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As politicians and other powerful men continue to demand sexual favours over their phones, expect “sex tape” to increasingly become part of the headline landscape next year.
We haven’t the strength to rehash the unproven Bassie and Romeo rumours involving a rapper and an act of rimming, but the power couple took the matter swiftly to court.
Of course the, er, hands-down winner in this category is former home affairs minister Malusi “Imagine This” Gigaba.
I watched Gigaba’s so-called sex tape on PornHub. I did so in the national interest, dear reader, because I feel we need to address our genital panic before this “sex tape trend” blurs our reality. So many thoughts.
Firstly, this is not a sex tape. Please note Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian’s contributions to the genre. Gigaba’s is a poorly lit and badly filmed clip of a man pleasuring himself that is focused solely on holding the cellphone camera at a particular angle to visually enhance the assets he was born with. A sex tape involves sex, people, and it has an air of mystery and scandal.
Secondly, who cares? We have some sort of puritanical obsession with calling out anyone who sends a naked selfie, but only those who get bust. Imagine if we were to make it part of the news cycle every time a naked selfie was sent. Our strained newsrooms, racked by retrenchment, would finally buckle.
And, thirdly, it’s a private matter that has nothing to do with Gigaba’s public work performance – or lack thereof. How is it in the public interest? In fact, it’s a criminal act to share such material.
