framing as revenge porn fails to include photographs taken during a sexual assault, for sexual deviance, as an act of power and control, for blackmail, or for no identifiable motive at all. In addition, the term fails to capture the dissemination of a private, sexually explicit image to someone other than the intended audience which can turn a private and consensual image into public sexual entertainment or pornography.
NCP is defined as “the distribution of sexually graphic images of individuals without their consent”.[3]
Zimbabwe does not have a stand-alone law on revenge porn and according to Section 13 of the Censorship and Entertainments Control Act, a victim of revenge porn is also an accomplice to the crime. However, victims can get recourse through other delictual claims and sue for damages incurred such as humiliation, pain and suffering.[4]
References
- ↑ Porn addiction hits Zimbabwe, ‘’Zimbabwe Situation’’, Published: October 15, 2018, Retrieved: May 13, 2021
- ↑ 2020 Human Rights Report: Zimbabwe, ‘’US Embassy Zimbabwe’’, Published: 2020, Retrieved: May 13, 2021
- ↑ Non-consensual Pornography (Don’t’ Call it Revenge Porn), Michigan Prosecutor, Published: No Date Given, Retrieved: June 17, 2021
- ↑ MIRIAM TOSE MAJOME, Revenge pornography: A victim’s dilemma, NewsDay, Published: April 20, 2018, Retrieved: June 17, 2021
