I was feeling a little nostalgic the other day when together with a friend, we took a trip down memory lane. The best moment was when we remembered an old Ugandan television series called “That’s Life Mwattu” and it’s memorable characters, Nakawunde and Matron Namayanja. The latter always campaigned for NBM (Not Before Marriage), an idea meant to encourage young people not to have sex until they are married. Of course it is debatable if they were ever successful in spreading that “gospel”.In my humble opinion, it is advisable to have sex with someone before you go out committing to them. I mean imagine a scenario where you get married to someone and they suck in bed, so what then? You spend the rest of your life having bad sex or maybe even no sex at all because you can’t stand the ordeal? That would be devastating. Do not even give me that jazz of marriage is not all about sex.Let us keep in mind that I am not advocating for whorish behaviour or prostitution for that matter.I will have you know that I did a gender, sexuality and politics course where I discovered that people have different definitions of prostitution. Some people even argued that payment of dowry is a form of prostitution, which technically makes sense because it would be loosely understood as quid pro quo. In my opinion, paying of bride price is still one of those things that still hold women captive to male domination. This of course is arguable depending on which culture one belongs to.Anyway, Delilah is a girl I know, I am hesitant to call her my friend lest the saying ‘tell me your friends and I tell you who you are’ applies here. Last week her fiancé called off their wedding and claimed he was not going to pay eight Friesian cows for a woman that had given it away to all his friends. But the truth is, it is impossible to take a walk to the store without running into a minimum of 10 guys that Delilah has so generously dished her goods out to.That is beside the point; the sad part is how he used the word “pay” in that sentence. Is she a product or what? Here I was thinking bride price is a “big” token of appreciation to the girl’s family. Only it turns out, that it is indeed a barter trade. You pay cows and get a woman. Wow!
