Lesbianism Now At Junior High School Level?

AN educational psychologist, who runs the St Peters Mission Schools at East Legon in Accra, has stated that the notion that lesbianism is practised only in Senior High boarding schools is a misconception about the true nature of this moral problem. According to Mr Moses Adu-Gyimah, a study he recently commissioned suggests that right at the Junior High School level, tendencies towards lesbianism start showing in some female students, although they are not overtly expressed. He said it is at the point of puberty (from 12 years) when female children start developing features of adults like breasts, buttocks, pubic hairs and contour figures that they turn to be curious about one another’s body and that of other peers. "At this point in life," he said, "there is often mutual admiration of bodily development in response to noticeable changes in the body. This can end up in horse-play, teasing and touching and ultimately caressing of each other’s breast in a fun-creating manner. Inadvertently, they develop admiration for on another but do not openly express it." Mr Adu-Gyimah said, out of this innocuous admiration of bodily development, some of the girls get very close, and when no one is looking, they show each other the kind of stuff they see developing on their bodies. He said at the puberty stage, and because of the day-school nature of many basic institutions, lesbian tendencies normally do not get full-blown, but the bodily contacts and the sensations felt when there is touching serves as danger signs. "So according to the study, at the Junior High level, there isn’t that emotional involvement until they get into Senior High School, where they are likely to get emotionally involved with others of their kind or seniors who lure or coerce them into it," he said. He said to curb this immoral problem, children must be taught right from age six that their bodies are not for exhibition to any other person, friend or playmate. He said, when right attitudes are inculcated in children at very early ages, they do not do the wrong things when they grow up, just as the Bible says. He lamented the role some lesbian teachers play in the spread of this immoral behaviour, citing instances where these teachers actually propose love to innocent school girls, especially at the Senior High level, and lead them into all kinds of perversion. He called on school authorities not to accept any teacher suspected of being a lesbian or homosexual, since such a teacher can go a long way to corrupt the callow minds of the youth. While giving a historical background to lesbianism, he said as far back as 1649 two women were prosecuted for lewd conduct in Plymouth colony. However, in 1885, the English parliament blocked attempts to criminalise lesbianism because Queen Victoria refused to acknowledge its existence. In 1952, the Mormon Church recognised lesbianism, although they were not sure at the time whether such relationship was sexual.